For many lake owners, changing the color of their lake from green or brown to a pleasanter hue is the final step in lake restoration. But it can also be the most difficult step, especially for those not familiar with lake and pond color solutions. Unlike removing weeds and large debris, you can’t cut or spoon away poor water color. Instead, you have to target lake maintenance products and solutions that target murky water. Below, we list five such solutions, how they work, and what they’re used for.
1. Algaecide
While some algae is necessary to support water life, too much can turn your lake a murky green. To prevent this from happening, apply eco friendly algaecide according to your lake’s acre feet of water. In doing so, you’ll also prevent excessive algae from leeching the water of oxygen that fish and other life forms need to survive and thrive.
2. Pond Dyes
Ideal for lakes whose excess algae has been removed, eco friendly pond dyes change the color of your lake’s water, with the most popular colors being: blue, aqua, dark blue, and reflective black. Like algaecide, pond dye is applied according to your lake’s acre feet of water, with a single application usually lasting 6-8 weeks, depending on your lake’s water turnover rate.
3. Silt Fencing
Silt fencing isn’t a water solution proper, but it can prevent the murkiness that results from construction site runoff. Construction site runoff turns lakes the color of the dirt involved in the run off, making them looked like clogged sinkholes instead of lakes. Barriers of silt fence lined with hay bales can prevent the majority of runoff sediments from reaching your lake; trapping them and making them accrue against the fence. In some cases, more than one line of fence may be needed.
4. Buffer Alum Compounds
If your lake suffers from churned up bottom sediments, applying buffer alum compounds can send the sediments back to the bottom. Two situations that justify buffer alum compounds are earthquakes and heavy rains. Churned up sediments produced by these and other events usually settle in a few days or weeks. But if they persist, buffer alum compounds are an easy remedy. If your lake has fish, be sure to apply “buffer” alum compounds, as opposed to regular alum compounds.
5. Reduction of “Trash Fish”
The term “trash fish” refers to fish that swim along the bottom in search of food or resting areas (e.g., carp and bullhead), churning up sediments as they go. The two most popular methods for reducing a lake’s trash fish population are: restocking, which solves the problem quickly, albeit at some expense; and increasing the population of trash fish predators (e.g., catfish and bass), which solves the problem gradually.
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