Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Lime truck

For those who have not seen this - pics of lime truck at work.

Awesome action shots

I agree, nice photos. Never seen that before.

I thought lime was best spread out over the entire surface of the water?

You are right fish n chips. Some is better than none however. Alkalinity was down and that was the best that could be done on short notice. The truck will cover an area of about 60 X 60 feet in that mode. When the lime hits the water a fair amount dissolves on contact and the wind will move and mix it some. Now I only need about 30 more tons.

ewest, get Dwight to build you a barge and you can have the truck go all over the pond.

We have boats but man that is serious work. I have and will do that again. It takes time.

That is one big truck. The handle at the bottom of the door (black rectangle) is 5 ft off the ground. Driver sits on a spring loaded seat. It will hold 12 tons of lime.

Was your pond in immediate danger? What exactly was you helping by doing this. Just curious never give alkalinity much thought.

That looks like a cool set up. That truck could do my food plots in a nano second.

Is liming a pond a common practice? On average, how often does a pond get limed? I'll start out your response to my questions


It depends.... (please fill in the rest)

No danger but near the needs point.

In many southern waters the soil (and ponds) are acidic (alkalinity below 25). Plankton does not bloom /grow well in acidic ponds thus knocking the base out from under the food chain/web. Also higher alkalinity (over 20) helps reduce wide daily ph swings which stress fish. Most common pond fish have an optimum alkalinity range around 200. Many places have good alkalinity and never need to add ag lime.

Yes adding ag lime is common in managed ponds in the south. Our waters have a bell curve on liming duration of about 18 mths @ half a ton per acre. Others vary quiet a bit.

Great Picture!
I have a 10 acre pond in Athens Texas. I added 50 tons of lime last year. Alkalinity was just 3PPM as measured by Texas A&M. It's now about 30PPM with pretty stable pH.

It's still amazing to me the difference in water from one region to the next. Having to fertilize to get a bloom established is a foreign concept to me....I'm actually considering treating with cutrine to see if I can't knock mine down a bit, and clear up the water.

Phycomacin is used to knock back planktonic algae in catfish farms.

I lime the pond I really care for about every 3-4 years. I test the water myself and do so when the test tells me to. It can be driven around very easily and I go out a day before and mark of 4 spots with flagging. When the driver brings the truck, I have him look over the bed and add about 1/4 of the load in each spot and have him crank up the RPMs to send the lime flying.

This is how we spread lime.

Dan, shouldn't take long with that setup. I assume that you're on a little above idle speed.

Thanks Dan. A new one for me. I have seen lime done a lot of ways but not with an airboat. Details if possible would be good.

2" trash pump to spay the lime. Front or side load 1 to 1.5 tons at a time. Works really well especially in shallow water where a barge would bottom out.

Thanks !

Up to a metric ton in each lift this way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tONalCF3Uk
and you reach all over the BOW

cheers

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