Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization Alkilinity

I have been reading on this subject and have found plenty of answers but I'm still a bit confused.

I have a 1.75 acre pond in south Louisiana in pine woods.

What should be my goal alkalinity.

I have read some people say once they get over 20ppm they are good and others saying 250ppm.

I did a few tests and the strips I used showed I was under 40 and pretty close to 0, so somewhere in between. Ph was 6.5 ish.

We bought some lime from the garden center, 40# bags of dolconite lime? Is that any good.

This pond was constructed in 98 and managed until 2005. It's been neglected ever since. The bass population are small and the bigger fish "2-2.5#'s" look stunted. The bluegill are monsterous however, I invited 22 to a fish fry last Monday evening.

We started to fertilize just this past Saturday. This pond gets extremely clear and the aquatic grasses get out of control, unfishable.

The plan is to stabilize the water this season and reassess in early fall.

Oh, it's a run off pond. Big soy bean and alfalfa fields up hill from this pond. The runoff from these fields run through about 1000' of pine woods. It started its life as a small drain pond which was the beginning of one of the properties ditches. It's naturally a good place to collect water. Highly affected by drought type conditions, which we don't get often but has happened in the past. Would love to have a well installed on the top end, but that's not an option as of now.

Thanks

20 ppm is the lowest level that will support a plankton bloom as fertilizer below 20 ppm does not work well if at all. The best (optimum) alkalinity for pond fish is 200 ppm.

It is good to have your water and pond soil tested to be sure of what you are working with.

Yes that type of lime will work. Ag lime will work better. A standard answer to below 20 alkalinity is to add at least 2 tons per acre of ag lime.

See the archives

Charts






Min. of 20 and best range is between 75 and 200.