Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water clear water confusion

The more I read this site about this topic the more confused I get. I have murky water most of the time(not 100%). I have used the test of a clear jar but couldn't swear I saw floating particles. Now I'm hearing a)alum sulfate, b)gypsum d)aeration, and now d)hay.
I have been using about 6 tons of agricultural lime on my 2 1/2 acre(avg 8 ft) pond to get my alkalinity up so I can fertilize. But with 12" or less clarity I won't get a bloom.
I'm willing to try one or all of these remedies to clear my water or I'll never get a bloom and thus poor fish(bass & bream) production. So what should I try and how much ?
Dumb question...is gypsum and lime the same?

mike,you might try putting fert. in pond anyway.the reason i say this is i have added on to my lake several times and the water would get off color.every spring i go ahead and fert. the water anyway and it seems to help clear the water.my water would have about 8-12" vis. when starting to fert.however,i would not fert. muddy water but if water is off color i would go ahead and do it.

mike,forgot to answer the gypsum and lime question,answer is no.gypsum is the same stuff as sheet rock you have in your house,if you can find a house being built get all the pieces of sheet rock left over and you can use them.my wildlife & fisheries guy was the 1st person to tell me this,yes i thought he was crazy.it does float for about 1-2 days but it will brake down a work,it's free also.i think the 1 time i used it we put about 500 pounds per acre.forgot to say in early post,your water will clear in time if you do nothing at all,if you have grass around edges,however it takes TIME.if you are like me you dont want to wait than go to plan b,$$$$$$$

thanks lee.
I have fertilized in murky water with no bloom but since I have some I might as well put it in before the summer is up.
I'd still like to hear about hay & aluminum sulfate.
Where do I get the gypsum other than sheet rock scraps?

mike,i will give you my 2 cents worth on hay.i have 3 ponds and 1 lake,i did have 1 respond very good to hay.i think i put about 7 bales in a 3 1/2 acre pond,it took about 2 weeks for the water to clear.it does float on the surface for a day are two before sinking,and the wind will blow it to 1 side of the pond.the other 3 times i used it i'm not really sure it helped them very much.it may be i did not put the correct amount,however the water did not seem to repond to the hay like the other site did.as for the gypsum you can get it at any feed store are you might have some luck at larger hardware stores.

mike,what part of miss. do you live in ?

South central...50 miles east of Natchez.
Does the decomposition of the hay cause any problem? I have a small section(1/4 ac) of my pond that I can experiment on. I think I will try the gypsum and put some hay at my runoffs to trap/filter.

i eas tol no,the wildlife & fisheries guy who told me about this said no problem because hay has allready dryed out.not like putting green grass in the pond that still has to dry out