Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Alum kicks clay's butt....again!!!

Kenny...When Rex treated my turbidity we used alum/hy lime and cutrine for the bloom. I wasn't aware you were facing a persistent algae bloom due to Summer nutrient influx issues - it's cheap, might want to think about some algaecide, too?

Snipe, then the results from cutrine plus liquid to nuke the pond, followed by alum/hydrated lime a couple weeks later that will bind most phosphorus currently in the water, will be dramatic

OK, I have about 3 ac ft volume.. 2 gal cutrine plus sprayed on, wait 2 weeks and do Alum/hyd lime treatment..
Last year at ice out water was pretty clear, this year I've had green water all through winter in and out of ice conditions.
Cutrine says above 60 degs, do you guys feel that's correct? I was planning 500lb Alum, 200 Hyd lime as soon as ice was off but if you think I should do that differently, I'm listening.

Edit: actual volume at ice out will be around 2.5 ac ft at the low point.

I wonder if alum would work if you spread it evenly on top of the ice, and just waited for the melt?

I don't think so.. It only works dissolved in a slurry if I understand correctly.

I defer to Rex here...if you’re binding/dropping the phosphorous with alum maybe algaecide treatment would be superfluous?

The less algae (phytoplankton) in the water, the more P will be suspended in the water for the alum to work on (less tied up in the algae). Lets see what Rex says, I'm more inclined to use 300#/150# per Ac/Ft water.....

Depending on the weather trend (is a warm front coming or a cold front?) I would hit it with Cutrine Plus in the low 50°F range if there was a warming trend coming.

Hopefully Rex will see this and let me know what he thinks about that.. I'm gonna come up short on time here when this weather clears with more ponds to build for fish I've got spoken for and still maintain pond #1.

That's kinda why I want to hear back from Rex. The first year I did 350#/150# and it was sufficient but I had strong flow-through about a month later and the nutrients have never really been utilized since, so it's been a green factory situation for a good part of last 2 yrs.

Send him a PM, and if you don't hear back soon, let me know, I have his phone number.

Hi! It was a trench dug out for the waterfall with plastic liner and landscaping rock and a small pool at the top of the trench with a pond liner....There is a half or one horsepower submersible sump pump in the main pond with the output line running under the trench that was dug

Not quite ready to move forward on this yet, but I gotta say I am amazed at the results off of Alum on a small test of pond water. While at the property yesterday I took a water sample in a 2.7 quart plastic bottle. Did a little math to confirm my baking skills still were in check.

4 quart = 1 gal
2.7 / 4 = .675
.675 = ~ 11/16
rounded 11/16 up to 3/4 of 1 tablespoon
3 teaspoon = 1 tablespoon
used 2 level teaspoons that I mixed into a small bowl of the pond water and then dumped it back into the bottle.

started the test at 11:54am
watched the water from the side and could actually see the water and clay separating as the clay started to fall to the bottom of the bottle.

at 12:08PM I had this....

Awesome news, Boondoggle.

Make sure you also have a "control" bottle. The heavy rain will also physically stir up some very small silt and clay particles. These will also sink to the bottom over time.

However, based on your quick results, it does appear that you have a lot of charged clay particles in suspense.

Hopefully you can get your grass established soon and keep some of the nasty clay out of your pond.

The current sample was taken just after a heavy rain event so it's both as "murky as it can be" and likely not mixed well with the water that was already in the pond. My test was basically to confirm the possible treatment in the future and my opinion is that I will likely need more testing before I move forward.

My current plan is to continue the process on the grass/erosion control. If we catch a week or so of no rain I'll likely bottle another sample up and send it off to TX A&M for additional testing (confirming my previous baseline they tested) from 3/4 full to full pool. I'm guessing but my previous alkalinity level of 90 is now reduced.

PH test of the pond water bottle after the Alum was added was 5.0. If this plays out I'm likely going to have to add the Hydrated Lime to offset the big PH swing. I didn't test the PH before the test (should have).

This one goes in the plan your work....and work your plan. Very interesting results though.