Dyofix Lake Dye

At last a cost effective and environmentally friendly way to control aquatic weed and algae. Many still waters these days suffer from weed or algae problems, excess nutrients are utilised by plants and algae, these can cause major problems if allowed to get out of control. Many of the chemicals that have been used over the years have now been banned as they cause major problems within the aquatic environment.

We have used this dye based system for over ten years now, this dye reflects some of the light spectrum that plants need to photosynthesise thus starving the weeds and algae, the dye is food grade and is totally none toxic, it is best added in early spring to stop the weed or algae developing in the first place, there are two versions of the dye available one turns the water a very attractive blue colour, the other is called shadow and just darkens the water like it was constantly in a shadow.

The blue lake dye is the most cost effective to use, just 400 grams will treat 1 acre 1 metre deep, at 2 metres deep 800 grams would be needed, 1 kg will treat 1 acre 2.5 metres deep, or 2.5 acres 1 meter deep.

The shadow lake dye is not as concentrated as the blue but is preferred by some fishery owners as it looks more natural, 1 kg of the shadow will treat 1 acre 1 metre deep.

The above dose rates are the minimum doses, there is no maximum dose as they are completely non toxic, the more dye added to the lake the stronger the colour will be.

Both will need top up doses every few weeks or so as the dye slowly bio-degrades and to counteract dilution by rainfall or other through flows of water.

Prices

Lake blue

• 5kg £264.00
• 10kg £369.00

Shadow

• 5kg £216.00
• 10kg £300.00

Prices include vat and delivery

Before and After

Above you can see some pictures of the dye in use, the stronger the dose the more coloured the water will become, even if you were to overdose by 10 times there is still no harmful affects on aquatic life such as fish and invertebrates, it only blocks out some of the light spectrum starving vegetation, marginal and surface plants are not affected. If treating weed ideally the dye needs to be added in early spring before the weed gets going, at the minimum dose the dye will have cut out enough of the light spectrum at a depth of 60cm to prevent weed growth, if you double the dose the dye will have blocked out the light at a depth of about 30cm.

With algae it works in a slightly different way, at the minimum dose rate the dye has blocked out enough of the light spectrum below 60cm so the algae cannot survive in the lower layers, this reduces the total volume of water the algae can survive in, thus reducing the overall amount of algae present in the water body.

Algae floats about in the water column and can migrate to the surface so with algae it is best to keep the lake at a higher dose rate, from personal experience (depending how severe the algae problems are) i would recommend double the minimum dose rate, this then has to be kept topped up. Even at double the standard dose rate there will still be some algae in the system, low amounts of algae are beneficial as it provides food for rotifers and zooplankton that are then consumed by the fish, but when algae gets out of control it can cause huge problems from massive dissolved oxygen and ph swings to total de-oxygenation if it suddenly dies back.

Nutrient consuming bacteria

Another approach to controlling algae is to treat the lake with a bacteria, these nutrient hungry bacteria multiply incredibly fast and consume the nitrates and phosphates that algae need to grow, by removing the nutrients the algae cells will then struggle to thrive and be drastically reduced, the bacteria are supplied in dissolvable pva bags, initial dose should be 3kg per acre, followed by 2kg per acre 2 weeks later, followed by 1 kg per acre 2 weeks later again, so the amount needed for the three applications per acre is 6kg, however if the lake is particularly deep more product maybe required, but for lakes 2 to 3 meters deep 6kg per acre is generally enough to bring the nutrient levels under control, additional product can be added if nutrient levels persist, once the bacteria have consumed all available nutrients they will start to consume the algae cells themselves, and also consume silt lying on the lake bed, they only use a small amount of oxygen so don’t tent to affect dissolved oxygen levels greatly, although its best to provide additional oxygen enrichment if possible during and after application to ensure they have enough oxygen to thrive.

The bacteria are best applied in early spring at water temperatures above 10 degrees C before the algae have time to bloom, although good results have been achieved even after the algae has had time to build up.

10kg bacteria costs just £336.00 inc delivery