Algae treatment

[LeonL]

We have what I believe to be planktonic or blue green algae. (I'm not a botanist) The recommended treatment is copper sulfate, but the application method for a 15 acre lake is elusive. Some say spray with a garden sprayer, but that proves to be quite difficult to achieve an effective application rate and will take forever. Any past experience, recommendations?

Edit: don't know how I got this under "stuff for sale". Didn't see a choice as in the past.

[DW]

@LeonL : You can source it either in liquid, granular or pellet form. The application on our lake is done via commercial sprayer for liquid or a knockoff type of fertilizer spreader for the granules.

[LeonL]

Can you be more specific on the fertilizer spreader? I've heard that the granules just sink to the bottom and are minimally effective on the surface algae.

[DW]

We have the application done by a licensed applicator, required by state law. The sprayer is like a pressure washer, gas powered that sucks out the liquid from a large tank and the pressure spray distributes the mix. Agree, the liquid tends to be the fast acting and best for surface algae, although any wind, rain or action tends to break that up as effectively as anything else and the blooms tend to be temporary.

[The_MS]

@LeonL some will use gunnysacks and fill with granular. Tie it to the boat and drag up the lake. I have not tried it. We use powder and put in on calm morning. As it drops through the water colume it creates a cloud that floats around. We toss from the shore and pour a bag in the middle as the boat heads down the lake. The best way is 25 gallon sprayer and Cutrine plus. If you have fish, watch the wind and only do half the lake.

 

[skiep]

We just put mask and goggles on idle boat down the boat guides and pour out. let the prop wash do the spreading.

[LeonL]

@skiep I assume you're speaking of distributing dry? Hence mask and goggles. Everyone...application rate? How much for 15 acres surface, average 7 feet deep.

[igkya]

@LeonL We use the granular copper sulfate, bright blue sand like crystals. Place in a burlap sack and drag through lake as others mentioned. Our lake is ~2,1000' x 160' and 5ft deep. We use 1, 50 lb. sack (in early May), wait 2-3 days and dump 1 more sack. May need to use a 3rd in mid-late August.

[Not_The_Pug]

We have a liquid ag spreader with a boom that was bought at a garden supply store.

 

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/fimco-25-gal-7-nozzle-atv-sprayer?cm_vc=-10005

 

We built a mount that sits on the swim platform. Then just turn it on and mow the lawn.

[Golfguy]

Ok, first to know is if your lake water is high in calcium (hard water) If so Copper Sulfate will not be as effective as a chelated copper such as Cutrine Plus. Calcium and sulfate bond making much of the copper unavailable to treat the algae. Also in time the sulfate builds a toxic environment to fish and other desirable water creatures the bottom. Use the chelated copper in a liquid form and if it is Cutrine plus the rate is one gallon per Acer foot, 7' deep by 15 A =105 gallons. Are you sure the lake is 7' deep average? Pour the chemical from the back of a boat directly into the water circling the lake about 20 feet from the shore. A majority of the algae lives in the shallower, warmer, clearer water. Next have a lake water nutrient test done to check the Phosphors levels. Eliminate and source of nutrients entering the lake. The copper will shade the lake for a couple of weeks, after, you can use a lake dye if you like.

[garyh20ski]

We treat our algae with chelated copper in a dry granular form. After becoming frustrated applying with a hand spreader we bought a Stihl backpack sprayer. It is essentially a leaf blower that has a tank on top and can be quickly switched to spray both liquid and dry material. It will spray out the dry copper granules approximately 40 feet. This makes quick work treating the algae in shallow water from the shore or spot treating deeper water from a boat.

 

[LeonL]

@Golfguy I can't control the nutrient influx from others property. The watershed includes crop land, i.e. soybeans, corn. Is there a feasible way to provide something to consume nutrients so as not to feed algae?

[Wayne]

Our lake was recently treated by a commercial outfit. They did a liquid application but it literally looked like it was being sprayed from a garden hose. Just a fat single stream being shot about 5 feet from shore.

[Golfguy]

@LeonL You can try a bail of straw anchored to the bottom on the windward side of the lake. This has shown to absorb nutrients from the water. Replace it every year or so. If this is Still Water, your water is probably alkaline so stay away from Copper Sulfate. Depending on your water source, it may be possible to inject copper chelate to the input point. Otherwise for a simple algae bloom it is relatively easy to pour Cutrine from the back of the boat as I mentioned in the previous post, I have personally done this many times and the results are spectacular. And really not that difficult. PM me if you would like any more information. Cheers.

[A_B]

Lots of dye and Tilapia. Algae likes the sun and Tilapia like the Algae.

[Golfguy]

If the water drops below 50 F the talipa will not survive. Otherwise, they are great. Agree

[LeonL]

Unfortunately Cutrine, in the volume needed $4000, is a bit cost prohibitive. As far as dye, our water has a high turbidity level, so sunlight penetration isn't an issue.

@Golfguy ball of straw? Size? How many? Can I interpret "bale"?

[Golfguy]

Yes, a single bale of straw (like you would buy for your horse) if there are two lakes one in each. One should be able to buy Cutrine Plus for about $35 a gallon. Is your lake really an average of 7 feet deep? That would indicate that it is 14 feet at some of the deepest depths. If I had more information about the lake, I could determine more accurately the quantity of Copper you might need.

[LeonL]

Some areas of our lake are 12' per Fathometer. This is near the dam which is nearly 500' long. I don't know what additional info to provide. Where can I get ph and phosphate tested?

[waterskigirl]

Any pool supply test kit will give you a idea of where the water is, not as accurate as a local test facility usually in every big town, but it gets expensive that way. Best not to take sample from surface near shore better deeper in center...lots of previous threads here about Alum that can really help(with turbity too) but it will lower PH.

[LeonL]

Fingers crossed, but it appears that our application of copper sulfate (100lbs 15 acre lake) has done the trick. I don't know how long the copper sulfate will sustain its efficacy, but for now no algae. It took about 4 days after application. Applied it dry, straight from the bag off the platform.

[igkya]

@LeonL Approx. how deep is your lake? Also, try using a burlap sack next time. I place a bag of the CS in the sack, make a several slices/cuts in the bags and drag the sack behind the boat. This helps distribute the CS amongst other things.

[LeonL]

Average depth is a guesstimation. Deepest area near the dam shows about 12' on boat depth gauge. Dam is over 400' long. Lake is 2050' long and gradually gets shallower going away from the dam down to about 4'. Of course shorelines taper off, so average depth??? Maybe about 6-7 feet? I'm pretty satisfied with just letting it slowly pour out of the bag.

[The_MS]

@igkya how long before it dissipates out of the bag? Can you make it up and down a ski lake with 50 lb bag?

[Weappa]

Beneficial bacteria will "eat up" nutrients, phosphorus and nitrogen. We use it in a 40 acre lake, 6 foot average depth, and it has essentially eliminated algae blooms. Just google it. Lots of options.

[igkya]

@MS When I make several cuts in the bag (1 50# bag of CS) and place it in a burlap sack, it's a trip down and back before it's gone, though I usually check on it 2-3 times times. If I just dump the CS into the burlap sack, it's usually gone before I get to end of lake. I'll wait 2-3 days before using a 2nd bag of CS. Lake is ~ 8 surface acres (2,100' x 165') and about 4.5-5' deep at turn buoys before sloping up to shore line.

[The_MS]

Thanks

[LeonL]

@Weappa I'm not a math major, so forgive me if I've got the figures wrong. THe size of our lake (by my calculations about 105 acre fee) would require about $10K worth of bacteria. Just a bit too pricey for me.

[Golfguy]

Agree you are better off with copper. What is the pH of your water?

[A_B]

@Golfguy that’s the beauty of the Tilapia. They are not sterile like Amurs but they do their job and then die. You can catch them toward the end of the season and eat them. I am not a fan but many people are.

[LeonL]

Haven't checked the ph. @A_B what's the price of tilapia and how many are required to keep a lake clean. I understand they won't last but one season.

[A_B]

@LeonL standard ski lake I would guess 20-25 will eat quite a bit. They do breed so you have to be in an area that gets below 50 water temp is what our local fish farm said. Sterile Amurs will eat algae if nothing else like grass or weeds to eat. We used Amurs because there isn’t any other vegetation. Ours are getting old and huge so they don’t eat as much and we have seen some algae the last two summers.

When I add, I might try the Tilapia. The fish farm swears by them eating algae like no other.

 

https://www.finfarm.com/fish/tilapia/

[Weappa]

@LeonL We spend $20k a year for five monthly applications which includes the labor. Buying in bulk.

[Golfguy]

On the subject of fish. White Amours are very effective in eliminating vegetative growth (weeds) and less effective in controlling algae. Talipa are very good at controlling algae, and cost about $2.45 a pound and you will need somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 fish in your lake. We stock 500 lbs per year. However I would not recommend using them if they are going to die in the cold water every year. Not only is this as expensive as algaecide but very messy considering the dead fish carcases. Regarding copper use, I am happy the CuSO4 was effective. If your lake pH is higher than 8 the sulphur will, in time, bind to the calcium in the water and settle to the bottom where there will become a toxic environment to crustaceans. Then the silt and anaerobic sludge (the black smelly stuff on the bottom of the lake) will become a problem.

[LeonL]

Wow!! $20K. That's way put of my budget. Truthfully, I'd have to quit skiing if I had to kick out those kind of bucks each year to control algae.

@Golfguy unfortunately I think our PH is near or above 8. My wife had a litmus pack (who knew!) but she said its old so readings may be off. Her strips show in the 8 range. I'll procure some new strips.

[A_B]

Do you have weeds also? If not, like our lake, the sterile Amurs will help along with blue dye.

 

I think we put in about 30 Amurs and lost a couple. Between the Amurs and the dye, we got our filmentos moss algae under control years ago.

 

We go fairly blue, not just a tint.

[LeonL]

We don't have filmentos moss algae. We have the planktonic blue green.

[The_MS]

@LeonL Karmex will take out blue/green

[Golfguy]

@LeonL Good to know. Then the use of CuSO4 should be limited. A chelated Copper source is not that much more expensive and will make more of the Copper available to kill the algae. I have seen too many lakes with high pH, which is most all of them in the West, end up with knee deep, black, anaerobic muck on the bottom as a result of using Copper Sulfate long term.

[LeonL]

@Golfguy a product like Cutrine? That seems pretty expensive to me. How many gallons of that (or whatever chelates product) would equate to 100 lbs of CuSo4?

[Golfguy]

18.38 gallons of Cutrine Plus or about $698. How much was 100 lbs of Copper Sulfate?

[LeonL]

100 lbs copper sulfate $264.90 at Southern States farm supply.

[Golfguy]

I now see you are located in KY, I had you confused with a lake with the same name in UT. So therefore CuSO4 will be fine in your waters. Best of luck.

[LeonL]

@golfguy we still have high PH levels. We just got a big rain and our spillway is taking out thousands of gallons of water, now for 24 hours and will continue to release water for days even if no more rain. Don't know what that will do.

[The_MS]

We get CS for 64.00 50lb bags. Local feed store

[igkya]

CS at local feed store is ~$80. pH levels around 7.2 seem low (northern NV) using a test strip for a hot tub/pool.

[Golfguy]

leonl The water release will reduce the ppm Copper in the water, but more importantly if there is a large inflow of water to the lake nutrients will be carried with it. Once things settle a bit you may need to re-apply CuSO4 to regain the 2 ppm needed to prevent algae.

[Golfguy]

igkya That does seem like a low pH for your area. I would think the soils more alkyl in that region.

[igkya]

@golfguy Our lake is man-made and at ~4,800' above sea level. Pond bottom is most clay and mud.

[Skoot1123]

If anyone is thinking about adding Tilapia - check with your state DNR first. I wanted to add them to our lake in Illinois. (Connects to the Illinois river only when overflowing - which, mind you is seasonal) The DNR said it would be a felony for me to stock Tilapia because they are considered an invasive species (think Asian Carp issue with the Illinois river). The DNR didn’t care if they die at 50F water temp, they still don’t want them in our lake.