I have a 3 acre eutrophic lake, we had a fish kill ~6 months ago, added 3 subsurface aerators/difussers 2 months ago, and now the lake is 75% covered with Filamentous algae and a massively healthy population of chara under the surface. The bottom has a good 3-4 feet of sludge and we would like to do the right thing to restore the lake.
We had 1 lake expert that recommended we add over $4000 in microbes to clear up the environment over a 6 week period with no ongoing microbe maintenance suggested afterward. The intent was to kickstart managing the nurtrient rich environment and to impact the reduction of sludge. Although he seemed quite knoledgeable, we were his first project and he has since gone out of business due to issues with his business partner.
We talked about continuing the plan he put together with 2 different lake management companies in the Houston area that manage over 200 lakes a piece. Both of them discouraged us from using microbes. One of which said he used to sell microbes and has since discontinued it based on research suggesting a statistically non-significant difference from microbe augmentation in natural lakes. He said the difference between how these were used in waste water situations was completely different because naturally occuring microbes in those environments were non-existent and the addition made a big difference in these more controlled environments. However, in a natural lake, microbes are already there, just not doing their job due to the low oxygen levels. He now refers to microbe augmentation as a "black art".
Frankly, I am not sure what to believe, but my feeling is that the high expense is not going to produce a result worth the cost to the homeowner association. The thread here even seems to suggest mixed reviews. If we try using the Rid-X microbes in a small section of the lake, are there impacts we need to be aware of and is this even worth trying in this manner? Any suggestions on how to proceed?
