Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization Algae bloom help

Ok I have to admit I'm so confused I wasn't even sure where to post this. Can someone explain to me or back link me to some reading on algae blooms. First some info pond is .6 acre x 5' average depth. I cleared it with Alum and it went clear and I mean clear. Pond was like coffee with cream and 8 house later crystal clear. Then like a week later pond had a green tint. I never made a disc to measure vis but I read on here that a white coffee cup was about the same and I was 18" reading. A week or so later it's 10-12" and a dark green. I also have an aerator running about 10 hrs a day. Could my bloom be too good? Do blooms die in the winter and have to be started again? If my vis keeps getting worse is there a way to tone down the bloom.

TZ,

Somehow you slipped through under the radar. Sorry it took so long to get back to you.

As for whether or not your bloom will die down in the winter, somebody closer to your area probably needs to answer that. Here in West Virginia it starts to happen in about October.

Right now, it sounds like you have way too many nutrients getting into your pond somehow. That is what is probably what is causing what appears to be a bloom. Ten to twelve inches of visibility, and dark green, does sound a little extreme.

Is there a possibility that you are overfeeding?

I've managed to cut nutrient inflow considerably into my pond by having fairly dense grass around the pond, creating a small wetland where lots of water flows through from a neighbor's pasture, and I've got two settling ponds in a dry creek that runs into the pond after heavy rains. I'm afraid I've actually overachieved, as I hardly get any blooms anymore.

Anyway, I'm sure a few others will soon join in with a lot of questions and ideas.

Good Luck,
Ken

My pasture runs off to my pond and I was wondering if that could be feeding my bloom. My 2 horses make plenty of fertilizer.

I think you've answered your main question. I'm working with some friends with a similar problem, and we are doing a number of things, including making a cattail wetland between where the water gathers and where it dumps into the pond.

As always, I'm running way behind. I've got fish to fillet, bags to pack, and just enough time for enough sleep to get on the road for the week.

I should have a little more time tomorrow night or Tuesday night at my home away from home. I should be able to provide a little more info.

Hopefully, a few others will chime in too. I know I'm not the only one who has fought and won over excess nutrients.

Ken

TZ,

I did some "Googling" of the subject, and found virtually nothing. It seems like you really hit the black hole of pond management.

(HELP -- JHAP, Sunil, Brettski, DD, Cecil, Bill Cody -- where are you and all the rest of the algae control cowards? See if I protect you guys next time we take a ride in a van with a bullet hole in the windshield).

Anyway, I guess this makes me the world expert in pond algae vs. poop control -- and that ain't good, 'cause my knowledge is limited.

Oxygen, light control, and filtering will cut down on your bloom. But, what you have ahead of you isn't going to be fast or easy.

You certainly have one big thing in your favor, and that is your aeration system. Oxygen helps control algae.

You have natural light control because of your heavy bloom, but your issues will be degenerative until you can reach some balance point. The less bloom you have, the more light, and the more algae you'll have.

You have several choices to reduce your nutrients:

1. You can rid the drainage area of the horses. I'm assuming that this is not a reasonable consideration.

2. You can channel the water runoff around the perimeter of your pond with berms and ditches, but I doubt that is an option. Your pond would probably go dry.

3. Filtering. This leaves you with one last option -- filtering. Filtering will take some time, in more than one way. You need to slow the inflow. As you slow the inflow, you need to have lots of things to absorb and convert the nutrients while they are slowed. Think aquaponics, even if you don't use the results as food.

It took me about three years to control heavy nutrient inflow from neighboring properties. It wasn't very expensive, but it was labor intensive.

The land that drains from the east, boards up to about 20 horses on 40 acres. It drains through the forest about 600 feet, and finally into my pond. This route now has two settling ponds before this pasture runoff reaches my pond.

The land that drains from northeast of my pond includes 20 acres of alfalfa field that is heavily fertilized each spring. Just north is an adjacent 20 acre pasture that is a heavily fertilized and holds about 20 black Angus steers and heifers during the spring and summer months. These 40 acres drain into my pond.

Because of my efforts, I'm now at a point where I really don't even have a bloom.

If you can, post pictures of your pond and the drainage areas above it. If you can, use Google Maps to provide us with aerial photos or topo maps of your property.

I believe we can assist in cutting your algae, without putting diapers on your horses, and while still maintaining a great fishing pond.

Good luck,
Ken

Catmandoo is doing a pretty good with answers so you don't need a lot of others saying basicially the same thing. Blooms with green water can continue into winter if ample nutrients are present, although the algae species my change as the temperatures and daylengths change. Thus the bloom water color / hue may change somewhat.

Often in managed fertilizer added systems, one stops fertilizing in mid to late summer and available nutrients get consumed before winter and water clears up as bloom dies off. In "natural" unmanaged systems there is often a weak or mild fall bloom which consumes most of the available nutrients - maybe during or after the fall turnover. Often the nutrients are not replentished in real late fall, early winter, so the water clears after the fall bloom dies out when most all nutrients get consumed. Blooms of certain cold water algae species can occur under the ice - cold tolerant diatoms are often the species doing the under ice blooming.

IF the pond is static (no outflow) pond dye can help slow the bloom. Sometimes light doses of algacide or spot treatments (small areas) can help suppress blooms. Care has to be taken not to kill too much bloom and cause a DO loss.

Main problem of too big of a bloom is a string of cloudy or rainy days can result in all that bloom not getting enough sun light and algae consumes more DO than it produces - fish kill then happens usually late night very early morning - 2-5am. If strong aeration is present then a fish kill can often be avoided during heavy blooms and dark days. When all of the bloom dies all at once (runs out of nutrients) then a DO loss can also occur when all the dead algae rapidly decomposes.