Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Alum Woes

I just finished application of Alum/Hydrated Lime on my pond (about 1/5 acre, 1 acre foot by my estimates) and it didn't seem to do much. I have a few hours to let it settle but I guess I'm fearing I need to do more and trying to come up with a plan.

I dumped on 200lbs of crystalized Alum on last night. This morning I added another 100lbs of the stuff. I'm now out of Alum. The guy I bought from talked me out of getting the extra 100lbs I wanted. I did no scientific calc to figure out how much I needed but everything I read seemed to indicate 200lbs was a decent starting point. All the Alum was sprayed relatively evenly over the pond with a garden hose.

I never reached a point where I saw clumps to be honest. I did see lots of cloudy semi clumping but I don't know that I reached a point of clumping.

What should my next step be? I can run down tomorrow evening and pick up more Alum. Should I be looking at other causes of cloudyness (the Alum guy mentioned catfish possibly being my issue). Should 300lbs have been enough to clear me up?

Thanks as always.

Be careful adding alum alone!!! You can cause a fish kill if you do!

Contact Rainman here on the forums who does this professionally and DON'T ADD ANY MORE until you get more information.

I added hydrated lime with the alum. I glossed over that part of the application. But I did and proper 50% lime to buffer the alum.

I would do the jar/bucket test to see how much more alum/hydrated lime you need to add.

Whew!

TSK, did you create a good slurry first with the Alum? About 50# Alum in 50 gallons of pond water, and agitating till Alum is fully suspended into the slurry? Using a trash pump to agitate/churn the alum/water, you can mix about 100# alum in 50 gallons of water. The slurry needs to be spayed as evenly as possible, and in proportionate amounts to the water depth (more alum slurry sprayed in deeper water than in shallower water).

If spreading granular alum directly into the pond, it sinks to the bottom fast and does little more for clearing than tossing in rocks would.

Just curious did you end up fixing this? If so how?

Thanks

Apologies, I go in spurts on this board, on for a few months, and then off for a few more.

I did make a slurry. I'm sure the application was fine (believe me, I've probably read almost every thread here on alum application). I made a slurry of alum, sprayed it with a trash pump. Then made a slurry of lime and sprayed. I think i alternated 2 bags of alum, then 1 bag of lime.

I don't think I've solved the problem but I have noticed something. Right now my water is crystal clear (crystal clear to me is at least 2-3 feet of visibility). My aerator went out for a while in the winter and I only recently turned it on, but it's been running at least a week (the shallow one). Basically, I'm assuming this is mechanical muddying at this point and I think the alum is not the solution.

That means as best I can tell possible causes:

1) Deep water aerator. Unlikely since I've tried turning off all aeration in the past and it had a minimal affect.

2) Crawfish. I stocked papershells but there are likely other guys in there.

3) Catfish. I've stocked a bunch of them a few years back.

4) Some other fish/creature I don't know about (bullheads, etc).

I guess it's hard to pinpoint because I can't catch anything in the pond except crawfish and an occasional bluegill.

TSK, have you done a jar test after the application? Get a clear jar of water and let it sit in a dark closet 3-4 days....if it clears, the turbidity is mechanical (or algae)...if not, try alum in your test jar and see if it clears overnight
.

I didn't do it after the application. I know at one point I did a jar test to try and get an application rate (this was years back).

And I can't do it right now because like I said, it's crystal clear right now. I know ponds change over the year but I suspect this change is related to one of the pond residents being dormant right now.

Just to add an update to this thread...

This year I was a bit lazy and never got around to turning on my deep water aeration. Guess what happened this year? Clear water.

I know in the past I turned off my aeration for some time and it never cleared up. I must not have waited long enough because now, the water is what I'd consider crystal clear (3 feet for sure).

My deep aerator has to be 2 feet off the bottom. I guess I'll investigate the placement of that guy further, but for now, I just plan to leave the shallow aerator going.