Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Pond Dye Prior to Ice-up

Curious if anyone dyes their pond in the late fall, prior to iceup? Our 2 acre lake once we get a bloom going in early summer stays that way until the fall turnover. Over the winter and early spring however the lake is crystal clear leading to large algae blooms in the spring. Looking to try and combat this a bit and I was planning on adding dye this fall for the first time, hoping it would be an affective algae "deterrent" over winter and spring till the bloom hits next summer. Anyone do this with success? Any possible issues? I'd really just like to use the dye over the winter if possible, how long will the effects of the dye be noticeable under normal concentrations?
The lake is well aerated and we keep the shallow diffuser running on a timer over the winter if anyone was wondering. Thanks for the input gentleman.

I do not have Ice over down here. That being said my 3AC pond is maintained at full pull with a lot of clear well water. I use pond dye thru late fall and winter to prevent algae and weed problems at depths during the really clear cooler weather months. The dye acts as a chemical shade by reflecting some of the blue wavelengths of light needed by the plants for photosynthesis. The plants cannot grow effectively without active photosynthesis. Dyes only inhibit plant growth below 18 inches of the pond surface. Color intensity must be maintained in order to remain effective at 18". Less color the deeper the sunlight will penetrate. It has been my experience here that from full dye @ 18" to not noticeable dye take about 8 weeks. I normally stop adding dye in Feb. so that the spring algae bloom I want will not be inhibited. The waters start to warm pretty good in mid march here.
As a side note I seem to feel that Dye tends to make the water temps a few degrees warmer in the upper layer since it catches a lot of the sun light. I would not be surprised if you find ice over to be slower, thinner and end earlier with the use of pond dye.
Oh yea the darker waters seem to help make it harder for unwanted predators to do their thing.

I am from the south as well and a novice pond owner. But I do put in a little pond dye in the fall, after the plankton start to die off, but just enough to hold about a 16 to 18 inch siski reading. I use black in the winter in hopes the pond will absorb a bit more solar energy, maybe/ maybe not. But I also make the assumption the FA and such have a little later start up in the spring and maybe I do not need to use any chemical control before addition of Tilapia for control.

I do not put any in from march on because I do want plankton rich water. I do get a good bloom from the fish feed and fish poop during the late spring and mostly through Sept/Oct.

I think at least for this year and last year there has been some balance. I say that because, my 1st pond years I raked many wheel barrels full of FA the next year about 5 or 6, this year almost none.

I am not saying I am doing it right by any means, but with a little chemical, a little dye, minimal(luckily this year) manual FA removal, there seems to be some balance. Most will tell you here that every pond is different, and it's true in my case. My pond seems to be different every year and I would expect that trend to continue. As a side note my pond has been chemically(water chemistry) stable this year and maybe that has helped some,but not sure as far as FA control is concerned.

All that said, again yes I do use Pond dye in fall and let my siski disk tell me how much to add. Good luck and let us know how it goes if you do decide to use it.