Pond Boss Magazine
https://www.pondboss.com/images/userfiles/image/20130301193901_6_150by50orangewhyshouldsubscribejpeg.jpg
Advertisment
Newest Members
fiksegts2, Kirk78, Rgv, Kalispel, TokyoTim
19,114 Registered Users
Forum Statistics
Forums36
Topics42,113
Posts571,671
Members19,115
Most Online13,012
Jun 7th, 2026
Top Posters
esshup 29,788
ewest 22,033
Cecil Baird1 20,043
Bill Cody 15,996
Who's Online Now
3 members (4CornersPuddle, WindowRock, 10x), 9,163 guests, and 145 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Thread Like Summary
esshup
Total Likes: 1
Original Post (Thread Starter)
by CentexSaj
CentexSaj
I just took a Secchi reading and I was between 12-14" of visibility. This is pretty similar to when my pond first filled up (pond is almost a year old now) and also matches the same water clarity as an older pond on the property. My question is, do I need to clear this body of water up to make it more productive? The pond does have a nice green tint to it at the moment, so I'm assuming I'm getting decent plankton. My pond is also very low currently, as we are in a pretty bad drought. The banks are fairly barren as all attempts to grow vegetation for erosion control have failed due to a lack of rain. I have some annual rye grass currently that is barely hanging on in some areas but that's about it. I'm assuming that my water clarity will get slightly better (maybe 1-2") once I get vegetation growing on the banks. The goal of this pond is going to be a high catch rate bass/BG pond, and my only source of water is the sky. We were able to catch bluegills just fine on small lures last fall, so it seems the visibility is good enough to catch fish. I personally have no issues with the water clarity from a cosmetic standpoint. We had a small lake on our last property that started out muddy, but then as aquatic vegetation started to emerge it rapidly became very clear which then allowed the aquatic vegetation to pretty much take over the entire pond. So not looking for a repeat of that.

Thanks in advance
Liked Replies
by Bill Cody
Bill Cody
Read through this thread for some ideas for an easy commonly used way to test what could be causing the water clarity issue and how to deal with it.
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37367#Post37367

Some opinions of new science are saying around 30" water clarity is the good clarity target for growing good sport fish and minimizing the chances of having bluegreen algae problems. Water clarities of 12"-20" if it is mostly producing phytoplankton has too much fertility (usually phosphorus) that often transforms into bluegreen algae (Cyanobacteria) problems during the warm season. Abundant bluegreen algae does not transfer a lot of good nutritious food into the zooplankton community, Too much phytoplankton (vis 12") can be problem during several dark overcast days where it will cause dissolved oxygen sags and types of fish kills even when bottom aeration is being used.
1 member likes this
Today's Birthdays
adam black, JOTMCKIN, PondSmith
Recent Posts
Iron Ore Well Water
by FishinRod - 09/17/26 10:21 AM
Stop Feeding- Will Bass Return to Foraging ?
by Theo Gallus - 09/17/26 09:46 AM
Gravel Pit Lake - Aeration ?
by WindowRock - 09/15/26 09:49 AM
Field and Stream Feeds?
by Bill Cody - 09/14/26 07:37 PM
Newbie from Colorado
by ewest - 09/14/26 03:34 PM
New Pond Update...
by ewest - 09/14/26 03:27 PM
Too much forage?
by Jst4Fun - 09/14/26 01:09 PM
Lotus variety of nice color
by gehajake - 09/13/26 02:07 PM
Billboard Tarp Pond
by jason7858 - 09/11/26 05:21 PM
LMB in 1 ac pond
by Terry Battisti - 09/11/26 04:10 PM
Previous lurker from Dayton, Ohio!
by ewest - 09/10/26 10:03 AM
Chestnut other trees for wildlife
by Scooter_Trash - 09/09/26 09:54 PM
Newly Uploaded Images
Uninvited crappie pictures
Uninvited crappie pictures
by fishwife, June 16
Chestnuts this afternoon
Chestnuts this afternoon
by Rangersedge, May 21
Trackhoe
Trackhoe
by Rangersedge, January 24
Thanksgiving RES
Thanksgiving RES
by Shorty, November 27
Nice 12 Inch BGxRES
Nice 12 Inch BGxRES
by Theo Gallus, June 1
F1 Bass stocked 6/24 caught 3/30/25
F1 Bass stocked 6/24 caught 3/30/25
by lafarmpondguy, March 31

� 2014 POND BOSS INC. all rights reserved USA and Worldwide

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 8.0.1