Pondowners should test water quality in January

Published 6:56 am Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Depending on where you live in East Texas, you could have received at least 20 inches more than your average annual rainfall in 2015. However, all of that rain could be a mixed blessing! On one hand, your pond is brim full right now unless you have some serious leaks or a way too small watershed feeding your personal fishing hole. On the other hand, all of these massive rains have led to some tremendous flushing of your pond volume-maybe several times over and all that water is now way downstream. If you are intensively managing your pond for fish production, then you already know that pH and total alkalinity are crucial for maintaining good habitat for your fish, be they channel cats or largemouth bass. With fertilization season coming up in April, a January water test will give you time to add a prescribed amount of agricultural limestone (the same lime used by hay producers and cattle ranchers to grow bermudagrass here in East Texas). Pond fertilization can double the pounds of fish your pond will support but a fertilization program will not work if pH and total alkalinity are out of whack.

The amount of lime needed depends on the aforementioned levels of the two parameters. A pH value of 6.5 to 8.5 is desirable for fish production. Even more important than a pH in this range is a total alkalinity reading of at least 20 ppm. The total alkalinity is a measure of your pond’s water to buffer pH against wild swings from a daily low to a daily high. If your total alkalinity is below 20 ppm, agricultural limestone should be applied even if the pH is in the good range. The lower the total alkalinity, the more agricultural limestone is required. Applications usually vary from 1 to 4 tons of lime per surface acre.

Ideally, a water sample should be pulled after a week or two of no rainfall-pretty much an impossibility given the last 3 months (sure wish we had some of this rain back in July, August and September!). It doesn’t take a lot of water, just about a coffee cup full placed in a rinsed and unbreakable container. All county Extension agents in East Texas have the water kits necessary to test pH and total alkalinity in water samples taken from farm ponds and lakes.

If limestone is recommended, the applications should be made as evenly over the pond’s surface as possible, which is much easier said than done. Regardless, good water quality is a necessity if you are managing your pond to achieve excellent fishing opportunities, which can only occur with fish populations balanced with their environment-and water quality is the key to that environment.