Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water What should I do next? - Alum questions

Last Friday I applied 200 pounds of Aluminum sulfate and 100 pounds of lime to my extremely muddy 1/3 acre (est. 3 acre-feet) pond. I applied it by slowly dispensing into the prop-wash of partially submerged trolling motor across the full surface area.

Unfortunately I see only a little improvement in water clarity.

Questions:
1. Do I just need to apply more alum?
2. My PH before and after application was over 8.2 - do I need to bother with any more lime if I apply more alum?
3. After application I had a lot of 3-4 foot "islands" of flocculate on the water surface - I broke them up with the trolling motor - should I have done that? I still (4 days later) still have some small "islands" on the surface - is that normal?
4. Could I have gotten better results by pre-dissolving the aluminum sulfate in a bucket and then dispersing? I was very careful to slowly dispense the aluminum sulfate into the prop-wash. I spent 3-4 hours to apply the 200 lbs of alum.

I've always has better luck dissolving it in pond water first as an alum slurry and then distributing it. At least that is what all the literature I've seen says to do.

Did you do a test on a smaller sample of your pond water to see how much you would need as in the link below? (Scroll down method 2 for Alum) If not you may have been guessing on the amount to use.

http://www.luresext.edu/aquaculture/clearingmuddyponds.htm