Diatoms?

[schmuttis]

Every year my rocks and plants get covered with with this brown coating. The water is really clear just everything gets coated. I'd really like to know what to do about this.

This year we drained the pond in sections (saving the water) and power washed all of the rocks so it's really disturbing to see this brown coating back so soon.

The pond was installed in 2016 so should be well established.

I also have a lot of plants in the pond.

The filtration is all biological. Here's the bog - not the best picture. Plants in the bog include a banana plant, canna two taros (one green one black), watercress and iris.

There are two pumps in a pump vault in the shallow end of the lower pond - AquaSurge® Adjustable Flow Pond Pump 4000-8000. One goes to the bog and the other to the falls. Usually I keep the bog on power 2 and the falls is on 1 during the day and off at night. I read that water flow can cause a problem with diatoms so I upped both pumps to 10 for now.

One pump controls the falls (you can see the bog behind the falls area):

The bog water goes into a stream (not the falls).

And then into the upper pond before coming back to the larger lower pond.

So is this brown slime diatoms? What can be done about it? Your advice would be greatly appreciated. If you need any other information, just ask please. We live in growing zone 6 - Pennsylvania, USA and keep the pond running all year.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my problem.

 

[Lisak1]

I think your pond is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! But remember - it's a pond, not a pool. And you clearly understand the concept of biological filtration - the "stuff" on the rocks is just all part of your filtration. It's some form of algae or another - if it's free floating, I just stir the rocks up and let it drift off. If it's stuck to the rocks, all the better! You want your pond lined with life.

 

[bagsmom]

Your pond is just beautiful!!!! I think the brown sludge might be a by product of nature doing its thing. The water is clear and your fish look very healthy. The plants are amazing! I think when you power wash, you are removing a lot of the natural organisms that help keep the pond in balance. Is it possible that the brown stuff is dead algae or other decomposing material blasted off with the power wash? There will probably be some good advice on here - but I just wanted to tell you how lovely your pond is!

 

[schmuttis]

I think your pond is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! But remember - it's a pond, not a pool. And you clearly understand the concept of biological filtration - the "stuff" on the rocks is just all part of your filtration. It's some form of algae or another - if it's free floating, I just stir the rocks up and let it drift off. If it's stuck to the rocks, all the better! You want your pond lined with life.

I basically agree with you about letting everything be natural but if I put any submersible plant in the pond it never thrives (other than lilies which come to the surface) which I think is because of the "brown coating".

 

[schmuttis]

Your pond is just beautiful!!!! I think the brown sludge might be a by product of nature doing its thing. The water is clear and your fish look very healthy. The plants are amazing! I think when you power wash, you are removing a lot of the natural organisms that help keep the pond in balance. Is it possible that the brown stuff is dead algae or other decomposing material blasted off with the power wash? There will probably be some good advice on here - but I just wanted to tell you how lovely your pond is!

This is the first year that we have power washed our pond since it's install in 2016. We did make a pond vac with large trash can and varied filter material within powered with an above ground pool pump that we've used other years to semi clean the bottom of the pond. This is the first year that we thought that we really needed to do more to clean out the pond. This really isn't pond sludge - that's what the diy vac would clean - this stuff clings to plants and rocks. I can't just rub it off of plants once it's there. Tomorrow I'll post a video showing what I'm talking about.

 

[Jhn]

If it is diatoms or another form of algae, hard to tell from the pics, as you already discovered can be reduced by increasing the flow/circulation in the pond. I would leave the waterfall pump at 10 all the time, (never turn it off) and the bog pump depending on the size of bog and how the water feeds, a setting of 2 may have been to low to feed the bog the nutrient rich pond water it needs for the plants to starve out the other forms of algae, but 10 may be too high depending on head pressure, pipe size etc. Patience it may take abit for the bog and plants to starve it out now that you made flow adjustments.

Keep in mind as was mentioned, fuzzy algae/biofilm coating rocks is a sign of
a healthy ecosystem.

 

[schmuttis]

If it is diatoms or another form of algae, hard to tell from the pics, as you already discovered can be reduced by increasing the flow/circulation in the pond. I would leave the waterfall pump at 10 all the time, (never turn it off) and the bog pump depending on the size of bog and how the water feeds, a setting of 2 may have been to low to feed the bog the nutrient rich pond water it needs for the plants to starve out the other forms of algae, but 10 may be too high depending on head pressure, pipe size etc. Patience it may take abit for the bog and plants to starve it out now that you made flow adjustments.

Keep in mind as was mentioned, fuzzy algae/biofilm coating rocks is a sign of
a healthy ecosystem.

For now I have the falls on power 10 and the bog on 5. Is there a way to calculate what pressure/speed the bog pump should be set at?

 

[ShellyM]

This is the first year that we have power washed our pond since it's install in 2016. We did make a pond vac with large trash can and varied filter material within powered with an above ground pool pump that we've used other years to semi clean the bottom of the pond. This is the first year that we thought that we really needed to do more to clean out the pond. This really isn't pond sludge - that's what the diy vac would clean - this stuff clings to plants and rocks. I can't just rub it off of plants once it's there. Tomorrow I'll post a video showing what I'm talking about.

PLEASE tell me more about your home made vacumn. I'm looking for a continuous suction design to enable me to run along the bottom etc. without having to empty a big shop vac every minute. I'm old and cannot handlethe strength and patience it takes.

 

[schmuttis]

If it is diatoms or another form of algae, hard to tell from the pics, as you already discovered can be reduced by increasing the flow/circulation in the pond. I would leave the waterfall pump at 10 all the time, (never turn it off) and the bog pump depending on the size of bog and how the water feeds, a setting of 2 may have been to low to feed the bog the nutrient rich pond water it needs for the plants to starve out the other forms of algae, but 10 may be too high depending on head pressure, pipe size etc. Patience it may take abit for the bog and plants to starve it out now that you made flow adjustments.

Keep in mind as was mentioned, fuzzy algae/biofilm coating rocks is a sign of
a healthy ecosystem.

For now I have the falls on power 10 (all day and night) and the bog on 5. Is there a way to calculate what pressure/speed the bog pump should be set at? I know you said I need to have patience but how long might a "bit" be - month, next year? The upper pond is only fed by the bog water so would this be enough flow to eliminate the "diatoms" in that pond? The falls is located midway in the larger, lower pond so will that increased flow be enough to circulate all of the water in the larger pond?

I made a video of the brown stuff on a giant pennywort but couldn't post it here. Even reduced and zipped it said too large so you'll have to visit this webpage to see it: click for video. As you can see from the video, the this stuff really doesn't rub off. It's slimy but not fuzzy. The video isn't the greatest - I had trouble holding my phone so there wasn't a glare while rubbing on the plant and rock. Hopefully it shows enough so you can make a determination as to whether it's diatoms or some other type of algae.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Jhn]

Not sure and on the road, but Usually, attack the various algae forms similarly increase circulation, better nutrient removal, there is an imbalance somewhere, just noodling through the tried and true methods to get rid of it.

 

[GBBUDD]

That looks like a POND to me . The leaves your trying to rub the algae off of are old you can see the healthy green leaves next to them . Pinch them off and toss them.
While you have a bog and a waterfall you have bio and o2 covered. And a pond you have it you want t o go a step either a sleeve or a rotating drum filter would be my next step. That or ozone but that's another animal all together.