Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants FA from top to bottom

Next year I will look into Tilapia.

Just killing the algae, letting it sink and decay does nothing for the stimulus that made FA grow - NUTRIENTS aka forms of Fertilizer in the pond basin. Dissolved nutrients NOT being used by any other type of plant allows FA to flourish. FA lives on the available unused excess nutrients.

When you go to a local lake/s you rarely ever see big growths of FA like in your pond. This is because lots of rooted vegetation / plants or various types of algae in the lake are using the dissolved available nutrients. When dissolved nutrients are not being used by submerged /emergent plants and or phytoplankton then FA grows really well like in your current pond situation. Your water appears quite clear which means lower numbers of phytoplankton because FA absorbed the nutrients away from the phytoplankton. Removing as much of the FA as possible removes the bound-up nutrients in the FA, thus lowering the nutrient load in the pond. Removing FA harvests nutrients out of the pond, just as farm crops remove nutrients from the field when the crop is harvested, thus the field needs to be fertilized for the next crop.

So, it sounds like you are suggesting removing the algae, rather than letting it decay. This would mean raking (ugh) or Tilapia, correct?

Yes, raking the FA is definitely an (ugh) job. You can't even just rake it onto the shore rocks or the surrounding bank. If you only do that, the subsequent rains will just wash the nutrients from the decaying FA back into the pond.

You can definitely make improvements by adding beneficial plants. They should be easy to establish in your pond bottom material.

What plants do you like in your area ponds and lakes? Maybe identify those, and then post on the forum to see if they are invasive, or if usually considered beneficial.

Do you have crayfish, turtles, carp, etc. in your pond. They all love to eat newly established plants. If you have those critters, then you probably need to read some of the threads on protecting your plants.

I don't know about the phosphorous binder. I believe there are also a few good threads on that. I think(?) the efficacy of that treatment is dependent upon some of the other water chemistry conditions in your pond? Never hurts to get a few baseline water quality measurements in your "pond notes" anyway.

Good luck on your pond improvements!

Knobber, sorry to see your FA problem. They are thorny issues for sure.

I had a constant raking plan going but it sent me to the physical therapist more than once. I paid neighbor kids to rake and they soon found that I didn't pay them enough (apparently) for the work expected as soon there was no more neighbor boys willing to rake.

But I knew that if I hauled out 3-4 trailer loads of heavy algae mats that this was 500 or more pounds of nutrients that would never be back in the water column or on the bottom of the pond. It seemed like i could take out 500 pounds a year easily...

Then one year in the fall I got a small plastic boat and a 6hp 2 stroke outboard and I had my son run the outboard and I stood in the shallows in front of the boat. He would gun the motor and swing the tiller from side to side while the boat tried to push me over. This way we could sweep a very powerful water jet back and forth and really peel off a bunch of the muck that was in the shallows. We created billows of muck all the way around. This isn't ideal as it pushes the nutrients into the deep which ideally I would like it out of the pond. But it did help clean up the shallows.

That winter we had FA on the UNDERSIDE of the ice. Come spring there was algae growing in the shallows all over even in cold water. That season we had an explosion of FA which I believe was simply due to dredging tons of nutrients out of the bottom and suspending them back up in the water.

We raked and raked and raked some more and after that year we have had 2-3 years of very little FA at all.

You may have to play through this bumper crop of nutrients and find a mechanical removal tool. Some on the forum have rigged a long pole and a crude rake like drag on a front end loader to allow them to drive out and pull the algae back in. Others have dragged a mattress or some other type of drag through the shallows to pull it out.

Tilapia can help but in your size pond you would need a lot as in our shorting growing season only the larger stocked Tilapia will eat the algae and you will not have time for TP to have babies and for the babies to grow up large enough to help eat the algage.

But yes, even with lots of chemicals killing the algae you have hundreds and hundreds of pounds of organic material that still is best moved out of the pond.

I like pickerelweed (already planted some last year), bullrush, arrowhead, and blueflag iris. All are native and beneficial for fish/ponds, I believe. If it is simply a matter of planting,

[quote] ... after removing lots and lots of FA.

...I am seriously considering tilapia next spring. Also, I am reading up on phosphorous binders. I'll start a new thread on that topic