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#446108 05/02/16 04:16 AM
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So I know this has probably been covered many times but new here and haven't found anything yet on this subject. Recently dug a new pond a little shy of 1 acre surface area averaging 7-8 feet in depth. Pond was very muddy from the exposed clay banks. Added around 2000 lbs of hydrated lime back in February. Pond began to clear up nicely I also added a gallon of the blue dye as a recommendation from the fish farm with it being a flocculant would also help clear up the water. All of this had the water clearing nicely with about 18-20 visibility until all of our recent rains in the south. Pond has risen around 4 feet since all this was done and is now sitting at full pool but is very cloudy again the grass around the edges is almost at 100% coverage. Pond has not been completely stocked yet as I have only added 10 lbs of fatheads and around 60 bass an bream from a neighboring pond. Question is i am wanting to clear it up a little more before I stock with Coppernose an next year Largemouth. And have been researching the ALUM y'all speak of on here I have found it locally but was wondering how safe it is for the kids to swim in as they are chomping at the bit to jump in. Any info or recommendations is greatly appreciated!! Thanks

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Welcome to the forum.

What is your pond water pH now?

The alum is typically added in combination with Hydrated lime. 100# alum, 50# hydrated lime to keep pH from dropping too much.

If done in the correct proportions (test the pH of the water to check (the pH shouldn't change much) the water will be find for the kids to swim in.

Now, as for stocking the fish, what size were the bass and how many bass were there that you stocked from the neighbors pond?


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After adding the lime the first time I had waited a couple of weeks to let it stabilize plus we had a few little rains and had it tested it was around an 8 but haven't done it since then. I have also started my water well to the pond was running regularly until the recent rains have filled it.

As far as the fish go there was about 20 bass most of them around 10-12 inches a few a little bigger and the rest were some bream that were all mainly small. This was just a trial run to see how they would do in there, has been several weeks an only 1 floater guessing it was just from being hooked deep by the kids before transplanting.

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Most new ponds will go cloudy after a rain. The PH in my pond would really change after a rain and cloud the pond. Its not really the clay per say but the PH swing.

Take a bucket of the water and let it sit check clarity in a few days.

If its really looks like mud then you could treat with alum. The EC of our 1 acre pond water was so high after treating once that you could not leave a minnow trap in the pond for a week or it would be rusted to dust. PH was perfectly normal at 7.5 but the EC was so high it ate two minnow traps. Kids swimming it didn't bother.

The following year I did see the cloudiness come back after every rain even with full grass around the whole pond. There is no way any run off can make it into our pond. I have treated the pond after the first and have not seem much more than 24"s of clarity. I expect in time but not in such a new pond..... less than five years old no plant.

Cheers Don.


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O.K. When adding alum, watch the pH of the water. It will drop the pH, that's why the 2:1 ratio.

Now, because you have those bass in there, any fish that you stock has to be at least 1/3 the size of the largest bass to prevent them from being eaten. So, if a bass is 12", that means that all the fish have to be at least 4" when stocked.....


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Dono -- my thinking is that even though I might not need the alum is that it can't hurt right? What is the EC you are referring to is that a result of the alum or something else?

Esshup -- I understand what you mean with the stocking size. Now the pond I am referring to was stocked with HCBG and has not been managed an is over crowded. The fish are not growing the way they should be the pond is 3 yrs old an the fish average only about 6". The owner was wanting me to take several hundred from it would this be a good idea and how many that size would I need for my pond? I'm all about free plus we would be able to fish for them right now!!

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Here's stocking numbers for you.

IF you want to have a more balanced pond, stock 75-100 bass and stock 20 regular Bluegills or Coppernose Bluegills for every bass you stock. This is per surface acre, and the BG/CNBG have to be bigger than the bass can eat.

IF you want to have large Bluegills/Coppernose, stock 125-150 bass and 1,000 BG per surface acre. The Bass and Bluegills have to be the same size.

If you want to have large bass, stock 30-50 Bluegills/CNBG for every bass you stock, making sure that the Bluegills are too big for the bass to eat. Only stock 50-75 bass per surface acre.

Bass live a finite life span. Every year that they don't grow is a year of growth lost. If you are stocking larger sized Bass, then the Bluegill have to be bigger, and will cost more per fish. If you are wanting to grow large bass, then I would not stock those bass. You have lost 3 years of growth already.

If it was my pond? I would stock young of the year bass from this year, and stock fathead minnows, Coppernose Bluegills and Redear Sunfish.

You cannot stock Bass and Hybrid Bluegills if you want to grow medium to large bass. The HBG won't reproduce enough to create enough food for the Bass.


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Thanks!! I'll see how it goes an try to get some pics along the way.

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Originally Posted By: bdaigle
So I know this has probably been covered many times but new here and haven't found anything yet on this subject. Recently dug a new pond a little shy of 1 acre surface area averaging 7-8 feet in depth. Pond was very muddy from the exposed clay banks. Added around 2000 lbs of hydrated lime back in February. Pond began to clear up nicely I also added a gallon of the blue dye as a recommendation from the fish farm with it being a flocculant would also help clear up the water. All of this had the water clearing nicely with about 18-20 visibility until all of our recent rains in the south. Pond has risen around 4 feet since all this was done and is now sitting at full pool but is very cloudy again the grass around the edges is almost at 100% coverage. Pond has not been completely stocked yet as I have only added 10 lbs of fatheads and around 60 bass an bream from a neighboring pond. Question is i am wanting to clear it up a little more before I stock with Coppernose an next year Largemouth. And have been researching the ALUM y'all speak of on here I have found it locally but was wondering how safe it is for the kids to swim in as they are chomping at the bit to jump in. Any info or recommendations is greatly appreciated!! Thanks


I would suggest using the Hydrated Lime again, without alum. Kill the fish you stocked and write off the fatheads. Also, your fish farm was wrong about Dye being a flocculant...it only colors the water. After you have added enough Hydrated Lime, your pond will go crystal clear, and everything will be dead. Wait about 2 weeks, restock with Fathead Minnows again, and the stocking plan similar to esshup suggested. I will add that if wanting bigger bass, let your FHM reproduce at least one full year, and stock your YOY LMB at around 2" and your BG/CNBG at 4". The FHM will produce a LOT of forage for young bass. Also consider Gambusia, Thredfin Shad, and Golden Shiners if wantng "big bass".

Stocking a "few" random size/numbers of Bass and Bluegill makes it virtually impossible to stock accurately toward any chosen goal. 60 bass and 60 bream? or 60 of a random combination? FHM will only feed LMB that are about 6" long or smaller. Bigger LMB burn equal to or more calories eating/chasing FHM than they can get out of them as a food source. If you stocked 60 each of bream/bass, the bass have no food and are starving.

To answer your question about Alum, which I am an expert on, No, it will not harm your fish or be unsafe in any way as long as your pH is never below 5.4. Alum needs to be applied properly to be cost effective, but Hydrated Lime and starting back off the way you want is still your lowest cost route!

I'll be clearing a deep 3 acre LA pond in west central LA soon.

PS..EC is electrical Conductivity. Unlike stated earlier, I know of no correlation with pH and flocculants other than some flocculants function better at a certain pH. The 2:1 application of Alum/Hydrated Lime is pH neutral, yet an outstanding flocculant.

Last edited by Rainman; 05/02/16 07:02 PM.


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Rex, see ya Saturday and bring your camera. It might show people with ponds that have no larger boat access how to treat a pond.

And I found out that all the flower beds at the shore of the pond are newly planted....... Access is even more limited.


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