Hi everyone,

I need some advise from the experts here. I am new to the forum and pond management.

I have a very large pond / fresh water reserve on my property. It is man made. Too large to estimate gallons. It is designed like a large meandering river that is a large closed loop that is over 2 miles long. It’s about 20-30” wide in sections and anywhere from 8-10 deep in sections. The banks are lined with natural limestone rubble. The river pond is somewhat of a closed loop but is occasionally feed by rain water and linked to other large canal systems through underground pipes.

I have noticed a strange phenomenon: during the the early morning the water is crystal clear. You can see to the bottom in sections of 6 feet of water. Around noon the water becomes cloudy with a green algae bloom. By the afternoon this turns a dark brown tea color and repeats everyday.

An aeration system was installed to help with the cloudy cycle. It ran for 1 month for 24/7. The turbulence disturbed and agitated the water and created even more cloudiness. There was considerable vegetation that floated up to the Surface. The vegetation has been consistently mechanically removed. Aeration has been discontinued.

The system is heavily stoked with various fish. Some are quite large and of many varieties. Even a number of turtles. The fish are never fed. It is self sustaining and natural.

How can I reduced the cycle of cloudiness and have crystal clear water all day?

Please help.

This is above my pay grade.

Bump for you.

First you need to determine just what the cloudiness is caused by. It sounds like a natural plankton bloom. Certain planktons move to the surface in daylight , go from green to brown (in their natural cycle) and then descend when light fades.
Keep in mind that the plankton is the base of your food chain and removing/reducing it can cause a food chain trophic cascade. Can you post pics?

I can post pics on the morning clarity and the evening cloudiness. I think it is a plankton bloom but I didn’t know it can cycle that quickly from clear to cloudy on a daily pattern.

All pics taken on same day. From same spot.

Clear Water in Morning




Cloudy Water in Late Afternoon

What kind of fish are those?
Peacock bass??

Peacock bass and one looks like a Texas cichlid .....

Thanks for the Identification on the fish... I am not good with the id'ing the various species.

This may better help see the cycle... check in the morning eastern time and the water will be clear.. in the afternoon. water is cloudy.

started aeration again.

Live Stream of the Pond

1. Is the daily cycle of cloudiness and water color consistent throughout the entire 2 mile loop of water at each time of day?
2. How many deep sections are there that are 6ft deep or greater in the 2 mile loop?.
3. Approximate width of the sections that are 6ft or more deep. Or it is best to provide an aerial view of the 2 mile loop.
4. Vegetation specie or genus that floated should be identified.
5. How much of each type or species of vegetation should be mapped for the 2 mile loop to determine what species are present. Is it a mono-species or a diversity of vegetation in the loop?
6. How old is the pond?
7. Is the cloudiness a new occurrence or has it been common in prior years? Is cloudiness seasonal?
8. What has changed to cause vegetation to increase or decrease?.
9. What type of aeration was installed and at what locations and depth in the 2 mile loop?
10. Does the water flow or is it pushed / circulated through the loop?
11. Ideally I would like to see a secchi disk measurement and time of day measured of when it is 'clear', green, and brown 'cloudy'. See link for Secchi disk:
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92624#Post92624

12. To best determine the factors creating the cloudiness one should quantitatively analyse the phytoplankton and amount of suspended detritus in the water collected as morning clear, noon green, and afternoon brown water when each secchi disk measurement was taken. If the water circulates in the loop the water clarity can be measured and water collected in just one deep section. If the color varies throughout the loop then more phytoplankton samples would be needed. This information will help a lot to know the cause of cloudiness. Fixing the cloudiness problem could be another more difficult problem to solve.

yucky, Have u added any microorganism treatments to the pond?

Pay attention to everything/anything Bill Cody says on this subject.

Correct. He's got a PhD in algae.

See this thread for example of Bill's work and info about plankton.

https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=321151&page=1

Thanks,

1. Is the daily cycle of cloudiness and water color consistent throughout the entire 2 mile loop of water at each time of day? YES

2. How many deep sections are there that are 6ft deep or greater in the 2 mile loop?. I BELIEVE THE ENTIRE LOOP IS 6FEET OR DEEPER ON THE MIDDLE SECTION

3. Approximate width of the sections that are 6ft or more deep. Or it is best to provide an aerial view of the 2 mile loop. AVERAGES 20-30’ WIDE

4. Vegetation specie or genus that floated should be identified. THICK BLUE FOAMY ALGAE BLOOM WITH A SCUM FILM

5. How much of each type or species of vegetation should be mapped for the 2 mile loop to determine what species are present. Is it a mono-species or a diversity of vegetation in the loop? I CAN NOT IDENTIFY VEGETATION BUT I WILL POST PICS

6. How old is the pond? AT LEAST 10 YEARS OLD

7. Is the cloudiness a new occurrence or has it been common in prior years? Is cloudiness seasonal? IVE ONLY BEEN MONITORING CLOSELY DURING 2020, BUT THE ALGAE BLOOMS WITH FLOATING SCUM HAS BEEN AROUND LONGTERM.

8. What has changed to cause vegetation to increase or decrease?. N/A

9. What type of aeration was installed and at what locations and depth in the 2 mile loop? AERATION ONLY ADDED IN 1 SECTION OF THE LOOP

10. Does the water flow or is it pushed / circulated through the loop? WATER IS NOT PUSHED. THERE IS A NATURAL FLOW BASED ON WIND. WATER DOES NOT CIRCULATE AUTOMATICALLY

11. Ideally I would like to see a secchi disk measurement and time of day measured of when it is 'clear', green, and brown 'cloudy'. DONT KNOW HOW TO DO THIS ACCURATELY

Thank you for any help or suggestions. I’ll post additional pics soon.

Read how to 'do' a Secchi disk.
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92624#Post92624

Again - what type of aeration was installed in the one section?

Aerial google view of the loop??

What type of water shed maintains the depth of the loop?

To me it sounds like there is a Cyanobacteria (bluegreen) algae bloom that can depending on the species typically move up and down in a water column. Microscopically analyzing the water will be the only practical way to identify the problematic algae species. I do that type of work along with larger biology departments of larger universities who have algae specialists. Good circulation throughout the loop would have some sort of minimizing affect on the floating cyano surface film. Wind will not cause much if any circulation throughout the narrow 20-30 ft wide loop. Stagnation is very likely one of several causative agents stimulating the algal scum/film.

I suspected that the lack of constant water flow / movement was a contributing cause.

I’ll get those pictures up soon.