3 acre lake... horrible algae problem suggestions?

[Farm Angel]

:help:

Our lake is completly covered with algae.. we have trried about everything we can think of worked with co-op to get stuff to work... nothing is woreking to well.... we have heard that barley hay helps??? i haven't been able to find any at all around here and what does the hay do to keep algae away??? does the cattle getting in the pond affect algae growth?

 

[Bez]

There has been a lot of discussion on this topic here at CattleToday.

But the truth of the matter is there is only one way to really keep algae permanently away from a pond or lake.

Aeration. In your case that means several windmills.

All other solutions require chemical or organic addiditives. All of these solutions are temporary.

Some swear by straw - some by chemicals.

Something your size will probably take a couple of years to really straighten out. Air is the best solution.

Bez

 

[Hutch]

Have you tried copper sulfate? Get it in the powdered form, fill burlap bag with the powder and drag the bag around your pond behind a boat.

 

[Crowderfarms]

:help:

Our lake is completly covered with algae.. we have trried about everything we can think of worked with co-op to get stuff to work... nothing is woreking to well.... we have heard that barley hay helps??? i haven't been able to find any at all around here and what does the hay do to keep algae away??? does the cattle getting in the pond affect algae growth?

Try some of those Asian Grass Carp. We have some in our big pond that weigh about 20-30 lbs. Never have any algae.They're sterile, so you wont get over run with them.The amount these fish consume is amazing.

 

[Farm Angel]

we have grass carp they do good eating the grass we do copper sulfate every year it works for a little while then it all comes back im still very intereseted to know what the hay/straw will do for the lake... i would think it just holds the moss down???

 

[Farm Angel]

the windmill thing and areation was something i've never thought of...lol and i'm a geology major at that ok widnmills aren't common around here how do they work.. and how difficuult would it be to get started

 

[Bez]

Well, we used them for a lot of years to make our dug out work. Worked so good that we pumped the water into the house. Not as big as yours, but it was almost 1.5 acres.

Koenders makes windmills that pump air. Cheap and effective.

I do not have time to go into it right now - frenchie provided a web site once. Be advised air is the only true long term solution. Everything else is an add on - most really do help, but air works year round and you do not need a huge amount of wind.

There is a pile of info on this topic on the board.

I believe we paid around 350 bucks for each of ours and they came with a 10 foot mount.

Search Google for Koenders Windmills - that will at least get you started.

Bez

 

[stocky]

if the pond is spring fed, one thing that will take care of all growth in the pond is crawdads or crayfish. for a 3 acre lake it might take a couple of years to get enough in to take care of it all. the crawdads will not live in all lakes. they live in all my spring fed ponds but not in my ponds that are not spring fed. none of my ponds are that big, but yours might be big enough that they will live even if it isnt spring fed. if there are fish in it, they will eat the crawdads. the crawdads keep all my spring fed ponds clean and provide me with the best fish bait there is for this area. some people also eat them boiled. just throw in a thousand or so and they may make a difference this year, but after they raise next year, they should keep it all eaten out

 

[Farm Angel]

ok that sound creepy cuz i dont like crawdads... but where exactaly would i come up with that many of them >>>