From what I've read, the pH of the water is pretty important if you do this treatment. Can someone go through the safety issue, when the chemical reaction gets toxic to fish? Some places say to just use ag lime or gypsum or barley hay to clear water, others that these may not work. Consensus here seems to be to use alum.
My little pond (<1/4 acre)was just dug this summer, and it's in gray clay. The trackhoe dug 11' deep without ever getting through the clay layer, so it holds water good. But it never has attempted to settle out. I can see through about 18", which is probably good enough for fish, but my wife calls it the mud puddle. It's stocked with CCF, HBG, RESF, and FHM.
I tried to clear the water early on (when it was only full in the deep part) with alum and ag lime, but it just got milky white and never did clear up. I covered the rest of the bottom with ag lime then, but haven't tried anything since it filled all the way in September. Don't want to cause a fishkill.
I guess it's just an aesthetic concern- I'd like to see the fish. Is that crazy? All the ponds around here (east TX) seem to be muddy, and it was the same in red clay west TX, where I used to live. There's lots of gypsum in the soil there, so I'm kind of skeptical about how well gypsum works.
thanks
