Pond blackout?

[enrgizerbunny]

I have pea soup during the summer in my pond and it leaves with me about 12" visibility tops. I've been considering flocculants and I had a natural experiment this fall. I didn't remove the leaves for a long time and when I finally did my water was crystal clear.

This got me thinking- I could black out my pond with plastic vapor barrier film in the spring!

Has anyone done this before? Success? Utter failure?

 

[Fresh2o]

I would look into barley or barely extract. They contain natural algae inhibitors. I used to get pea soup green algae every spring. Then one year I started using barley extract (can’t recall the brand) each week for about a month. Pond cleared up. Only treated one season.
Now I only have to deal with string algae (real nuisance).

 

[Fresh2o]

As for shade, you could suspend shade cloth or similar material. Not a total blackout but more of a reduction of light and heat.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

As for shade, you could suspend shade cloth or similar material. Not a total blackout but more of a reduction of light and heat.

It's under trees, so I'm not concerned about shade for heat, but it gets plenty enough sun to grow algae.