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Joined: Apr 2018
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I just added pond dye for the first time yesterday evening. Decided to go with twilight blue, which is really more blue green.

When I look at the pond now, the water appears clearer, which I'm sure is from light refraction. The water has been pretty turbid since I turned on the aeration. The extreme shallows are still visible. I checked both extremes of water temp prior to treatment and again today....no change (76f surf, 69f @ 11')

For those who use a dye, does this sound like I've added enough?

The bottle says 1-2 quarts should adequately cover a pond of 1 surface acre, 4-6 feet deep, which is basically 4-6 acre foot of water. My pond is 1 acre foot and I used about 1/3 of a quart.

Any insight on this new experiment would be greatly appreciated.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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have any before and after pictures? Colors are best judged by eye rather than description smile

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Sorry. Not any of before. I can get a current one tomorrow tho


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Hi Mike,
I also started started using the Twilight blue dye the past year, and can give my experience with my 1.2 acre pond.
On the first batch one quart was not really enough to get the results I was looking for (less than 24" visibility) so I added another.
The results with two were good for me. To refresh, I've since been alternating between Nature's blue and Twilight blue to get more of a blue tint. Your results may vary, I think the color tint has more to do with the pond minerals present.

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It's real green right now with a visibility of about 14-16". I havent measured it lately. My homemade white coffee mug schechi device got broke.

What visibility did you settle on with your dye?

I dont care for the blue tint. It just doesn't look natural for a pond.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Originally Posted By: Journeyman
...Your results may vary, I think the color tint has more to do with the pond minerals present.

I sure wouldn't disagree with that. We have high iron ore content on our little hatchery pond, and a blue dye (we use Aquashade) gives the pond a nice bloomy green color.

Mike, I laughed to myself when I read your coffee cup reference. I've posted this in the past, but I have set a white coffee cup in the water just deep enough to not be visible. After dye settles, I can see the cup.


AL

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Funny thing about the white coffee cup - that's what I use too! Pretty sure I read it here.

Mike, I know what you mean about not natural looking blue dye, but I think that's the Aqua blue stuff that does that. The Twilight blue in my pond is pretty black or greyish. Refreshing with True blue looks more natural to me.

Above my coffee cup 24" away is a loop knot, for reference.
My scientific formula for adding more Dye is;
Visible coffee cup + wet knot = 1 quart
; )

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I think when it comes to this AquaShade although usually a bit more expensive does the trick for me. 1 gallon in my one acre pond does it. Then once a month I will add 12 extra ounces if needed. I don't really care how pretty it makes things but use it for it's legit purpose of keeping them sun rays out. It works and it works good! And it does look pretty good to me also.

RC


The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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I'm posting two links to pics of the pond, taken today. One is of the shallow bank beside the dock. The dye hasn't had much affect on the FA yet, but its only been two days. I usually take a rake to it every other week or so. Being a small pond, it doesn't take long, but long enough to want less FA. You cant see it in these photos, but from a more parallel view over the water, theres a film of dying algae on the surface on the windward side (far side) of the pond.

We got another 3/4" of rain in 30 minutes earlier today, but it doesn't seem to have had much affectin the color.

[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/cwzL3pGF6C1MmuzA9[/img]
[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/YBwseeai7kH37dkZA[/img]

RC...so you're basically using 24 inches visibility as your base for how much dye to use/ add...correct?

Having never had a close look at a dyed pond, I wasn't sure how much it affected visibility. That's what prompted this thread.


Last edited by Mike Whatley; 05/02/19 03:27 PM.

.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Yes I get about 24 to 18 inch vis. I'm good with that my fish find my bait just fine! lol. My pond shore is a bit shallow so a little less vis is ok with me. Here is a pic of my pond about 5 days after a 1 gallon Aquashade treatment last spring.


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Pond (2).jpg
Last edited by RC51; 05/02/19 03:41 PM.

The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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I agree completely about having less visibility. The fish are definitely less spooky and easier to catch.

I just went down and threw some feed. The water has a bit more "milky" tinge to it when you're standing over it from the turbidity, they fed just fine. I may add a little more dye, but I think I'll wait until all this rain we're supposed to get Saturday passes thru first.

Do you find your phytoplankton blooms are less dense since you started using dye?

Nice looking BOW...BTW!!

UPDATE: My new coffee mug visibility tester says 18". Most of that loss is from detritus being kicked up by the aerator as it is usually less than that after it shuts off, but starts settling afterward. I'll measure again in the morning while its on.

Last edited by Mike Whatley; 05/02/19 05:14 PM.

.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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My blooms are a little less but it's a fair trade off. Aquashade just has a lot of pros to it in the pond toolbox IMO. I pay 50 bucks a gallon for it but to me it's worth it. Every spring you just have to know your going to have to have a spring management budget for your pond. Here is mine in a nut shell.

1. 6 bags of AM 600 fish food for the year.
2. 2 gallons of Aquashade (not used all at once mind you)
3. 2 one acre treatments of beneficial bacteria. One in April and one in mid to late June. (PM me if you want to know what I use)
4. 1 acre treatment of cutrine plus granules if your pond needs it and mine usually does. I will treat half acre at a time.

All that added up is about 500 bucks and I save some back all year so I can get it when I need to each spring.

Whoever said having a good pond is cheep...lol not me.. smile


The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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Here is an old thread where I used black pond dye.
Page 3 of my FA thread
I have found that using pond dye for FA control it is essential to get an early start. We get back about mid March from our overwintering place and I made the mistake of not ordering pond dye before getting home. By the time I got home, determined FA was going gangbusters (pond was extremely clear this spring/late winter) I was already behind the curve. I got a couple gallon of Midnight Blue from Tractor Supply and dumped it in and ordered a dozen quarts of blue (also very dark, no yellow pigment) from Rain Biologics (each quart is supposed to be equal to a gallon of regular pond dye - but who knows???). I ended up using all of it on my 3 acre main pond plus my 1 acre RES/SMB pond. So a total of two gallons and 12 quarts on 4 acres. That was around the end of March to the first of April (not all put in at once) and it has pretty well taken care of it. The RES/SMB pond still has a fair amount around the edges that is stringy and will make a mess of fishing but that is ok in this pond because it is mostly a grow out year with little fishing anyway and will give the RES fingerlings some refuge.

Next year I will have the dye waiting for me when I get home mid March. Might even have someone put it in for me first of March. It was a green mat 4" high on the bottom when I got home mid March.

Last year I did not even use dye. A little Cutrene around the edge of the main pond was all I needed for decent control (not total). FA sure varies year to year for me. Now my 1/10th acre sediment pond was a different story last year. It was chocked full of FA and empties into the main pond so maybe that was the source of this years problem in the main pond. Funny thing is this year there is no FA to speak of in the sediment pond. It has been turbid most of the spring so it has posed little problem.

I'll not use any more dye past the initial early spring dose. As the weather and water warms a planktonic algae bloom will hopefully replace the dye. Heavy rains recently is diluting it and the dye appears to only be about half to two thirds as intense as it was initially.

Couldn't get the black dye from Rain Biologics any more so went with the blue. I actually like their blue better than the black. It had nearly an identical shade as the Midnight Blue I got from Tractor Supply (forgot the brand, they had three different brands of pond dye). My wife and I both liked the color really well. We do not care for the more turquoise Caribbean colored dyes (they have yellow mixed in whith the blue pigment) for our landscape.

Last edited by snrub; 05/03/19 11:28 AM.

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Hey John.

Yeah, I knew going in that I was behind the curve for algae control. Luckily, my FA issues arent major, only around the edges because my pond gets deep really fast. Its typically 4' deep 5' from the bank in most places. I do have other algae issues I'd like to see go away (that petroleum looking sheen that eventually turns brown and scrums up the windblown side of the pond), but it's a balancing act to not have that and still maintain a good phytoplankton level with the spawn cranking up. What to do, right?

My main reason for wanting to try dye was for temp control. Last year, the pond got scary hot (99f) before I put in aeration and went almost immediately to running at night. I was already creeping over 80 by mid April and reduced runs to 3 hours from 6:30 -9:30 am. Until today I could only check bottom temp of the evening and had a variance of 9 degrees top to bottom at 6pm. I checked it this morning an hour after the pump shut off and it was 78f throughout. Adding dye helps it cool off at depth quicker and I still keep a good level of DO down deep. As it gets hotter, I'll adjust again to running only before sunrise.

I think I could use a bit more dye, but we've got more rain coming and the pond tends to flush easily, so I'm going to wait a couple more days before adding any more. Visibility has been staying around 18".


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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I just went to my local tractor supply store and they had 3 different brands on the shelf. The bummer is you can't tell who makes them or what is in them. They don't list the amount of each dye or what colors are mixed. They all have fancy names that mention blue but they all can't be the same blue??

I picked one that said midnite (notice spelled midnite not midnight) blue. I had hoped that it would be a blue black mix to avoid the face green color which I didn't want. It said one gallon per one acre feet, but this post above mentions that some people got enough color with a quart or a half gallon.

I have only a 1/4 acre or slightly less pond and water table is a bit low so I'll get some dilution if we get any rain or runoff to bring me back to full pool.

Very light winds tonight at sundown, I poured about 8-10 ounces into a BLUE solo cup and threw it in from the shore in about 6 or 7 places which is roughly 60-70 ounces out of 128oz in a gallon. I will see if the wind distributes by morning since my aerator needs a rebuild and is still in the basement. We have a very cool spring so far so no need to aerate for a while.

I'll try to get a picture tomorrow at noon.

I don't need dye for algae control, my crayfish stir the water up enough that it looks tubid most of the time. The leaves add some tannins and usually a little fertilizer runoff also gives me a bloom come June when the water warms up.

But instead of looking at a brown tinged pond all summer I wanted to see what a blue tinged pond might look like smile

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Once the pond finally got out of the overflow pipe I went around and added a about 8 ounces around the edges. By next morning the pond was a deep olive green with just a hint of blue to it. I get no wave action at all, but just enough wind to keep the surface moving around. It's kind of neat watching the dye slowly spread with the almost unnoticeable current.

The FA around the pond only exists where it's been captured in the plants growing in the water. Any open areas are bare ground and beds are visible out to about 2 feet deep. Going to let things ride now that the surface scum is only pollen piled up on the windblown side.

I'm running aeration 12 hours now from 7p-7a and have been able to maintain a surface temp in the mid 70s and 70 at depth (temps taken midday). When the temps start to climb on top I'll cut back on run time to let that variance open up a bit on the bottom.

Last edited by Mike Whatley; 05/23/19 04:51 AM.

.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Two questions....1.)How many pond dye advocates use dye year round? And 2.)Have you seen a major difference in the strength of algae blooms by doing so? I ask because I continue to fight with bloom after bloom and have tried keeping dye in the pond continuously.

I admit with all the rain we've been getting it's hard to stay on top of itas it gets flushed out the overflow, even when living on the pond.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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I guess I should have looked at the weekly rain forecast before pouring half a bottle of dye in the pond. Started raining last night and predicted to last till the weekend. Pond will likely get flushed out.. again.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!

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