As I understand it a pond of my size should have around 12 inches of visibility. My pond is way over that and the clarity is aiding in vegetation take over. I intend to use multiple means of vegetation control but for help long term, I'd like to do the opposite of what most want to do here. Is there a natural way to cloud the water? I'm not against using dye but if I can agitate the bottom to get sediment/soil back up, I'm for that too. What is recommended to muddy the waters?
My two 80 lb Labrador retrievers do great for keeping my clay stirred so that I always have cloudy water. They spend hours romping around the shallows trying to catch anything from tadpoles to tilapia. It's amazing when they are at the kennel for a week or two how clear the water gets. Maybe not traditional pond management, but get yourself a dog that loves the water. :-)
My aeration system really adds to the suspension of clay and sediments in the water along with crawdads (and an abundant watershed). I'd like to see 24-36 inches of clarity, but ususally have about 12-18". 12" of visibilty seems to be too little in my opinion. What do you currently have?
My aeration system really adds to the suspension of clay and sediments. 12" of visibilty seems to be too little in my opinion. What do you currently have?
Over 3 feet. Have you seen aeration systems that are completely solar? I have no power at the pond.
Anything can be done with solar if you have the know-how and the money..I have neither in that aspect and cannot say that I have heard of a compelte soalr system for sale. Keep in mind that not everyone has turbidity issues due to their aeration system. My murky water is due to the multiple things that I mentioned. I have an abundance watershed the carries a fair amount of silty clay into the pond and an abundance of crawdads that constantly work the pond bottom stiring up the silt...then my aeration system moves it all around. I think an aeration sytem would have to be oversized to help reduce visibilty. I plan to continue reducing the crawdad populations and adjusting my air run-times to improve my visibility...there's not much I can do about the watershed without getting out my excavation wallet (which is empty).
The big upside to poor visibility, which you are shooting for, is that FA only grows in the top 6-10 inches of my water column. This means it grows attached to land grasses that lean over into the pond, portions of the dock, and any plant life that grows along the shore in the shallows. The crawdads also keep the pond floor clear of any FA. I get little to no floating mats of the stuff.
Most poeple don't choose to put carp in, but they do have their place. In your case, they might help keep the plant life down and once it's gone...they root aorund the bottom for food and stir things up.
First things first...What types of plants are you having troubles with?
You could fertilize it, to give the plankton a boost if you don't want to add dye.
The dyes aren't so bad if you stay away from the Caribbean blue color IMO.
If going with dye, take a look at Airmax's Twilight-blue.
What types of plants are you having troubles with?
Watermeal and what I think is Hydrilla but the Texas A&M agrilife extension claims, "Hydrilla is often confused with the native Elodea or the non-native Egeria. Not sure that it really matters that much. I have looked at herbicides with active ingredient Flumioxazin (Clipper) because it appears to kill what I have but holy moly it comes at steep cost. I did find Propeller which has the same ingredient and it's only $100 for 1LB. I'm looking at ALL options at this point and gathering info.
You could fertilize it, to give the plankton a boost if you don't want to add dye.
I get run off from the neighbors pasture. He is old now and doesn't tend the field like he used to which means he no longer fertilizes. When he did, I'd have enough algae for us all. Not sure I want that again. I'm open to dyes, just not sold on it. I'm open to hearing anything right now. Is the dye recommendation preference by color, or something entirely different?
Yes, the Twilight-blue is a color recommendation. I use it. It looks more natural than some of those Aqua-blue colors I’ve seen, those make me think of a contamination event.
