If it was me I would try to get my hands on 50#s of alum and 100#'s of hydrated lime then 20#'s of sodium bicarbonate. Mix the alum and lime together in a bucket then pump or throw it into the pond. With good aeration current it will push it though out the pond in an afternoon.
Mixing Alum and Hydrated Lime together creates a nasty, thick pudding that will not spray at all, and will also not mix into the water column...Create slurries, and spray the two chemicals seperately...
Haa ha ha yep been there. Yes alum has a hard time just dissolving alone. It is best to mix up the alum than the hydrated lime right after same day. Thanks for the correction.
Don,
Thank you for the info. I didn't even think about stressing them out. No more floaters since my last post. I will check again tomorrow. Yes my alkalinity is really low and I'm sure it has always bean that way since I have not done anything to the pond before testing it the first time. My land is nothing but red clay with maybe a half inch of topsoil then grass.
I have never dealt with adding any chemicals to a pond so I am kind of ignorant as of to what these are and what they do. (Alum, sodium bicarbonate and hydrated lime)
I was told to add 1 to 2 tons of ag lime for the alkalinity and found it cheap locally. And my neighbor has a friend that got 15 tons of gypsum for his pond and only needed 2 5 gallon buckets to clear his up and he is selling the rest at a good price. I will check the availability of the products you recommended next week.
Also you said it may sound like there is iron in my sand. If so what will that do to the water quality?
Thanks again for your help.
#20 of hydrated lime is just about equal to 1 tone of ag lime. The only reason I do not like gypsum is all the sulfur in it. It is cheap and easy to get but will be clumpy. The finer the product the better it will flock.
I expect if there is iron in your sand it will go through an oxidizing phase for a year or so and basically be gone. In the mean time it can make the water brown. Iron can be toxic to plants quite easy but I am not sure how it will effect fish. I expect you would have to have tones that turn into alga. Most will be tied up with the alkalinity and should sink to the bottom and stay there. If only if there is iron in the sand keeping the PH up will work wonders.
Take some and put it in a pie plate. Then add a bit of water and vinegar leave it in the sun. Should oxidize over night.
Cheers Don.
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