Labor of love is right and although it is proving to be a lot of work, I know that with the correct maintenence the end result will be worth all the effort. My goal is for it to be a swimming and fishing pond and getting it to look like the "morning pond photo" I posted.
Thank you for the reply and your advice regarding the FA. When I first moved in two months ago I put in a gallon of Aqua Shade as the water is extremely clear (conducive for FA) and I'll be putting in one more gallon to get the clarity to less than 2', yet being careful not to add too much. I've also been spot-treating with Cutrine Plus liquid for the floating mats and the CP granular for the submerged. Again being careful because of oxygen depletion.
Ted Lea with cleanponds.com has been incredibly helpful as I've seen many people refer to him and I was also referred to him by Sue at Vertex. He's been fantastic!
I will be installing an aeration system consisting of 2-shallow diffusers and one deep diffuser, hopefully within the next few weeks.
In the meantime I've been trying to clear the pond of unwanted logs & debris and will be manually removing as much FA as possible. The FA is so bad from the bottom up that you can't cast a line without pulling in a clump of it
The last thing I'm looking into is stocking some Tilapia as I understand they're great for eating FA but won't survive the cold, but I'm having a hard time finding a source. I was hoping someone in Nebraska had them but not having any luck.
Anyway thanks again for your reply!
And thank you Pond Boss for this forum. I've learned so much and am so appreciative of all the great people and great advice.
I'll keep you posted and hopefully can add some pics once I get the aeration system up and running.
