Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction NW Ohio pond maintenance

Hello, I saw this forum referenced on reddit while searching for pond maintenance information.

We have about a 1/4 pond on our property that we use for water in the house. The well water in my area is heavy with black sulfur that is very difficult to treat so most have small ponds.

We have been here for 6 years now and I have struggled with algae and weeds every year.

I treat it "regularly" but apparently not enough or for the right things as I always get behind and it goes downhill from there.

I will be looking for some info on specific treatments but with the understanding we bathe in this water. It goes through a typical well filtration system but that doesn't remove the chemicals so trying to be cautious.

Also will be looking for edge solutions. It is currently small rocks but also battle the weeds there. Curious what people use other than roundup style weed killers, again, since we bathe in this water.

Thanks and looking forward to learning and improving my pond experience.

Do you also drink your pond water, or is it just for baths/showers and washing dishes?

One of your easiest solutions would be to use a pond dye. Here is a link to one of the popular products.

Aquashade Info Sheet

This product is safe for swimming, irrigation, and animal consumption (which usually means watering livestock).

It is perhaps safe for human consumption, but who knows how expensive that testing would be for the manufacturer plus their potential legal liability for a human death, so it is wiser for the product label to just say "No." (However, I wouldn't drink it, since that is what the label says.)

There are several people on Pond Boss that dye their ponds and use them for family recreation. I would assume swimming is more exposure than a bath (since you frequently dunk your head), but people typically don't swim every day.

Likewise, there are some algaecides and herbicides to use in ponds that have similar label restrictions.

I think using the dye and then some rare, targeted herbicide treatments would probably give you some worthwhile improvements. Maybe do the harshest treatment when everyone is leaving the house for a few days?


Perhaps use the search function to read some of the pond dye threads.

Hopefully, some of our actual experts will drop into your thread.

Good luck on your pond improvements!

Depending on the type of vegetation, maybe you can manually clear it? I have a much larger pond that I work on manually. I keep my grounds mowed around the edges and weed eat right up to the water. So far, I've been able to keep cattails out by pulling them up by hand when I see them.

I also get out in the water and rake my coontail out and that stuff can grow pretty deep. That's a lot of work though and my employment allows me to have the summers off which is a luxury many others may not have.

When I first bought the land with the pond, I didn't realize the maintenance required to keep the banks clean and they it got away from me. After a major redo 2-3 years ago, I have committed myself to not allowing that to happen again and the banks have been relatively easy to maintain..

As Sherwood mentions above and I also think your first steps should be to know exactly what problem rooted plants you have and what basic type or types of algae you are battling. There are many, many different types. Try and determine what algae and weeds are problematic to your pond.. Not all algae and weeds are created equal.

One does not go to the doctor and say you are battling sniffles and body aches and expect him to prescribe proper treatment. For good treatment the doctor needs to ask pointed questions and / or have tests to determine or see what is actually causing the "sniffles" and body aches. Diagnoses is key to a solution.

"Algae and weeds" do not really give me much information. I have many books of different algae species and pond - wetland plants "weeds". IMO different plant species need different treatments because they have different vulnerabilities to different treatments. Some treatments work much better than others which is one reason you are here asking for help. Wood County Soil and Water Cons District had a pond clinic this spring. That would have been a very good place to start.

The definition of a weed is a plant growing where you don't want it to grow. One persons weed might be the next persons flower. Like a broken record, without proper ID it's almost impossible to say what is the correct herbicide/algaecide. There are "broad spectrum" herbicides that nuke everything, but why "throw the baby out with the bath water" so to speak? You really need beneficial plants in the pond, so just treat the ones that are being a pain in the you know what. To do that we need a good close up picture, or a plant ID to say what is best to use.