Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Swimming Hole (with PICS)

Hello, long time reader first time poster. First and foremost, thanks for the community here. I have learned so much and just when I thought I was educated enough to be dangerous, I found more great information....

Last year my wife and I purchased 15 acres New Prague MN, 45 min South of Minneapolis. The previous owners were amazing excavators and built a motocross track in the back yard and a >1 acre pond amongst other things. There is a 25 foot diving platform. The pond is roughly 5-6 feet deep, except for under the platform where it is 15 feet deep. The entire pond has a clay bottom, no fish, 20 foot beach, mucky bottom (4 inches) and an over abundance of leaches. The pond is filled by rain water or well water. Ducks frequently visit but are immediately chased off by the dog. There is a muskrat family building a burrow on the shore line. Now here is the interesting part, to control weeds and algae the previous owners dumped 4 gallons of chlorine every 5 weeks or so into the pond. Needless to say, I don't want to do that. My primary purpose for the pond is for SWIMMING. No plans for fish at this time, but maybe in the next 3-5 years. The kids have been swimming in the pond every chance they get. After swimming only 3 times, their swim suits became discolored and light brown. Over the past week I noticed some algae and chara.

Goals for the pond:
Safe, clear, algae/weed free, self sustaining swimming hole for kids.

Using Tetra easy strips:
0 nitrate
160 hardness
0 chlorine
120-180 ppm alkalinity
7.2 pH

The actions I have taken so far:

-Assembled and installed RC's aerator, and it has been running 24x7 since March 21st
-Purchased and seeded the spillway and exposed shore with shoreline grass and shoreline wild flower.
-Positioned hay bales to prevent runoff sediment

Questions I have for the community:
-Looking at the pictures and description of the pond, please confirm that the best solution to control the algae is CUTRINE PLUS.
-AQASHADE-It seems with my average depth of 5-6 feet this could be a good solution for algae control.
-The bottom has 4 inches of muck then hard clay. I have seen one or two posts about the use of Bacteria on mucky bottoms but none were conclusive. Has any one had good results Bacteria? If so what kind did you use?
-What is the best solution for getting rid of the scum that forms down wind on the shore line? Its noting major, but it is scum non the less.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Please, let me know if you need more information or pictures. I am looking forward to every ones responses.

Over all pic of the Pond

The fountain has been replaced with RC's aerator

These pictures where taken from the top of the platform. Also, the aerator was off when I took these pictures.




Here is a Pic fo the shore line

Joshua, welcome to Pond Boss! Glad you joined in and shared some pics of your place - great setting!

If you want to eventually consider fish, obviously don't use any more chlorine! Cutrine will get the algae, but your best bet is definitely getting the aeration going like you have. It may take a little time, but I suspect the aeration alone will take care of most of your muck buildup. The bacteria certainly won't hurt if you wish to try them, but if it's organic muck, aeration should be the single biggest influence in clearing it.

Keep in mind that aggressive control of vegetation will eliminate any habitat for your future fish. You may want to consider some artificial habitat for them at the point you are ready to add them. There are plenty of threads on the forum about habitat and it sounds like you'll have plenty of time to review them to see what, if any, are suitable for your future purposes.

Pond dye will no doubt help minimize blooms of plankton or algae and will also help curb sun penetration so you can avoid some plant growth. Plus, since your primary purpose is swimming, you'll probably enjoy the color from a visual standpoint.

Give all of your changes some time to take place - remember that not much happens fast with a pond. You kind of make an adjustment and then wait for progress. If you get into too much of a hurry, you're sure to run into a situation of creating problems as opposed to fixing them!

Sit tight for some more opinions from folks far more experienced and far more knowledgeable than I am - most here fall into those categories! Best of luck and keep us posted on how things progress for you.

Welcome! That's a beautiful place!!

I'd think about adding some Pumpkinseed Sunfish and a few same sex LMB to the pond to control their offspring. The PS should target the leeches.

Not much else to add, Cutrine plus and aeration will help a lot. Send n8ly a PM about bacteria. He's working with it now.

I know you don't want fish now,but I would consider adding them to control your leech and insect populations. Without the bleach (yuck) and some type of fish,I feel you will soon have an insect and leech breeding ground.

I have leechs in my pond too. Pumpkinseed huh? Where can you get those in Indiana???

Hey Gallop, GO GATORS!!!

In Indiana, you can stock RES too, which are much easier to source.

Small bass love leechs. Minnows will help you greatly with mosquito problems(they like the larve). Red ear sunfish will help keep a lot of parasties out of your pond and you will rarely see the RES.

Thats a big and nice pond... Use all of it .

Fish won't affect your swimming possibilities but they can even improve them (like forum members said above).
What about getting a grass carp or a few of them (if it's legal in your state)? One fish might not be able to eat all weeds but it/they might control weed amount.