I have decided to eradicate my pond and start over. I have recently finished construction on my dam and only have about 3/4 an acre of water in a 3 acre pond. I am back n forth on drain vs. the cost of just adding hydrated lime. I hate to get rid of what water I have already.

Is there a formula to calculate how to raise my PH 1 point?

Current PH + Avergae Acre/FT x 7.2 is how many pounds you need...….kinda thing?

Im probably missing part of the formula.

I just want to buy all the lime I need to do this one day to maintain high PH levels enough to kill the fish.

I KNOW ITS CAUSTIC.

II know I have White Crappie and Gizzard Shad in there now.....I want to start fresh.

I would start with 300# per acre foot of water and then test the pH an hour later. That is not to raise it 1 point, that is to raise it to 11, which is toxic to fish.

To do a test, get some hydrated lime and get pond water and a pH meter. 100 mg Hydrated Lime per liter of water should raise it close to 11. Double check to be sure, then do the math to see how much you need to buy.

Thanks Scott. Will do. I need to test it to see where I stand.

Lets say a neutral PH of 7. 1 acre of water averaging 5ft. (Some areas 10ft deep, Some 2-4ft deep)

How much are we looking at?

Asking to get a general idea of the neighborhood of where I stand?

Originally Posted by esshup

I would start with 300# per acre foot of water and then test the pH an hour later. That is not to raise it 1 point, that is to raise it to 11, which is toxic to fish.

To do a test, get some hydrated lime and get pond water and a pH meter. 100 mg Hydrated Lime per liter of water should raise it close to 11. Double check to be sure, then do the math to see how much you need to buy.

Is that starting with a PH of 7?

1 acre, 5' mean depth = 5ac ft.
Neutral pH will around 7.2, yes.
5 ac ft X 300#/ac ft =1500lbs. to be sure add 200-250lbs or make sure you are fairly accurate with dimensions.

Last questions -

1) How much time before water is PH safe? Plan to stock in spring. I don't think there will be a problem, just wondering.

2) Best application methods?
A) plywood on front of a jon boat and spray off using trask pump method
B) Mix to slurry in Blue Barrel then pump from barrel to pond?
C) OR ?...…..

When I have done Alum/lime treatments I use a 470 gallon tank, trash pump with a nozzle reducer to extend discharge distance without atomizing liquid.
essup may have better suggestions for you, but it will take 2 people and a lot of room in a boat to do this safely. My tank is on a trailer, I use a 3" pump with 3" pickup w/strainer, 2" discharge fire hose with valve necked down to 3/4". At about 1/3rd throttle I can discharge 100' easily but I can cover a 1/2 acre pond from shore, driving (pulling) tank mix around it. I have the bags set on trailer, suck pond water into tank, then put pick up strainer in tank and recirculate while mixing in Hyd lime. When it's mixed good I discharge out over pond concentrating heavier in deeper areas. Goggles, facemask, waterproof clothing and good rubber gloves would be recommended.

You'll want to monitor pH every 3-4 hours to see how it reacts. when it's at 8 or close to, it should be safe to start stocking but several days would be my guess.

A 1 ac pond you should be able to do it from a tank on shore with a few hundred feet of 3/4" garden hose. A jon boat might be too tippy to put that much weight up high and spray it off with a trash pump, plus it's so caustic you might eat the aluminum if you don't get it all rinsed off and neutralized.

I know one guy that did the 250 gal tote with trash pump and a spray bar on a pontoon. Remember to always keep the people upwind of the spray.....

A tote is how i did our alum/lime treatment. No need for a spray bar, just add the treatment directly into the water as you move/float the tote around the pond.

Can you describe the tote process?

The banks are so steep that getting around it with anything but a boat is not really an option.

We used our foating pier 12 x 16', took a tote and removed 1/3rd of it on the top side and that made it a tub with a drain on the bottom, 2" is the drain size on the tote I think. We added a honda trash pump that would pump water into the tote and adjusted the water input to match the draining volume of water. We then added a trolling motor inside the tote for mixing along with a trolling motor battery we sat on the pier for power. We then stacked the sks of lime and alum to the pier. After we had every thing set up on the pier we pulled the pier around the 3 acre pond by using a boat with a trolling motor. We had two people on the pier and one in the boat. Took a half day for the job. Hope this helps with your plans.

We are going to eradicate our fish and start over. Have researched forum and it appears we need to use hydrated lime. One acre pond average depth 6 feet. Only hydrated lime we can find in our area is at Menards and is called miracle morta lock. Is this the correct chemical? Thanks for your help! Lyn

That's the stuff. Keep adding enough to get the pH to over 11. Wear the appropriate safety gear, goggles, etc. as the stuff is nasty if on your skin or eyes. I'm guessing have enough to put in the pond at the rate of at least 300# per acre foot of water. So, I would start with 1,800 pounds and have more on hand if the pH doesn't climb high enough. Keep it dry and you can return what you don't use.

If you want to fine tune the amount you need start reading the posts in the beginning of the thread, it tells you how to do it there.

Thank you so much, Esshup! We intend to mix 50 pound bags in a 55 gallon drum and then pump into pond with a trash pump. We will mix the mixture in the drum with a trolling motor. Does that sound reasonable?

I don't know how long the trolling motor will last after that, the hydrated lime is very caustic. Make sure you rinse everything very well afterwards.

Battery-powered drill with a mixing paddle would do the job nicely.

Thanks

It would help (but not necessary) to drain down the pond -- use a pump to concentrate the fish and water , plus it will cut down on the lime purchase.

Well, we tried the hydrated lime treatment today. One acre pond and average depth 5 or 6 feet. Put in 76 50 pound bags of morta lock and only got to 10.3. Do you think we should continue tomorrow? Calling for rain next two days. We’re disappointed and don’t know if we should continue. Any thoughts? Thanks all

Did you have fish die ? If not then its add more or start over.

No dead fish. Started again this morning. Ph was 10.5 this morning. Have ph at 11 most areas of pond now Have aerators running and ph has come up 1 with 40 more bags added today. Keep going?

Have you seen any dead fish ?

In my experience and opinion using hydrated or quick lime is risky as to how well it will kill fish. There are likely several if not numerous variables to consider to insure a fish kill. The main thing IMO is the starting alkalinity and total hardness which have big influences on the buffering capacity of the water body. I would never rely on hydrated lime to eradicate fish especially if tolerant fish are present. Some fish species are more tolerant of a high pH than other species. My go to fish eradication chemical is rotenone. It has never let me down for 100% success. If I was doing it without rotenone and a complete kill was important as the goal I would have reduced the existing 3/4ac of new water down to a even lower pool maybe only 1 ft deep or less. then added twice as much hydrated lime as suggested.

I agree and suggested this approach. As an added benefit this process greatly reduces the cost/amount of hy-lime needed.