Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water change, dramatic!!!, in less than 24 hs

Hi all. I posted a couple of post here some months ago. I have this quarry, and I intend to have clear water. So far, te treatment has been: benefical bacteria, removing muck from the bottom (a lot), aireation and introduced a lot of auquatic vegetation. The results have been really good!!!! water clarity went from only 50 cms to almost 4 mts!!! The quarry is big, 200X300 mts long, and average depth of 7 mts (2 mts in the shallowest part and 17 mts in the deepest part)
This is how the quarry looked this saturdar morning:






As you can see, the water has a nice blue color, almost cristal clear.

On sunday, there was a HUGE wind storm, some rain too, but really very little of it, but really a lot of wind, we never saw in the water the waves we saw that day, 1.5 mts waves, it looked like the real sea!
next morning I received a called from the landowner saying the water changed its color, and he sent me a picture. I really didnt belive the change could be that big, specially because the picture was taken less than 24 hs after the storm... I visited the place today to take a look: it is a desaster. The water not only changed its color, it is not clear anymore, I could sau you can see in the water no more than 20 cms away!
Here are some pictures:










My observations: the water is not green, it is actually like if it is milk... There is no water entry to the quarry, I mean there has not been any new water in the quarry. There is some kind of white powder in the water, you can see in the last picture, taken on the shore, there is that powder deposited on the rocks. Could this be suspended clay????
There has been storms in the palce in the last months of course, and for sure much bigger rains, and the water had never been afected in this way. last month we had like 20 days of raining and the water remained clear (I put grass oll over the shores). And this storm brought very little rain, so I can say rain was not the problem.
The only theory I have is that because of the wind direction and the really strong winds, the waves we saw hitted and area of quarry's walls where might be clay and that clay was taken and distributed all over the place????

If it is clay, it will go to the bottom? how fast? should I just wait or I should think in useing aluminium? if that is the "fast" solution, can someone tell me the amount of aluminium I need and the way to apply it?

Thanks in advance

I see you are a diver. Have you been diving in this quarry since you removed the muck and starting the aeration? If the problem was caused by the wind kicking up the fine clay settled on the bottom you would have noticed the bottom sediments which are easily stirred up by a diver swimming just over the bottom. I can see wind action kicking up sediment in the shallows but in 17 meters of water I don't think so. Evan at the average depth of 7 meters it should have remained relatively calm.

Is it possible that the winds kicked up dust from the lands surrounding the quarry and deposited new silt into the water?

I would wait for input from someone with more first hand experience than me but if there is no flow into the quarry and no flow out, the level must be maintained by springs and if they do not flow out, in time, the dissolved solids will begin to get higher from evaporation so I would be wary of adding any salts (aluminum sulfate or lime) without some testing.

No, no dust from surroundings. and this is not dust.
Also, no, it is not comeing from the bottom, I have not seen this white dust in the bottom ever.

Martin, with waves the size of your description, I would be more shocked if the water remained clear. Give it a week to let the solids washed in from the shore to settle out, and then see if anything more is needed.

But there are no solids coming from the shore. It rained that day, yes, but it was 1 mm in the hole day. We had had much much worst rains in the past and I never saw this white powder in the water. If it actually is clay it will sttle down in 1 week?

With 1.5 meter waves, there had to be extreme water turbulence and forces form those waves that would re-mix and re-suspend previously settled solids from the bottom, plus wash in all kinds of things where those waves crashed.

Martin,
I have to agree with Rex. Wait a few days before panicking. With just one windy day at our pond, I will see a noticeable difference in water clarity. In a couple of days, it returns to its normal state. And with 1.5M waves, that is a heck of a lot of energy added to your pond. It will stir things up.

That water looks like the glacier fed lakes of northern Canada or Alaska. The rivers wash down limestone sediment and it gives them that color.

I think it is kinda pretty. But I imagine it will settle out in a while.

Ponds change. Mine went from about 2' of visability because of algae to about 5' which is about as clear as it gets. Sometimes it gets a blackish looking clear color.

Ponds change a lot with weather conditions and seasons.

What about dissolved salts such as CaCO condensing out of the water when it was turned over and gasses exchanged? Is the water fairly hard, especially deep water? Just a tought, the picture to me looks like extremely fine materials suspended.

Agree with Rex ! Suggest you collect some in a jar for analysis to see its contents (like a soil test).