btammo lime application

[CLCODY3]

Liming with agricultural limestone won't harm the pond. It is used as a fisheries management tool to raise the total alkalinity of the pond. Ponds actually need to be between 20-300mg/liter total alkalinity for successful production. It increases the availability of phosphorus for plant and algae use. Increasing total alkalinity of the water increases the carbon dioxide available for photosynthesis by the algae thus increasing the production capability of the pond. However, do not use slaked lime as this can raise the pH too high and cause a fish kill. Optimum pH range for fish 6.5-9. Hope this helps.

Clint

[Seascape]

Liming with agricultural limestone won't harm the pond. It is used as a fisheries management tool to raise the total alkalinity of the pond. Ponds actually need to be between 20-300mg/liter total alkalinity for successful production. It increases the availability of phosphorus for plant and algae use. Increasing total alkalinity of the water increases the carbon dioxide available for photosynthesis by the algae thus increasing the production capability of the pond. However, do not use slaked lime as this can raise the pH too high and cause a fish kill. Optimum pH range for fish 6.5-9. Hope this helps.

Clint

question? Will to much lime(like if he dumped it in the pond)perhaps cause a algae problem? One that might reuire an algeacide to correct?

[CLCODY3]

If you are dumping the bag to try and increase alkalinity it wont work, it has to spread evenly across the pond. Lime adjust the pH of the water to a maximum of 8.6 even if more than the recommended amount is used. It is possible that if too much is applied, during the growing season, that it will bind with the available phosphorus and sink it to the bottom rendering it useless to plants and algae to use it for photosynthesis which could limit the production of oxygen thus limiting the amount of dissolved oxygen available to the fish causing stress or death. So, basically it won't cause a spike in algal blooms when aplied in warm weather. Lime is added in fall or winter to enhance the water chemistry for next years growth. You need to have a good amount of algae ( phytoplankton) present in the pond to support good production of fish because algae is the base for all natural fish food production. The main reason you might have a spike in algal blooms is if the fish in the pond are being overfed a commercial fish food. If this becomes a problem the algae will use up available nutrients causing an algal die-off which then could led to low dissolved oxygen. You would not want to use an algicide in a fish pond, except to try to control filamentous and higher algae and try to control algae that produce off flavors in fish(blue-green algae) because loss of algae means loss of oxygen production and the decomposing algae use up the oxygen already available. However if you do use an algicide such as copper sulfate it should not be used when pond alkalinities are below 50 ppm (mg/L) because of the high risk of killing fish. Also, algae should not be treated all at one time during warm weather because there is a greater chance for oxygen depletion.

[Seascape]

If you are dumping the bag to try and increase alkalinity it wont work, it has to spread evenly across the pond. Lime adjust the pH of the water to a maximum of 8.6 even if more than the recommended amount is used. It is possible that if too much is applied, during the growing season, that it will bind with the available phosphorus and sink it to the bottom rendering it useless to plants and algae to use it for photosynthesis which could limit the production of oxygen thus limiting the amount of dissolved oxygen available to the fish causing stress or death. So, basically it won't cause a spike in algal blooms when aplied in warm weather. Lime is added in fall or winter to enhance the water chemistry for next years growth. You need to have a good amount of algae ( phytoplankton) present in the pond to support good production of fish because algae is the base for all natural fish food production. The main reason you might have a spike in algal blooms is if the fish in the pond are being overfed a commercial fish food. If this becomes a problem the algae will use up available nutrients causing an algal die-off which then could led to low dissolved oxygen. You would not want to use an algicide in a fish pond, except to try to control filamentous and higher algae and try to control algae that produce off flavors in fish(blue-green algae) because loss of algae means loss of oxygen production and the decomposing algae use up the oxygen already available. However if you do use an algicide such as copper sulfate it should not be used when pond alkalinities are below 50 ppm (mg/L) because of the high risk of killing fish. Also, algae should not be treated all at one time during warm weather because there is a greater chance for oxygen depletion.

Thanx man thats good stuff. Reason this caught my attention is this. Dont know much about what happened yet but i have several residential and the HOA in 1 particular gated community. About 55 1 mill homes built around 3 vacant quarries. 2 of these quarries are turf park areas,, one is shallow and has an in let from a surrounding rural area. About 1 month agao we noticed this quarry(about 5 acres and 20' deep) took a turn for the worse. Algea everywhere. I brought it to the attention of the board and i heard about a week ago that a aquatic contractor was in it on a boat. Dont know what he did or why this quarry went bad. Just curious to learn and havent had a chance to follow up on it.When i seen this lime thread i thought about lime off farmers fields draining in that inlet. Just keepin tabs on it. Thanx again for the great posts.