New Pond / Ph Issues

Guys, just finished a pond outside Grandview in December. It’s only about 1.75 - 2 surface acres but it is 25-30’ deep. We were able to get down and get to blue clay and lined the walls with 1’ of that. Brush piles were planted including several full size 20-30’ oaks with root balls on them. All of that was anchored.
It has now filled up to over 20’ deep with May’s heavy rainfall. I was ready to order fathead minnows and red ear sunfish to stock. Wholesaler told me to check Ph and it is at 2.53!!
What would y’all suggest? Research points to ag lime application. Gonna be tricky with 20’ of water. Best I can figure is to use my trash pump and recirc water over a rock shelf where heavy run in occurs and let it disperse evenly throughout the pond.
Any help or suggestions appreciated!

Completed aerial view

During the winter storm. Sled park with obstacles....

During fill up.

As the pond sits now. Approximately 5’ from the spillway.

By the way, if you need dozer work done I used Mr. Rigano out of Glen Rose. He was great to work with out here and his prices were very reasonable. He built the pond and cleared all the brush on our 25 acres.

visit pondboss.com

or join these two FB groups for lots of good advice:

Lake and Pond Managment Questions
Private Fishing Pond and Lake Managment Group

These are great places to ask questions, as you will likely have a lot more as your pond matures.

Appreciate that salex. Pondboss looks to be really helpful. Don’t do the Facebook thing for many reasons.....

Great looking pond-
You will get many great years out of that when you get the kinks worked out-

Thanks, kids are loving it already! They say as long as it’s good to swim in pull that brush out and call it good. I definitely disagree....

Well for anyone curious I bought a digital pH tester and have figured out what is causing the low conditions.

We got a good rain this afternoon at the house and I tested the water running into the pond as seen above at 6.15.

I then took the same run in water and swirled in a little blue clay.



2.83
Pond is still sitting at 2.9
Blue clay is clearly the issue.
If anyone knows a good source of lime near Grandview please let me know. I’m talking to US Lime but they want at least a 12 ton dump truck due to loading facilities.

Difficult to know for sure how much lime is needed based on water pH and alkalinity. The Extension service can provide lime recommendations based on soil samples. Ask them to give you the agricultural lime requirement for at least pH 6.5. It very well may take 12 tons for 2 acres being that low. The good thing about agricultural lime is that it does absolutely no harm to over-apply.

The pre-dissolve and spread by trash-pump strategy works, but you'll still want to try to move it around the pond in a grid pattern from a boat as you apply it if you can. Even fully dissolved, the lime slurry will be more dense than water and will sink to the bottom near where it goes in. Professional lime applicators use a big modified pontoon boat with a flat deck, load a scoop of lime on the deck, then use a high pressure water pump to spray the dry lime off the deck as they move about the pond.

Spraying it from the edges of the pond works better than nothing but there will probably be a large area in the middle of the pond that isn't treated well. The lime really needs to settle down over the top of the soil that need treating for full effect.

It will be a lot of hard work to get it out.

Thanks for the responses to the thread and PMs everyone!
I took soil and water samples in for testing on Friday afternoon at Tarleton State University in Stephenville. They have the Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research lab there. I was able to speak with the lab manager and their lead scientist which was awesome. They are puzzled and say that a pH that low for this area is unheard of, and they will be analyzing it to see if there is possibly a man made contamination in the area. They did confirm that the water pH is indeed 3.2.
I should have a treatment plan based on soil and water samples pretty soon.
Outdoordude, I have a front end loader, trash pump, and have already rigged up my bowfishing boat to spread the required lime if that is what is needed. I'll post an update on what they find later along with pics of lime application.

Excellent! Glad to hear of the progress.

The green oaks can be a real problem. They contain tanins which is lethal to fish.
My experience a LONG time ago:

Had the hole dug, about 3 acres, and put in some big oaks for fish structure. Got some rains and the water turned black. I stocked with fathead minnows, bluegills and crawdads. The mud bugs left the water. All the fish died.

I pumped the whole thing dry. That took awhile. After letting the oaks dry, I started burning. That also took awhile.

Finally, after the sun dried out the soils, I restocked with no ill effects. You can test by getting a minnow bucket, putting it in the water with minnows.

I’ve had a couple of guys tell me that about the oak trees. I’m hoping that they laid out pushed over long enough to dodge that bullet. Most of them were down more than a year before the pond filled.
After I get the pH under control the water will be tested again to see if there is any toxicity present. I’ll make sure and ask about the trees and that possibility at that point. Thanks!!

PELLETIZED LIME is a lot easier to handle with a lot less dust. I put 1.5 tons on about 2 acres a few years ago with my atv and a modified feeder.

Tested pH yesterday. Still way low, but up a bit. Still waiting on the full report from Tarleton before treating the pond.



3.81 pH

I'm working and have a lull so I thought I'd update this thread. I was able to order 25+ tons of lime and had it delivered close to the pond. I opted to pump the pond down to 12-14' deep to expose more of the bank for treatment and then utilized my front end loader and my bowfishing rig w a pump on the back to spread the lime.

I treated all the exposed bank after pump down the old fashioned way…..

The altered bowfishing rig in action. My youngest daughter was making a hand at it.

Boat got a little front heavy. Good thing it’s a sealed light rail.

We ended up applying 52,000 lbs of ag grade lime. We treated the water, the banks, and put some in both of the areas that carry in run off water.

Lime was applied in August 2021. I monitored pH levels through November and they stayed at a near perfect 7.41-7.82.

On November 4, 2021 we stocked fathead minnows, copper nose blue gill, and catfish from Tyler Fish Farm. They are doing excellent! Catfish are approaching 12” and the minnows have spawned several times successfully with all the cover.

In late May I stocked another 3000 fathead minnows and 100 black bass. Before I left for this hitch my girls and I fished the pond for the first time.

We caught one of each fish to see how they looked. Catfish caught was a little over 12”. Above is one of the bluegills.

Above is one of the bass. Not bad growth for 4 months considering I bought 1-2” fingerlings. The oak trees and cover have not been an issue. Fish have been all around it and the little bass I caught was under a branch.

Thanks for all the advice and PMs. I think it’s headed in the right direction. Now all I need is a good rainy streak……

One more pic just for grins.

It's difficult to explain how satisfying it is to observe someone seek sound guidance, follow-through with practical solutions to the problem, and report back on the results, especially results as good as yours appear to be. I'm thrilled the pH has been corrected; with your habitat and water fertility, you're on your way to good times. Congrats.

This type of story has Pond Boss magazine written all over it.

It wouldn’t have worked out without good guidance and resources. Thanks again!

Greatness!!

We are enjoying it, fish are growing.

What a great project! Do you have any recent pics of the pond now that it is maturing?

I bet those bass grow like a rocket in there!?

...Congrats on the pond build. I too would like to see current photos of the pond....

I'll snap some pics when I get home. Busy time of year for fraccin might be a month or so before I make it back. Fish are definitely taking off!!

I’m way late to the party but that’s an awesome story.

Definitely need an update on where you’re at.

I’m maybe considering going down this road.

You actually made it look really scary.

A few curve balls is all.
Pond is low right now just like everyone else's is, but fish are doing well and still coming up to feed at the automatic feeder according to the wife. Can't wait to get home and check it out soon.

QA`

The pond is low as you can see in the pics. I built a floating fish feeder to fatten up the fish a bit. It goes off 3X a day.

Willow trees are also taking off around the edges and will be taken care of when I get home next. We are finally getting some rain so they may be tough to get to. We have gotten 5" of rain this week with more on the way the next few days.

We did get down and catch a few fish. Catfish are growing like weeds and are 14-18". Bass are 6-9" after almost a year in the pond. Copper nose blue gill are doing great as well.
All in all its falling together well. Can't wait to get home and see how much this rain has helped it out.

How is the pond coming along!?

Should be slaying some fish in it now. Any updates?