Algae Bloom

[skidawg]

For those of u in hot climates, what do u do about algae bloom when ur water gets hot?

Just gettin some feedback, jd already layed the knowledge on me

[Old MS Accout]

Go to your local feed store and by 50 lb bags of copper sulfate. Spread around the shore and then down the middle of the lake.  

[A_B]

We spent quite a lot of money on CS / Cutrene etc and then fixed the problem by dyeing the water.

 

No sun no algae.

[jdarwin]

This is actually algae growth on the surface - dye won't help that very much.  Copper sulfate is useful but a good rain followed by cooler temps will break it up and disperse it.

[A_B]

What is the name of the algae?

 

Our algae was filamentous moss algae. Grows on the bottom and releases brown smelly gradu that floats to the surface.

[skidawg]

Sounds about like ur's ab

[smanski]

We have it bad this year.  We have been fighting it all summer.  Our water is currently like a hot tub.  Cutrine and copper sulfate knock it down and then it comes back.  We are trying grass carp, but it takes them close to a year to really make a difference.

[clemsondave]

What are the downsides to carp? I hear they can muck up the water. I like our clear water, but need to get rid of the grass/algae. Considered dye, but we have quite a bit of inflow/outflow. Afraid it would all wash away. Copper Sulfate didn't touch it this year, but we may have applied too late.

[boarditup]

Aerate.  Adding O2 to the water will eliminate the algae.  An air pump with a bottom diffuser in a few areas will eliminate the problem.  Once the equipment is purchased, the only expenses are wear items and electricity.

[Old MS Accout]

Copper powder is quick and cheaper the the liquid Cutrine.

It is usually gone in 2 days after application. Walk the shore line and toss in and then 1 trip ideling down and back putting it into the prop wash.

Even with dye, our lake had algae. If you have any food source and run off, it will grow in anything. Dawgs lake has natural dye (Choc milk).     

[ForrestGump]

We're starting to get some algae growth in our lake. More importantly, I'm having an algae problem in my damn pool. I finally said screw it and started draining it today and starting over. I don't think you can do that with your lake, though. :)

[Than_Bogan]

I probably shouldn't even mention this, because I've never ACTUALLY seen one work, but supposedly water circulators can be effective against algae, and they can run off solar power.

(I know about this because some of the manufacturers were evaluating their effectiveness against milfoil, and did an experiment in my lake, which was a complete failure.  But supposedly they do work against algae...)

http://lakes.solarbee.com/

[A_B]

 

 

We used Cutrine granuals, it does come in liquid though, but that just seemed like pissing in the ocean though to me.  CS is cheaper, but also has warning labels about swimming after application, so we went with Cutrene.

 We recharge our lake early with dye and that is the medicine.  If you wait until June or July, it is too late.

Our water is pretty blue, most folks ask where the palm trees are when they ski there the first time.

We add acid blue #9 dye and Acid yellow #23 aka Tartrazine .  They work on different ends of the ultraviolet spectrum for blocking sun.  Use 10:1 blue to yellow ratio.

We also added about 50 Amurs over the years, maybe 10 died off intially, so about 40 left.  Some are getting pretty big, over 2 feet long.

Lake is 18 feet deep, about 2000 feet long, and average about 400feet wide, narrow at one end and over 700' at the other.

Butler chemical carries the dyes in powder form.  I think for a lake our size, we used 25kg of blue and 5 kg of yellow for the intial charge.  Each year we add about half of that early in the season.  Inital cost is somewhere around $800 if I remember.  Where rubber gloves and long sleeve shirts, the powder gets all over your if not careful.  The best is to mix it with water on a calm day in a controlled environment.

 http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs100.snc3/16731_331234525537_672250537_9511863_4971625_n.jpg

 

 

 

 

[Old MS Accout]

The dog is even blue. Looks nice AB.

 As for swimming after the CS, I dont think I would. But I would definitly take a ski ride.

[DW]

Copper Sulphate has a 24 hour no swimming recommendation, per the spec sheet provided by the engineering mangement company.  It is an excellent all around weed control / algea control chemical.