Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Time to take a look at muddy waters

Hey Roundy

Per the other posts - once shoreline vegetation establishes you'll have far less erosion issues and should result in cleaner runoff.

I see from your jar test photos there is at least some improvement in settling - that's good, means you don't have a really bad ionic imbalance. I've seen some jar tests that didn't clear even months later. Those scenarios with significant imbalances had to resort to pond water amendments [Gypsum or Alum/lime treatment].

The experiment proposed by Joey is something I'd recommend...barley straw bales have been reported to be effective on speeding up the clarification of turbid ponds, and is likely far less expensive and labor intensive than amendments. The bale method does require some patience, however, as results aren't instantaneous vs amendment route.

Hope some of this helps...if you feel the need to go the alum/lime treatment route, Rex Rains is a great resource. He restored a planktonic algae/turbidity/phosphorous issue in my pond with a treatment and I probably turned back the clock 5 years on my water quality.