I've been lurking here for about two years and wishing my pond was more clear. Water this year looks like chocolate milk. Was murky in spring of last year and seemed to clear up alot, but not enough for my liking.
Pond is 3 acres, 4.5 ft avg depth, 16 ft at deepest. I have three aerator heads that i turned off a week ago and i dont see any difference. I put in 10 triploid grass carp (8") last april to help with weeds.
I brought home three jars of water from my pond. Put two on the counter and one in a dark cabinet. Dark one looks the same as the other two.
This morning, after ten days, they had some sediment but still seem dirty. I put a small amount of alum in one jar and within one minute it had flocked up a bunch of stuff. I have attached a pic of two jars, one with alum, the other without. Both jars have a red circle and black x on the paper behind them.
What does everyone think? Do i need to take the alum plunge?
First, Koi are just a colored variant of Carp, and as std Carp do, they will work the bottom sediment and keep it turbid. If it's turbid, weeds won't grow well that grass carp feed on and they too will revert to bottom sediment and add to the problem of turbidity. Koi are also highly reproductive in this type of environment and would scare me a bit knowing they are there..Best deal would be if the Bass were big enough to consume the Koi. Sounds harsh but would be best if they did get them. 3 big Crappie? Blacks or Whites..??? How are your shorelines for erosion protection from wind/wave action? If you truly have turbid water, find the source for sure before wasting money on Alum treatment, you may be fighting an uphill battle if Carp are present and causing the issue.
I attached a pic of one of the crappie. I think its a white.
I learned about the koi problem after i threw them in. I assume with how small they were compared to the bass at the time that most if not all of them were eaten. Fisheries guy told me to put the ten grass carp in because the coon tail was bad. It seems to have helped a bunch. I haven't had a lure get caught on any submerged weeds this year, but I may have traded one problem for another.
My pond is down at least four feet since i bought it, and the weeds have filled in nicely around the entire banks. There is no rock or anything beside weeds/plants along the edges. The one place where runoff has come in in the past has not been a problem this year because the pond is so low the small amount of runoff coming in has a ways to go over a flat and level area before it gets into the pond, and i assume sediments would fall out in this area. It is the first part of the pond to dry out when the water level drops.
My point in posting the pic of the jars is that i guess i dont know what turbid water is. I know that i can only see a couple inches into the water when i'm at the pond. I also know that the water in the jars is much more clear than it seems to be in the pond, BUT the alum made a BIG difference in the jars. AND the amount of sediment in the jars without alum added is VERY small until i add alum.
So based on all this info AND the pic of the jars, where should i focus my efforts? I do not think i have a runoff problem, and the mud that would be stirred up by koi/carp is much more brown than yellow, and the jars seem to be more yellow than brown. My sense is that i have a clay problem.
Figured I'd follow up since i actually did the alum / lime...
So far the results are great. I had less than 3 inches of visibility before and now have at least a foot and a half. fishing has dramatically improved.
I bought an old pontoon and removed all the seating and steering console. I had a 250 gallon tote which i placed in the center of the boat. I added a 2" bulkhead and shutoff valve about halfway up on the opposite side from the outlet on the bottom, then I piped in a trash pump to the bottom valve. On the other side i hooked up 10 feet of 1.5" pvc pipe that ran out to the bow of the pontoon. I had two ten foot 3/4" pipes coming off a T (forming a sort of spray boom) but that was WAAAY to slow.
So i used one trash pump, pushing pond water IN to the tank and letting gravity push the mixed water/alum out. It seemed to work pretty well, even though it was a lot of work. I would never want to do it again, especially without a helper or two, but im glad i got it done. Happy to answer any questions if anyone has any.
