Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Muddy water, brown stuff floating up?

A little history first.

The pond is 30 plus years old, 3/4 acre, triangular in shape, depth from 4' - 8' and averages about 5'. I get runoff from neighbors yards, a 5 acre bean/corn field and a small pasture. I am unaware of any springs or seeps feeding the pond.
The past 2 springs have seen a very large amount of curly leaf pond weed growing in as much as 6-8' of water and coveing 75% of the surface area which dies off when the water gets warmer. I also get a lot of floating algae mats which sometimes covered half the pond.

This year I put in a vertex Air1 running 2 lines to airstations. When I started the project the pond was 50% covered in floating algae and uprooted pondweed. Two days before I finished the install we had a thunderstorm that drove all floating vegetation to the bottom, leaving the surface clear of anything floating on top.

Water was pretty clear before all this which probably helped the weed growth. I have 9 grass carp in the pond, 3 old (3'long) ones and 4 youngsters (10" long).

I haven't done any water sampling but my neighbor found from soil samples that he had to lime an his garden last year to get decent results in his garden.

I have been running the aerator 24/7 since installed about a month ago.

I suspect I need lime. I also suspect I need to thin out the grass carp. Right, wrong, somewhere in between? Or not enough data?

THanks,

give it time. Also check thread about natural muck cleanup. Get you some bacteria going to speed up the process. While you're waiting for the 'one flush' get some ZEP septic cleaner from Home Depot, or some Enforcer septic tank bags from Walmart. Both are the same, have same bacteria as one flush, but 10% active bacteria per gram,BUT you can get 1 lb for the cost of 1/2 oz of One Flush.
Put in 2 lbs. wait 2 wks then put 2 lbs more and taper off every 2 weeks.

One more thing, personally, I would go easy on the lime. You alredy have abundant nutrients(fertilizer) going into your pond. Too much lime may set off too much vegetation growth next spring.
I have neutral pond, no hardness, and got normal algae bloom due to nutrient influx.

burgermeister,
On the subject of Zep septic tank cleaner using in ponds. What effect if any will it have on wild life such as deer and birds ect., and also on domestic animals such as dogs and cats that drink the water?
Would like to use it in my pond but worried about my animals when they drink the water.
Thanks,
Don

BM, I'm curious, in an area that sounds like it is in need of lime (reference comment on neighbor), why not add lime? I don't understand why the presence of nutrients means one should not add lime. In my experience, nutrients are used much more efficiently in the presence of lime....he may even get a good bloom going which will help his fish.

Maybe you are saying that by adding lime, the nutrients will cause problems?

Won't the aeration he has added help with the excess nutrients? I guess the "don't add lime thing" has me purplexed and not understanding. Can you elaborate on that? Thanks.

p.s. just reread the question about grass carp. 9 GC in 3/4 acres sounds like a bunch to me, but thats another subject.

ML, I didnt mean dont add lime. Just get the water tested first. With all the lawn(fertilizer) runoff and already with weed problems, wouldn't lime aid in the weeds processing the nutrients and adding to problem?
Maybe I have it all wrong, probably. The aeration would aid in breaking down the nutrients also, as you said. I'm probably confused. I'm thinking that is why you are so against fertilizer; you already have plenty from the cattle? And when you fertilized, it was an overkill?

ps: ML, they told my neighbor in Miss. he needed lime for his garden, too, but I still got a good bloom.

don, ZEP, one flush, bactaclean, or specific pond bacteria are nothing more than beneficial aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and enzymes already present in the water. Adding them just gives a kick start to the cleanup process with the aid of bottom aeration. This particular ZEP product is not a chemical. It has been determined that some of the specific pond concoctions, even though much more expensive have many more bacteria spores per gram, so whatever you get, cost is effectively the same.

Meadowlark, I am wondering about the GC as well. There must be nothing left on the bottom of the pond because they are laying up in shallow waters eating the charro within 2 feet of shore. Since the aeration was installed I seem to have a faint green tint but I also have a good bit of brown stuff still coming up which i suspect is from the GC rooting on the bottom. I think I am going to offer my nephew the opportunity to do some Bow hunting for GC!

On the bright side my feeding program seems to be show effects in the LMB. They don't do much biting but the ones I see attacking the BG when I am feeding are noticeably larger than this time last year.

Randy H. , BM and ML :

Good topic. Good advice. Couple of points. Get the water tested as BM says. Also get soil samples from around pond bottom and have your county agent have them tested for pond suitability. Costs $ 6 here and you get a detailed report on what you should do. The lack of adequate alkalinity {lime} is a limiting factor to plant growth in the garden and pond. If you have lots of nutrients but no alkalinity and add lime you may get a plant explosion of all kinds. Know the situation before you act. As ML has warned many times get the plants under control before you do anything that might make them go out of control. Aeration may well put more nutrients in the water column just waiting on lime which will be circulated to bottom where FA will use it as will plankton. Will the plankton be quick enough to shade out FA ? I would not bet on that given the difficulty on dealing with FA. Ditto pondweed { those that I know about} except you can't shade it out with plankton bloom . ewest

Randy, I agree. I just think 9 in 3/4 acre is about 5 or 6 too many. If you take some out, get the oldest, largest ones first. For some reason, the older they get the more their metabolism slows and they eat less and less. The three years and younger ones will eat the most and be your most efficient ones in the pond.

My opinion, and this is certainly debatable, is that you don't want to eliminate all weeds, just control them to an acceptable level. Weeds offer the best "structure" going for small fish and the trick is finding the right balance.