Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Algae issue due to septic system?

New to the group...looks like a wealth of information on here. Im from the southern illinois area. I got a feeling this may not be the first time this has been discussed on this site so please forward me to the right place if so. Thanks!!!

I have a small pond slightly over an acre adjacent to my house that i share with a neighbor. Ive lived here for about 9 years and actually grew up down the road and fished the pond as a kid. For as long as i can remember the pond has struggled with "moss". Its always been a mossy pond. When i moved in i talked to the neighbor and he said he would take care of treating it. I think for the most part he just spread a little copper sulfate from time to time and it never did do a whole lotta good. Like me i think he was always concerned about killing the fish so probably wasnt using the appropriate amount. Well that neighbor moved and i have new neighbors who are great but i mentioned i wanna try to tackle getting the pond cleaned up.

The biggest issue is the moss or i guess algae. It has really started taking off this last couple weeks and it makes it difficult for the kids to fish. Im nervous to just go to the local farm supply store and buy something off the shelf and spread it without consulting someone who has maybe tackled the same issue. Also i have heard if your septic system drains into a pond it can be difficult to control algae due to the nitrates potentially making it to the pond. Anyone have any advice on what the first steps might be to controlling the algae and also verifying that my septic is or is not the culprit ?

Welcome to the forum! The moss you refer is the green floating mats in and on the surface of the water? I think this is or can be a problem with more established ponds and is caused by a build-up of nutrients in the water. Treating it with chemicals does kill it off in the short term but without removing the dying mass or having some other way to take up the nutrients it becomes an annual treatment as I understand it.

Nutrients can be leaf litter, fish waste, excess food, recycled plants, brush piles, logs....

Do you have plants in the water that you like or some that you would like to add?

On your septic system. How far away from the pond are your lateral lines? in my neck of the woods laterals can't be placed within XXX feet of the pond or property lines. Are you thinking you are dropping raw sewage into the pond?

There are multiple treatment options but if it were me I would nail down what is going on with the septic before doing anything else.

Yes there are moss mats floating on top but i can see green globs below the surface that cover a larger area.

There is some vegetation growing. From looking around online it looks like it is creeping water primrose. I dont really have a problem with the primrose. In the past if it gets a little too heavy to where the kids cant fish very easily i just pull it out with a rake.

I have two laterals, one runs about 75 feet to the north and discharges into the pond and the other heads out north and goes over a 100 ft and is simply buried. The end of the pipe is not exposed but the pipe does parallel the pond for a large portion of that distance roughly 30-40 feet away. The house was built in the early 90s so not sure what the regulations where at the time. I dont think i am dropping raw sewage in the pond. Late last year the tank was pumped and i always keep an eye on it to make sure the aerator in the tank is producing bubbles like it should. I do believe the septic is part of the problem though because it did seem like the moss kind of started at that location and grew from there. The northern end of the pond is pretty shallow, less than 3-4 ft. It is also surrounded by some mature oak/birch/maple trees so there is a good amount of leaf litter that ends up in the pond in the fall. This northern end gets very mossy and the southern winds seem to push things that way.

I agree i think i need have someone come check for sure that my septic is functioning correctly. I dont smell anything but it may not be breaking things down 100% like its designed.

I install septic systems regularly here in Mo and deal with them everyday, and there are a ton of problems with onsite systems and ponds.

Number one, your system should Never discharge into the water, aerator or not, they nixed that theory a long time ago here, and pretty sure figured that out everywhere, IL is pretty strict with regulations, probably even more so then in MO.

When you have a lateral daylighting into the pond there is no incentive at all for it to absorb into the ground and be treated by the dirt, it will always follow the path of least resistance straight into your pond. jmo

I'm no pro here but we are looking to have a septic installed with the new house build on the property. My understanding is that the system we will have installed is not permitted to daylight anywhere and that the leach field design is meant to allow the water to evaporate and the dirt/microbes to treat the sewage naturally (holding tank still has to be pumped). I think I would treat this just like trying to clear muddy water. First step is to stop the flow of septic water into the pond. Once you get the septic figured out and corrected move on to weed and algae control. Might look up set-backs from property line and water for septic use on permits for your area. Use that as a minimum for your new design.

On treatments for the FA vs primrose I don't know what to use but if you like the primrose you want to treat one without killing the other or treat both in selective areas without killing all the primrose in order to open some of the pond up for kiddo fishing. That part will be important to relay to whoever is helping you with the chemical treatments...

Appreciate the info. I think il ask a couple local septic companies on what the options may be and why they would have designed it this way in the first place. Im sure the options wont be cheap.

I suppose i can research if there are any treatments that can be added to the system to help ensure what is potentially making it to the pond is as clean as possible. I did have to dig up a septic lateral last year due to some tree roots and noticed the holes in the line so its designed to leach out as much as possible before making it to the pond but like mentioned above the water is mostly going to take the path of least resistance.

Umm, are you sure that what you have there isn’t a lagoon?? Doesn’t sound to me like it was intended to be a fishing pond, just a sewage lagoon. I had one here and took it out when I had my pond dug. I installed chambers about 300ft from the pond, on the back side of the dam, cost was 6800 dollars.

No definitely not a lagoon lol Other than the summertime when the water temps are high the algae isnt an issue.

The amount of discharge that ends up in the lake is very minimal...at times i can look at the discharge pipe and its dry as a bone so it is leaching out prior to getting to the end of the lateral. Unfortunately at times it does discharge and then the algae seems to grow faster.

gehakake, could he dump a quart of concentrated pond dye into the septic system (flush it down the toilet) to see if any is leaching into the pond? Wouldn't it start to dye the pond blue if it was getting into the pond?