Aquacide Blog — Pond Sludge removal

Get the Muck Out!  3 helpful methods Is your pond muck out of control?  Is it time for a pond cleaning, but you just can’t figure out how to accomplish it?  Often times pond muck and lake sediment are the result of millions of tiny clay particles that are in a “colloidal suspension”.  How can you tell if your pond has colloidal clay particle suspension from rain and runoff, or if you have dead organic vegetation built up over years. Step 1.  Fill a 5 gallon bucket with water from your pond or lake. Step 2.   Place a cloth (an old t-shirt works well) as...

A customer recently contacted us regarding reducing the large amount of muck in his pond. Below is his question and our response. Question: Hi…we have a 1/8 acre pond, about 5-6 feet deep on average, clean and swimmable but with about a foot of organic muck/sludge on the bottom (from 20 years of leaves, and other organic matter largely).  What would you recommend as a starting dose, and how long do you think it would take before we see results.  We were considering having the bottom dredged, but do you think your product could get as clean or nearly as...

Q---I’m considering buying a property with a spring-fed pond.  Before I sign on the dotted line, what kind of maintenance considerations should I be aware of? A---Spring-fed ponds are relatively rare.  Water flows out of spring-fed ponds at all times, not just after heavy rains.  Many people mistakenly think they have spring-fed ponds.   During construction, water gushed into the dug pond area from what was assumed to be instead what they saw was ground water flowing into the hole from veins of water–bearing sand or gravel.  If, however, water is discharged through a spillway, it is indeed a spring-fed pond....

Hot weather prompted the DNR to warn lake goers about the potential dangers of blue-green algae. While it is not uncommon to see algae blooms in the lake area in late summer, recent hot weather has prompted a warning.  Blue-green algae tends to show up in small, shallow, mucky ponds.  It looks exactly like its name; “blue-green” scum that resembles pea soup or spilled paint on the water surface.  It also has a strong, unpleasant, swampy odor.  It can erupt suddenly and be deadly. Ninety-nine percent of green algae are harmless; a nuisance and ugly, but harmless and not ALL...

While many people jump in the lake to keep cool, living life underwater isn’t always enough to protect fish from the heat. Many people throughout the US have noticed fish struggling at the water surface and washing up onto their shore.  This is due to the heat wave that has hovered over the Midwest over the past few weeks. Fish kills are actually common and do happen every summer, its part of the natural cycle.  Oxygen levels have reached an all time low.  Low oxygen levels combined with high water temperatures cause fish kills that sometimes have people convinced their...