Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Bank vegetation before clearing muddy water?

Hey guys, after the last rain my pond has pretty much filled back up again, and I was hoping to start working on clearing the muddy water. I worked on it a bit last year and did some jar tests, found that alum cleared everything up very fast. My big question is that due to the drought that we have been in my banks are still largely bare from when the pond was built. Is it worth treating the water with the banks still bare or should I hold off until I can establish some more vegetation? Right now we are actually getting fairly consistent rain. I have been spreading millet seed around the lake which has been germinating so hopefully this year will be better. I don't want to waste money on treating the entire pond with aluminum sulfate when I should have been spending the money and time on more seed for the banks.

Second question; I found a supplier of aluminum sulfate in 50lb bags (local feed store), is this all the same? The feed store people can't tell me if this will work when being tossed in the water.

Thanks,

David

Almost that exact same question is being discussed in an active thread.

Clearing Muddy Water - Pond Boss

More money is capable of solving lots of problems. If I was on a tight budget, I might just keep working on getting vegetation established on all of the bare banks, since that must be done for the long-term health of your pond.

However, if you still have some stocking plans this spring, then I think you may need to make your water more clear so the newly-added fish will be able to feed and thrive.

Some of our management experts can probably tell you how muddy is "too muddy" for stocking fish.

And if you have water in the pond, a pump will let you water your bank seeds and plants if it is dry.

Get vegetation established first. Aluminum sulfate can't be tossed in the water. It has to be dissolved then sprayed in the pond.

OK good to know, I did read the other thread, just wasn't sure if this is something that could be worked on simultaneously or if vegetation really needs to be fully in place first.

You can do it pre vegetation, but you might have to do it again if a bunch of clay washes into the pond before vegetation can get established.

A number of customers that have new ponds have purchases small semi trash pumps and watered their grass around the pond with pond water to get it established fast. That minimizes erosion and muddy pond water. They will lay the hose near the waters edge, use semi-circular pulse "rainbird" type sprinklers and have 3-4 running at the same time maybe even more depending on pump size and how fast they want the grass to get established. Yes, they have to move it a few times a week but I'm amazed at how fast the grass grows. They will use an annual Rye grass to get super fast green-up plus whatever grass they will want around the pond. The Rey pops up first and helps shade the slower germinating grass, keeping it moist for a longer period of time. They will run a hose, put a "T" on it, wiht a 3' piece of hose for the sprinkler and continue on with the hose. until they get the number of sprinklers that they need or what the pump can handle.

So I went out yesterday, this is after a few big rains have filled the pond almost all the way up. I was shocked to see how much clearer the water was. I did not have time to take a reading, but I would imagine I gained several inches. I'm assuming this is just from the rye grass stabilizing the soil right where the water line is. Interestingly though, when I did my jar test, I had a control jug that didn't really clear up at all or have any sediment at the bottom.

Yay for clear water!

There is a chance your water was holding sediment due to wave action constantly lapping at your shores, rather then due to transport during runoff.

P.S. Can you put your control jug in total darkness for a few days? This time of year, part of your lower secchi disk reading should be due to some phytoplankton in your water column.