Pond Sealant
Soilfloc® Sealant is the best polymer based sealant available for your canal, irrigation ditch or watering hole. Specifically designed to find leaks, whether in the floor, the wall or through rock formations and seal them.

Muck Remover
The biological removal of muck and sludge from ponds, lakes and canals is an ecological way to eliminate organic sediments from ruining shorelines and making swimming impossible.

Dock Bubblers
Bubbler systems use perforated tubing placed at the bottom of the water around a boathouse, dock or wall.

Solar Aeration

Bacteria & Clarifiers

Ponds Aeration

Pond Books & Guides
Our Selected Books On Amazon
As an Amazon affiliate we may recieve payment for purchases made through Amazon.


Lake and Pond
Management Guidebook




Earth Ponds
Pond Maker's Guide



Information & Articles

Pond algae and muck in a 1.5 acre pond, help!

Hi, I've enjoyed reading your site. I've read many but felt that yours has offered clearer insight to these everlasting problems. Algae is difficult to control and most that write about it leaves us with the feeling that they are not really sure about the cures themselves.

I would love to have an expert come out to my pond and help solve its situation, but I cannot find one anywhere in the area. So I'm hoping that by explaining my pond and situation, that you can provide a bit of guidance and or suggest some of your productand/or solutions.

We live in upstate New York in a house that is 40ft. from our pond and therefore is very important to keep it clean and beautiful. The pond is an older manmade pond that is about 1.5 acres in size at about 7ft in the deepest point, but about 4 ft. in most areas.

Unfortunately, the sides have silted in over the years and are shallow that gradually slopes. I'm sure there is some groundwater coming in, but basically it is stagnent. We live close to a small horse farm which provides a bit of nutrients, but we also have Canadian Geese and various other wildlife.

What I've done so far is to install a subsurface linear aerator that runs a loop of 200 ft of bubble tubingaround the central area of the pond and has been running for 3 years constantly. In the past, I've used Aquashade to keep the bottom growth down, but am trying the Aquaspheres which cannot work with the shade.

The Aquaspheres dose is 1 per surface acre. I have two in there at the moment. Does surface acre suggest that I'm low in my dosage? It is $100 per sphere and they last 1 month. It hasn't worked well. I'm looking for alternatives.

Does a subsurface areator work or does a fountain provide better oxidation?

I've thought about dredging the edges, but is very costly. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Jeremy


 

asked by anonymous

Please log in or register to answer this question.

1 Answer

0 votes
Hello Jeremy,

Thanks for writing and especially for your kind words about the information on our website. We've been working in and around ponds for years directly and indirectly and are trying to present information that, as you pointed out, is often lacking in detail or completeness on other websites.
 
We're trying to make our site something that we could send any one of our friends or family to: a place to hopefully find real answers. We're told often about our mistakes but we do try so if you appreciate our information let us know and if you don't or can add something please do!

First off the sub-surface aeration is most likely to be more efficient compared to a fountain aerator. Of course it depends on the type as some fountains and surface aerators can move several hundred gallons per minute resulting in good aeration. This can't compare to bottom mounted aeration though which can move thousands of gallons per minute. If you are pushing air below the surface through a diffuser or diffuser system then you are likely doing a very good aeration job.

Surface spray aerators and fountains add an aesthetic aspect and do improve a pond so they shouldn't be disregarded, bottom aeration is better at overall water-column mixing and often has a higher overall oxygen transfer but fountains and surface aerators do have their place in pond and lake care.

Nurtients from a small farm with horses can cause a lot of nutrient load in a pond. Heavy rains can bring contaminated waters into the pond and it only takes one tenth of an ounce of fertilizer (like manure) to make ten pounds of string algae in a pond!

This, along with leaves from trees and bird poop can cause organic build-up in the pond which becaomes a perfect growing medium for unwanted algae and rooted aquatic plants. The best solution is to add beneficial bacteria and aeration...and reducing available sunlight is also extremely helpful.
 
That being said, you are doing all of these things and for some reason not getting the results you desire. Unfortunately you may need to switch your selection of pond additives as I've actually worked with the AquaSpheres in the past and found them to be ineffective.

The AquaSphere was a bacterial product I used to sell years ago when I worked in a pond supply store. The idea was good, a disposible sphere filled with tea-bags of bacteria that released slowly over one month. Like you, however, many of our clients complained they didn't work. A pond your size is supposed to require one sphere per month but we actually tested four spheres in our test pond that was about 3/4 of an acre and the results were not great, fair at most.

We stopped selling the AquaSphere after that season and while the price sounds good in theory, as you've found, it may not be. The AquaSphere contained a ridiculously small amount of bacteria I thought as I looked inside of one!

We have found it is much more effective to dose with pouches of bacteria every two weeks instead of the once-a-month treatments. You need to add 6 to 10 pounds per month divided into two week dosings to really keep devouring the bottom sediments. I'd recommend using the product we use in our ponds which is the "Concentrated Dry Blend For Ponds & Lakes " we sell and use. This comes in 25 pound pails (containing 50 soluble pouches) and the bacterial blend attacks bottom sediments and muck that plants and algae grow in.

It is a gradual treatment but one that works. Using 4 pounds every two weeks would mean a required supply of 25 to 50 pounds per season. Add this dry bacteria as soon as the water in the pond is above 42 degrees Fahrenheit (usually I start at the end of April) and stop when it gets colder (I do a final treatment in October). The 25 pound supply can be bought directly on our website on this page: http://www.thepondreport.com/store/pond-bacteria/pond-vive-usa

This natural bacteria mixtures can be used in conjunction with pond dyes and we often treat with both. I've only had experience with the BluZyme and AquaShade and the product we now recommend which is Concentrated WSP in Blue or Black  or the Liquid Concentrates . AquaShade and BluZyme both worked well for us but the colors were not too everyones liking. The dye to choose has to be a concentrated liquid. The strong blends require 32 ounces being helpful for an acre of pond 4 - 6 feet deep, this goes above and beyond the BluZyme which is good for an acre one foot deep.

Another extremely effective dye we use is Extreme Blue/Black Veil . In lakes with little outlfow we've seen a single pond dye treatment last three months but your conditions may be different, you should expect one month per treatment to make sure you are not disapointed.

There are also some pond muck pellets that are small pellets that you broadcast into areas of the pond where you want to remove muck. The pellets sink and the safe, natural concentrated, blend of bacteria eat sludge and can really make an impact. Check out the details here: http://www.thepondreport.com/store/muck-removal-products

This combination, aeration, good-quality bacteria, and a rich pond dye will make a long-term plan actually work in the end. Dosages of bacteria tend to dimminish annually. The pond muck pellets also are amazing and will dredge out naturally organic muck.

We often call the process "bio-dredging" as it will achieve many of the results of mechanical dredging at a fraction of the cost and without the shoreline destruction a mechanical shovel can entail. Looking at a long term plan of aggressive seeding with natural bacteria like our selections will be a better return on investment in the end.

All the products we sell can be used without danger to the health of Geese, fish, birds, frogs or plants or any pets or people.

I hope this information has helped and if you have any other questions please let me know.
 
Best regards,
 
J. Miranda
The Pond Report
answered by TPR
edited by TPR

Pond Report Store

Algaecides & Bacteria | Deicers & Bubblers | Weed Removal | Liquid Bacteria | Pond Pumps & Fountains | Aeration | Winter Pond Care | Algae Control | Pond Liner | Muck Pellets | Build a Solar Aerator | Rotary Vane Compressors | Floating Fountains | Building a Pond | Linear Air Compressors & Pumps | Weighted Airline | Diffusers & Airstones | Solar Aeration Systems | DC & Battery Operated Pumps | Windmill Aeration | Dock Bubbler Packages | Building a Waterfall | Dyes & Colorants | Consultations | Questions & Answers | Links & Resources | Eurasian Milfoil | |
Mosquito Control | Pondkeeper Treatments | Aeration Systems | Septic Bacteria | Grease Trap Blocks | Dissolved Oxygen Meters | SOTR & Pumping Rates | Duckweed Control | Pond Plans & Pond Building Books & Guides

Contact Us

© 2007 - 2024 The Pond Report

...