Improving visibility in quarry

[alewar]

Hello,

is there an inexpensive way to improve the visibility in a cold, fresh water quarry?
I have no clue about this, but wonder if one could use certain plants or rocks to improve things, like an ecosystem engineering.

How do you recognize the cause of the bad visibility?
Can someone point me to online resources to learn about this?

Thanks!

 

[mmadiver]

Zebra muscles....

 

[pconsidine]

agree-Zebra muscles.....

 

[mala]

Zebra muscles....

are they the muscles that stop the fins kicking up the sediment?

 

[mmadiver]

Zebra muscles filter the water. I suppose they stop divers kicking up sediment as well because they tend to cover everything. Zebra muscles are voracious and have searious downsides though.

Recomend looking into what sort of filter feeders naturally live in your area and help cultivate them more in the quarry.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

They, the powers that be, decided tht there will be no fishing so now the fish have over populated and the vis has decrease from 40+- to inches and fish are dying. So here is what our Quarry is doing...which is not working BTW. Many of us said Zebra muscles but it fell on deaf ears. So they believe that it is due to algae blooms caused by, no s%^t, global warming. So now they have introduced Paddle fish which are nonindigenous to the area. Well that did not help out a bit and I have only seen one of them once about a year ago and no one else has seem them either. So what do the powers that be decide to do next, bring in more Paddle fish! What a joke!
So whatever you try don't go with the Paddle fish, global warming and no fishing concept.

 

[divin'dog]

... So now they have introduced Paddle fish which are nonindigenous to the area. Well that did not help out a bit and I have only seen one of them once about a year ago and no one else has seem them either. So what do the powers that be decide to do next, bring in more Paddle fish! ...

And what was the definition of insanity?

 

[TONY CHANEY]

And what was the definition of insanity?

Exactly Divin'Dog! When the fishing went away the vis did also. A coincidence? I think not. Here is a picture we took. I gave my camera to my buddy and asked if he was ready. There were only a couple of fish around until I cracked open a muscle shell. These fish are starved to death.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

It's not like the powers that be actually control the quarry - they just claim to. All someone needs to do is get some zebra mussels and quietly introduce them on their own. Problem solved, no debate with idiots necessary. There's at least one quarry in PA (with very nice clear viz, I might add) that has plenty to spare

 

[Steve_C]

Want to be careful with zebra muscles. If some one were to then go dive in a lake or river they could introduce them to a new body of water and they are a major problem in the great lakes.

At least paddle fish get big and look cool.

Quarry's are sometimes a closed system. Nutrients can enter but unless they are somehow removed the viz will go down. Our local quarry used to have an overflow pipe. That is no longer functioning. As a result the level has gone up and the viz has gone down over the last few years. No way to flush off added nutrients of leaves, pollen, and other stuff.