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Mon, Mar 9, 09 at 20:08
| I have a one acre pond with some fish what do i do to make it clearer? I want to control the hydrilla and cattails and such but dont want to hurt the fish... any suggestions? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| go to this web sit they have stiff for natural ponds. thepondguy.com. They are very good to work with and can answer you questions. |
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- Posted by joshthepondguy 4-5 (My Page) on Mon, Mar 9, 09 at 23:22
| Do you aerate? Phosphate remover and beneficial bacteria treatments may be a place to start for water quality issues. Unfortunately, large ponds equals larger expense for the fixing of problems. aeration is the number one best thing to improve the health of your pond. Bacteria treatments will a lot as well. But the bad news is an aeration system can be expensive up front and have electricity cost down the road. And a bacteria treatment for your pond is a reoccurring cost that will have to be done on a periodic basis. A more permanent cheaper solution could be adding more |
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- Posted by sleeplessinftwayne z4-5 IND (My Page) on Tue, Mar 10, 09 at 9:16
| Dag nab it! I just got a gift from DH, a whole new computer system. While I appreciate the faster speed and the more comfortable keys and the memory upgrade and smaller footprint, I have lost access to my list of favorites along with all the documents I wrote for classes and searches I have done as a Master Gardener volunteer for people calling into the Phone Response Line at the Purdue Co-operative Extension Service. I recently did a search for plants and pond care for a monster pond near here. The info from the DNR in Michigan was excellent, Ohio State Ext. was really good and although I don't remember it in particular, Alabama puts out good info. Sorry, I am too irritated right now to start over again. Maybe I can locate it again later if you cannot. I am still in shock about 5 years worth of data being gone. The major task is to limit nutrients going into the pond. This is the purpose of the berm you might have noticed around farm ponds. The next thing would be to put in enough plants to filter the water and supply food and hiding places for the fish and other aquatic critters. Most use the plants for breeding. One excellent method of filtration is to put in a bog although bogs can be overwhelmed with too much nutrient. A settling pond is good for particles. Plantings around the pond can use up a lot of nutrients. The only way to get a handle on just what needs changed is to get a good test kit and use it. Don't use strips. They are inaccurate in the extreme. Once you know if there should be any changes made, then you can go ahead with the planting, etc. The berm and a planted shoreline can reduce the number of plants necessary in the water and it is useless to plant deeper than 10 feet. Aeration is very important but aeration without filtration of some sort is not going to clear up the water although it will add oxygen. If the cloudiness is from mud, you could try scattering Bentonite over the surface. It binds up particles in the water and sinks with them to the bottom. If the cloudiness (tea colored) is from decayed matter on the bottom you will need to get rid of that gunk which is probably producing enough gasses to stupefy and kill your fishies and will get to be very offensive in short order. Remember your fishies deposit bodily waste in the water and it must be eliminated by filtration or bio-action (chemical, that is) along with the decayed plant materials. The pond is their sewer. Yuck! Dredging is likely your best bet there. It should be done on a regular basis. More info, if needed, is trapped in my poor aching head, Sandy |
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| Sandy, if your old system still works, just copy your bookmarks and any other info from the old one to a memory stick and move to the new machine. |
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- Posted by tripbarber 9 (My Page) on Tue, Mar 10, 09 at 19:15
| Thanks for all of the info.Ill check out the web site. I have not ever areated the pond however I do have a free flowing well that I run sometimes. I would like to get some of those plants that were mentioned if that web site mentioned is not the place where is? and a fountain would get me points with the wife she has been wanting one since I dug the darn thing. Im in north florida by the way. When mentioning test kits is that just PH or is there a lot more to it? |
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- Posted by sleeplessinftwayne z4-5 IND (My Page) on Wed, Mar 11, 09 at 14:06
| A good test kit measures a lot of things other than PH. Try nitrates, nitrites, hardness (buffering capacity) and ammonia. The kits have more than enough chemicals to get through a full year, unless you get a bit obsessed and test the water daily. I understand there is something to measure the Oxygen, but I don't have any info on that. Gary in Florida could tell you that in the warm Florida clime Oxygen is easily depleted so that fountain is a good idea if you don't use an aerator. So long as that well hasn't been contaminated with herbicides or pesticides, it would be a very good source of water. Sandy |
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| When invasive plants such as hydrilla, cat tails, lotus, poorly chosen waterlilies get into a large pond, theres not many options. You can drain the pond and let it bake in the hot sun. You can nuke it with herbicides, though, cattails may well spring back up from old seed You can abandon all hope and let it just fill itself in You might salvage some fish in a liner pond, while the pond is cleared. Or dredge a sump where some of the fish can survive the rest of the pond being drained Best not to let invasive plants even start, in the first place... |
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| Hi Have you checked with any of the agricultural depts. of the various universities?? They must be giving this problem a lot of thought with all the restoration projects going on. Can't imagine the problem on an acre I have trouble with it in 5x10 feet lol Be grateful it's too cold too grow most of the tropical invasives lol gary |
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| Hey Tripbarber, some of these folks are right on, Aeration is key and bottom aeration is the best solution. In my experience aeration naturally cleans the pond and results in less muck, clear water, less odors and no more mosquito's. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Good link that explains aeration
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