I have read on this message board many different suggestions for improving water clarity. So I have recently performed several jar tests on my pond water and I would be interested in hearing everyone�s opinions on the results (so far).

Water clarity is currently about 1 foot and has a greenish/brown tint.

I did the jar test with 7 jars; control (nothing added), lime, copper sulfate, gypsum, crushed up drywall, vinegar, bleach (yea, I know). I added about 1 teaspoon of each.

After 48 hours, here are the results so far.

Control: No change in color or clarity. Appears as if algae might be growing on glass.
Lime: water looks like milk. Clarity much worst.
Copper Sulfate: Water very clear with blue tint. Brown goopy stuff floating on top.
Gypsum: Bad. Looks like coffee. (See note below).
Drywall: No change in color or clarity. Same as Control.
Vinegar: A slight improvement in clarity and a lighter shade of green/brown.
Bleach: Crystal Clear and no color. A small amount of floating brown material.

Because the clarity improved with Copper Sulfate and Bleach, can I conclude that my poor clarity is not caused by suspended non-organic material such as clay runoff but from living organic organisms in the water such as algae and/or plankton? Do you concur? I have fish so I don�t want to add copper sulfate. Any other suggestions to improve clarity in this case?

Because I saw some improvement with vinegar, should I add hay or barley balls to my pond?

Gypsum: The only gypsum I could find in my area was garden gypsum that came in a 40lb bag and looked like little brown 1/8� dia. Balls. This cannot be the right stuff.

Are there other jar tests I can do? What other conclusions can be made from these result so far?

Comments?