I have a 1/3 acre pond not more than 8 feet deep in central Ohio. It's about 4 years old. Stocked with YP,SMB,RE,GS,FH.
The pond is really pretty w/ very nice clear water November - mid-April. However during the warm months I have less than 6" of vis. Sort of like a chalky light brown. I do a regular application of EccoBoost prx which has dramatically reduced the FA, I have purposely planted emergent plants and I run two bottom diffusers.
I suspect the color is somewhat impacted by the fact that my kids swim in the pond occasionally during warm months, but we're going on more than 2 weeks since they've in it and the clarity is still as if they just finished. I understand that mechanical mixing is going to cause dirty water but it seems like once it gets dirty it remains so until the water temps drop in late fall. Is there any way to make the dirt fall out of the water column faster? Would a dose of Alum help with this? Should I do chemistry test on my water?
It's been a couple of years but I did a jar test and don't really remember the results other than at some point I put a little Alum in one of the jars and it immediately cleared.
