I'm trying to clear my pond up here in East Texas with Gypsum. My local ag office suggested this route instead of aluminum sulfate due to PH problems we already battle here in the piney woods. I got four pitchers of pond water and then mixed two tbsp of gypsum in one of the pitchers with tap water. I then added increasing doses to each of the samples. one tbsp in the first, two in the second and three in the third. waited overnight and there was no change. so I started over and added four to the first one, six to the second and eight to the third. the one with eight tbsp of gypsum slurry mix seemed to clear slightly overnight. I figured my pond to be 1.65 acre feet of water, or about .30 surface acres. based on the recommendations of my ag office, I need 1200 lbs of gypsum? does that sound right? I'm going to try the aluminum sulfate test the same way, but it is about $40 for 50lbs and the gypsum was $10 for 50 lbs. My PH level is between 6-7, how bad will the aluminum hurt it? Anyone ever use liquid aluminum sulfate? I'm reading that if I follow it up with lime, I shouldn't have too much of a ph problem, but im not trying to spend $750 either! No fish in the water as of yet, its a new pond with lots of clay turbidity. our whole property is clay pretty much. any advice?
