Water Clarity

[lkb]

The water in my lake is clearer than its ever been before. You can easily see the bottom in 7ft deep areas. It's almost like a swimming pool. It's beautiful but I'm scared it's going to get weeds growing in it. Anybody ever seen a pond that clear before that didn't get infested? Also how does that affect the feel of the water? It seems to be skiing good but the best feeling water I've ever skied looked like pea soup with 2 inches of vis.

[Marco]

Every time we let our water get clear, we are over run with weeds or algae.  Right after we built our lake, we were over run with Sago Pond grass and had to treat the whole lake with aquacide and put in grass carp.  That and Aquashade did the trick, and no weeds since.  This fall, we let the lake go clear and had an algae problem, so from here on out we will always keep our lake colored.  I don't notice a difference in the speed of the water when we dye it, it always feels slow as long as it is warm.

[Kelvin]

Aquashade or other lake dye filters out the UV light to keep the plant life from growing.  Plus the blue color looks nice as well.

[bf_OldAccount]

We have a lake that is very clear early in the season, but gets a bit murkier as the Summer progresses with algae, etc. It seems to ski noticeably slower as it clouds up. I'm not sure how much of this has to do with the water temps, but my perception has always been that the cleaner, lower sediment water skis faster.

[acmx]

lkb, like i said when I was there, I can't believe your lake doesn't look like chocoloate milk. Are you guys skiing as much? Maybe less boat traffic is causing it to get so clear. If it stays that way I'm sure you could dye it and not affect the way it skis. Hope your water doesn't change cause your place skis great!

 

 

 

 

[lkb]

Hey acmx, yeah it's crazy. 7 ft of vis is probably an underestimate. Skiing has slowed waaay down. Skied Monday in a shorty and it felt comfortable. The water still skied good and i still didn't feel like i needed a wing. Skiing time is gonna go downhill fast though. 27 deg tonight and tomorrow night. I just winterized the boat. Do y'all do any winter skiing?

[Than_Bogan]

Just to add a little paranoia:  Extremely clear water (where it used to not be) is often caused by something absorbing the nutrients.  Several invasive species fit that bill, including milfoil and zebra mussells.

90% likely you have nothing to worry about, but I just wanted to put it on your radar that a sudden change in water clarity should be examined beyond just the impact to skiing.

[lkb]

There are some kind of mussels. Don't think the're zebras though. It hasn't been a really sudden change. It has just increased 2 or 3 ft this fall. It usually gets a bit murky in winter then starts to clear as it warms up. It's just that this year it's gotten clearer than ever before.

[DW]

Clear water fosters weed growth due to the increase in ultraviolet rays getting to the bottom.  As mentioned, a change in water clarity (better) is probably caused by an invasive species, most likely a mussel of some sort since they act as filters.  They tend to be brought in from a non resident boat or trailer.

[acmx]

lkb, no winter skiing for me, esapecially this year; just had shoulder surgery.

[A_B]

 

 

I ski at a lake in Michigan that has a very bad weed problem in mid-summer.  The weeds die off and the water looks like tap water, clear all the way to the bottom, about 10 feet.  It started getting this clear when the weed problem came on the scene. 

We dye our pond and use Amurs (sterile) for algae.  Our lake is 18 foot deep and only had algae on sides.

 The downside to dye is it seems to keep the water a few degrees cooler, but just a little.

 

[LeonL]

lkb, Can you see the bottom?  If not you probably will not have a grass problem.  Our lake (where acmx skis also) gets fairly clear in the winter and up until we start skiing a lot in the spring.  Our murkyness is mostly attributable to wake action against the shore and bottom.  Some of the comments about "fast water vs. slow water" as relates to temp may be in error.  I've come to believe (from input from quite a few people) that cold water is not "fast", just the opposite.

[lkb]

LeonL, I just came from the lake. You can actually see the bottom in 10' deep water. It has been clear many times before. Clear enough that if weeds were gonna grow I thought they would have grown. But it's just crazy how clear it is now.

[35 in the bag]

lkb,

Check for zebra mussels, not that you can do anything about them. The are small! They range from about 1/8" to 3/4". Zebra mussels anchor themselve to solid objects....like bouys, rocks, wood, etc.  Not so much the bottom silt, sand or clay. The gotta have something solid to grab to. They are sharp as heck even with light, incidental contact. Fortunatly the cuts are not deep.....but will quickly fester with minor infection if not treated with an OTC antibiotic ointment. They have completely impacted the Great Lakes Ecosystem............ The next scurge......Flying Carp!

Eventually thier populations seem to significantly decline as a season or two of clearer water results in less feed for them and I guess starvation. Boy, Mother Nature has been doing the same thing for......millions...or billions of years.

JIII

[LeonL]

lkb,  35 in the bag said there is nothing you can do about zebra mussels, but I know a guy who runs a business eradicating them.  I hope that you don't have them, but if you find them let me know and I'll put you in touch with the exterminator.

[ral]

Does anyone have a policy of cleaning equipment and boats before going into their private lakes for people coming from other lakes/regions?