[PG2]

Hi all,
I have a 3/4 acres pond that is supplied from a creek that goes through the woods. The good news is the fields close by are no longer being planted, no chemicals! I have been using a company to control the weeds and algae. I have 3 aeration diffusers running from about April to November. My water clarity is not good and I have want I think is a lot of muck. The depth goes from 3 feet to 12 feet. I was reading on another site and what I was reading made a lot of sense to me. I pay a company to kill all the algae and weeds and that is the build up of dead matter. I read that a better way to control the algae and weeds is to stop them, using water clarifier, bacteria for the dead matter and dye to control the algae and weeds. Anybody with better way or will this work?

 

[Muddy]

I wouldn't kill the weeds unless they were invasive. Weeds can be very beneficial to the pond and lock up nutrients. I only kill the filamentous algae in my ponds. I have pretty thick American Pondweed that I leave alone. I use Cutrine Plus and/or copper sulfate in one pond and Seaclear in the other pond to control the FA. My water clarity is pretty good. Both ponds are like a big fish tank, you can just sit in a chair and watch the fish swim around.

 

[mrahn1138]

Last two years I threw way over $1k in beneficial bacteria in my half acre pond focusing on the swim area about 60x60’. The entire pond (35 yrs old) has 6”-8” of muck. i never saw any discernible improvement in the muck situation. I hired a ditch cleaning/dirt work contractor to pump the pond down about five ft and go in and scrap out the muck in that shallow area. Happy w it so far. The shallow Area is usable again. I didn’t lose any fish. I use copper sulfate for algae, and have an order in for flumioxazin for the duckweed/water meal that has developed over the past couple years.

 

[Southernsaug]

You can build a big biofilter for ponds and use nitrifying bacteria to reduce muck/organic load. Use a filter media and then buy some inoculating solution. I have used media like this:

LIFEGARD AQUATICS AquaMesh Fish Pond Filter Media, Grey - Chewy.com

Buy Lifegard Aquatics AquaMesh Fish Pond Filter Media, Grey at Chewy.com. FREE shipping and the BEST customer service!

www.chewy.com

You can put it in a 55 gallon barrel or if you can find a roll build a fence of it. I used it in a recirculating pond from rearing units. If you get them started good they last a long time, but need cleaned periodically. Won't totally cure your pond but will help. Trouble is copper algae treatments will kill it, so dyes are the next best algae control unless you take it out for 72 hrs and keep it wet.