Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization Alkalinity in large reservoirs

Acidity is usually high in east Texas ponds,
and require liming for fertilization and fish
productivity. But, I'm curious about how the
acid problem is overcome in the large public
reservoirs with thousands of surface acres.
Does size make a difference ?

I suspect that most large reservoirs are "fed" by alkaline streams and retention times in the reservoirs being less than in most TX ponds.

Larger lakes have larger watersheds, and usually drain many different soil types. As goes soil, so goes water chemistry. Throw in ground water percolating through springs into major lakes, and water chemistry is quite different in large lakes compared to small ones.

I just placed 100 tons of super fine lime in a 35 acre lake in Houston County, just north of Crockett. My numbers went from 15 to 28 after about 6 weeks. I was hoping for a range of above 40, so I am not sure I will be able to keep the pace with that large of a lake. At some point, the curve would have to swing the other way as far as the expense goes. I may choose to do brood ponds, feeders, habitat and anything else I can learn about instead of dumping thousands of dollars of lime into a lake to watch it wash out the other end due to it being a large watershed.

It may still go up. In GA alkalinity will continue to rise for about 3 months after liem application. It then stablizes before slowly loweing over the years. Besides I shot for above 20 ppm so you should be good for a few years I would guess.

Where can I purchase a test kit for checking the hardness of my pond?
Thanks, Jake

Pond Queen, if you are above 20 ppm, you are good to go. More is good, but not necessarily better. Budget your lime for more applications, not necessarily one big one.
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