I'm looking for an effective device for skimming water meal and duckweed off the surface of a suburban neighborhood storm water containment pond -- one acre, average depth about 8 feet. Seems like a pump and filter system or mechanical skimmer should be out there on the market somewhere. You know of anything like that?
As further background...We're avoiding aquatic herbicide treatments as they've proven ineffective. Instead, we've added three pond-bottom aerators and have begun bacterial applications to try to improve the water quality, reduce nutrient levels and, in the end, make the water less conducive to water meal and duckweed propagation.
But because the pond is fed with neighborhood runoff rich in lawn fertilizer and soil nutrients, it's going to take a number of years to reduce the nutrient levels in the water sufficiently to reduce the amount of water meal that flourishes. So I'm hoping there's a good way to skim or suck or otherwise mechanically remove the water meal and duckweed that floats on, and on a windless day covers, the entire surface.
Open to any ecofriendly ideas!
