Sue and Illinois Longhorn --
Many thanks for the kind words about my pond. I love the clarity of the water, too, but the credit I think goes to Mother Nature -- probably to the chara, in fact. From what I've read, it seems to really capture and use available nutrients (maybe at the expense of other plants and critters).
I'm sure the grass carp do consume some of the chara. The literature I've been able to find online suggests that as grass carp get larger (especially beyond 18" - 20") they seem to switch from algae to vascular plants. I've watched them working around the base of the cattails, and have concluded they may be nibbling at buds or shoots coming off the root system. But it's only a guess ... have to figure out a sure-fire way to harvest one! It's not easy sneaking up on them with water that clear.
By the way, if you want to see what this pond looks like after a 5" rain (and before my neighbor had good silt guards installed at his construction site), just check the posting I did back in October in the "Muddy Water" category, with the sub-head "Trout and Muddy Water."
I think aeration has been a really important part of achieving and maintaining water clarity -- but I think upper watershed protection is paramount. I try to keep 100% vegetative cover up by the spring and its basin; and I don't graze any livestock up there either.
I've also tried, with varying degrees of success, several different commercial bacteria cultures to work on the pond's "muck." I really haven't been bowled over by any one product -- and some are almost outrageously expensive.
But bottom line, it was the aeration system that started the big turn-around on this once warm and weedy pond. And I credit it with making it a trout pond, too -- especially on those muggy July andAugust nights when all that chara starts using dissolved oxygen, instead of giving it off.
My radical plan for next summer? Maybe just running my aeration at night instead of 24/7.
Again, thanks for the kind words about the pond. -- Mike
