Ok, thanks everybody for the replies.
Catmandoo said "With a lot of settling ponds in my major watershed areas, diversion wetlands, vegetation, and keeping my pond edges will vegetated, I've really cut down on FA in my ponds."
That comment leads me to believe excess nutrients are at least part of the problem. I lined this pond when new with a layer of topsoil on suggestion of our local NRCS guy so we would not have as much problem with suspended clay causing the water to be turbid. It accomplished that goal as this pond was never as muddy looking as any regular new pond in the area that just left the clay exposed. But I have read recently (think it was last PB magazine) that it was not recommended to put topsoil in because of excess nutrient problems.
Seems like getting the nutrient balance right is a struggle. Some ponds need more, others need less.
Having read lots of different things when I built the pond (but not yet discovered PBF) the literature talked about fertilizing a new pond. So I put a couple scoops of manure mixture in as the pond filled. Also fertilized the banks for grass and let the dry fertilize throw out into the pond. Then also about half the runoff area of the watershed is farmland with pretty good fertility levels and we tend to have large rain events sometimes when we get rain so a lot of runoff.
What I am getting at is, even though this pond is only a couple years old, I seem to already have excess nutrient problems. Water clarity stayed about 18" last summer with a nice green cast. It is probably closer to 2.5 feet now but the water is still cold and I noticed just yesterday the visibility is dropping with an algae bloom.
My plan of action is to pull some more out in the shallow area created for spawning and some around the banks where it is floating up. Beyond that don't think I could keep up with it anyway. So will just pull out the worst areas and watch and see what happens with the rest. Hopefully will not need to resort to chemicals, although being a farmer chemical use is no stranger.
Thanks everybody for the input. I was just really surprised at all the bug life in the FA. Guess I should not have been.
Last edited by snrub; 04/06/14 10:24 AM.
