Source of alum powder?

[avboiler11]

The pond I had built last summer is almost full...but due to it being finished immediately before a drought, I didn't get ground cover established around it, leading to muddy water from erosion and suspended clay.

I'm going to put rip-rap a couple feet above/below the full pool line to prevent sediment from the bank mixing into the water due to wave action, but am thinking about spraying a mixture of aluminum sulfate/lime into the water to help clear it up a bit in the coming month or so. Pond has already been stocked with 10lb of fathead minnows and 400 bluegill/hybrid bluegill/redear sunfish.

Sourcing powdered lime is easy, but does anybody know a source of bagged alum around Clark/Scott/Floyd counties? 100lb or so is all I should need as I'm not looking for gin, but less chocolate milk and that'd be a lot of 4lb bags of Yi-Yield at nearly $4/lb...

Thanks!

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I can't help you with that much alum but I do remember bottles of it being sold in drugstores when I was a kid. We used to play jokes on other kids on the bus with it. We'd take sticks of Wrigley's gum, unwrap them carefully, moisten the stick with water and sprinkle the powdered ammonium alum on the stick, let it dry and then re-wrap it. We'd offer it to some kid on the bus and wait for the reaction when they'd start chewing it. Talk about making your mouth pucker!

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

I'd also invest in some grass seed and a broadcast spreader.

 

[avboiler11]

I'd also invest in some grass seed and a broadcast spreader.

Seed was sewn in early March and is growing quite nicely.

 

[patience0830]

Why on gods green earth would you stock fathead minnows?

You'll need some larger predators in there too or you'll end up with a billion 4" bluegill.

 

[ws6duramax]

Why on gods green earth would you stock fathead minnows?

You'll need some larger predators in there too or you'll end up with a billion 4" bluegill.

Fathead minnows are stocked for food for the bluegill . New ponds have no vegetation yet , so minimal insects , larva etc..

It looks like he put in Hybrid bluegill , so "shouldn't" have any reproduction .

 

[avboiler11]

Why on gods green earth would you stock fathead minnows?

Because the panfish were only 3-4" and I wanted to give them the very best opportunity to grow as big as possible, as fast as possible, before adding largemouth in late summer/early fall. I'm also feeding Optimal Junior pellet feed.

I put so many fatheads in there's no WAY the bluegill will eat them all; they'll spawn and the bluegill will have plenty of fathead fry to eat as they grow large enough to eat the adults.

It is important to have a well-established food chain for the ecosystem before introducing predator fish, so that when the bass go in, they'll have a smorgasbord.

 

[two70]

Why on gods green earth would you stock fathead minnows?

You'll need some larger predators in there too or you'll end up with a billion 4" bluegill.

Stocking fathead minnows is one of the main ways to avoid having underfed, stunted, and slow growing bluegill. Yes, it will require population management but bluegill are going to require that anyway. Usually in ponds that are fished regularly and where fish are kept, over fishing and high grading are more of a problem than under fishing/ low predation.

It looks like he put in Hybrid bluegill , so "shouldn't" have any reproduction .

That's not quite correct. Hybrid bluegill have no problem reproducing, however, their offspring tend to be ~ 80-90% male, which reduces the reproduction rate.

 

[Sniper 79]

Sounds like another rabbit hole for cash.

 

[Restroyer]

This company is in Cincinnati but they stock a lot of the ponds throughout SE Indiana - they might come out your way also? They seem to be widely used and recommended out here:
https://jonesfish.com/

 

[avboiler11]

Sounds like another rabbit hole for cash.

I've dubbed it Lake Moneybegone...but hey, its worth it to me.

 

[ws6duramax]

I wouldn't let the murky water bother you . Once the grass gets good and established and it fills up to full pool , you most likely won't have that condition again . Most people put the rip rap around ponds for visual aspects and to not have to mow/weed eat to the waters edge . I doubt it would do much on the erosion side of things . What little waves action there is , I can't see it causing the murky water . That's just the way a new pond is .

That being said , if you want rip rap , now is definitely the time to do it . Once it's full , it will be a little tougher getting things situated below the water line .