I have a newly reclaimed (dugout) pond that is 18 months old and stocked. When it first filled it cleared up but after the second rain it has been stained and never cleared. The water below in the creek is clear, the water trapped next to the pond is clear too. I haven't done any water tests other than using a glass jar and eventually the clay will settle out.

This past weekend I put 2-2.5 tons of gypsum boulders scattered around the edge of the one acre pond. I had friends that had used this technique to provide continuous release over the next 3-2 years. I bought 3.5 tons for $15 bucks so I have some left over for later use. My question is do I need to do anything else and what is lime used for and has anyone else used this technique?

cwooten,

Very interesting post. Roughly how big are the gypsum "boulders?" I like the idea of continuous release over a long period of time. If you don't mind me asking, where did you locate these boulders, and how did you get such a good deal??

We've used quite a bit of gypsum on our ponds, but it's the powdered ag gypsum that comes in 40 lb bags. It gave our big pond (4-5 acres) nearly a foot more visibility after we applied about 2.5 tons.

Interestingly, the gypsum first turned the pond a milky white color as it was bonding to the clay particles. About a week later, it slowly but surely started clearing.

To answer your question, then, you shouldn't need to do anything else IF 1- the boulder gypsum works like the powdered gypsum we used, and 2- the clay particles settled out in a jar test like you indicated. 2-2.5 tons certainly sounds like plenty for a 1 acre pond.

I'm assuming our powdered gypsum will work faster than your boulder gypsum, since ours should dissolve quicker. Thus, it make take a lot longer for you to notice the clearing effects than it does for us. However, I'm guessing that your method will provide better long-term effects than ours. We had to spread the gypsum about 1/2 to 3/4 ton at a time with about 2 week breaks before we really noticed the difference. Your boulders should hopefully be doing the work for you.

For

most ponds, gypsum application

rates will range from about 1,000

to 2,000 pounds per acre (Fig. 4).

In hard-water ponds (calcium

hardness greater than 50 mg/L),

the water is nearly saturated with

calcium and gypsum may be ineffective.

In that situation, alum will

be the only effective coagulant.

All the coagulants mentioned can

remove phosphorus from water.

As phosphorus is an essential

plant nutrient, it may be necessary

to fertilize the pond after treating

it for turbidity. On occasion, phytoplankton

and clay can mutually

coagulate, so fertilizing to start a

phytoplankton bloom may also

clear water of suspended clay particles.



Lime = better water quality and fertility when needed. Read this.

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/144249-464f...f9518a72c2f7d5d

ewest There was a distinguished gentleman at last years conference (Dr. Anderson?) who was kind enough to spend some time with me and suggested Rice bran or Cottonseed meal for a natural fertilizer. Could not located rice bran and Todd Overton, on one of his trips down, suggested cottonseed meal also. That was our final step to clearing our larger pond. Used 2 applications, 600# and 400#, from shore by hand and achieved a bloom. When the bloom subsided the water cleared even more! I also want to note the FHs and BGs ate the meal as it drifted.
Also note our water was very soft prior to 2.5 tons of gypsum.
I too will be awaiting a report from cwooten and more info on the boulders.
Dr. Anderson (sp?) also suggested to those who "hand feed daily" to keep a bag and spread a little daily when feeding during warm weather.

Al, how much cottonseed per acre do you use?

At the time the pond was 4a and 600# with a 400# follow up in 4 days.

The gyp rocks were 50-300+ pounds