I'm at my wit's end

[Skydog]

i might answer my own question, but I'm having a real hard time with water clarity. I have two large, old maples that contribute debri in the form of whirly copters, leaves, and those darn red bud things. Some is caused by mulch. I have 6/6-7" shubunkins and 8/3-4" shubunkins and koi in approximately 1500 gallon pond. The water is nearly always tea colored. I'm running what appears to be a fairly typical bio-balls filter. So far, I have taken the following steps: netted the pond in fall and spring during peak fallout periods, net any debris I can, and have pulled back any mulch to keep it out as much as possible. I've increased the number of bio-balls 100%. I regularly rinse the mesh screens and filter balls. I also have been running a good sized aeration pump. Lastly, I've been treating it with a product called, "Pond-zyme, with barley". I live in Northern Indiana, so I currently have no plants. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Dave 54]

I dont think your going to get rid of the tea cloured water with the maples standing where they are , it appears your doing all you can removing debris detritus dead leaves etc which is something we do late spring mid summer and fall that way we present a cystal clear pond .
We also clean our filters three times yearly at the same timme and we net the pond using 6mm Hexmesh

Dave

 

[mogsie]

tea coloured water sounds tike tannins getting into the water usually from wood based origins, the maple seeds would do that ! i have found in my experiance (some on this forum would disagree) dont waste your time with these bioballs filters they are balls ! literally, make a natural bio filter with plants in the top fast growing plants, water mint etc, this will do much more filtration than a heap od plastic ping pong balls ! this solution worked for me, i dont clean my pond any more it is crystal clear all year round since i sterted plant filtration !

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Activated charcoal will quickly remove the discoloration.

 

[Skydog]

Do you just add it to the waterfall/bio-ball filter?

 

[Dave 54]

Those pingpong balls as you describe them are acctually purpose made bacteria factories that are comtinually knocking against one annother in the airflow of your filter as bacteria is knocked off more is produced and they do this 365 days a year every year as long as you keep your filter running , they do good for the pond by doing this

Dave

 

[Skydog]

Do you do more harm than good, rinsing off the mesh bag of bio-balls?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Do you just add it to the waterfall/bio-ball filter?

Place a 1 pound mesh bag anywhere there is water flow----either the skimmer or the biofilter. Note: Activated charcoal removes most organic pollutants from the water, so other compounds will be absorbed other than the tannins. I would recommend replacing it at least monthly if this is a chronic problem.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Do you do more harm than good, rinsing off the mesh bag of bio-balls?

Generally a light rinsing with Pond water does no harm.

 

[CometKeith]

I get a lot of leaves too. There is a 100+ year old cottonwood tree that looms over my pond. Every year I do a bunch of water changes and eventually it clears up.

 

[teeemkay]

Generally a light rinsing with Pond water does no harm.

Good to know. I gave mine a rinse the other day with the garden hose but I think I got a little overzealous... the pond seemed a little stinky for a couple days (it smelled better today, so I'm hoping things are balancing back out.)

It's not easy having trees so close to the pond. I have been scooping junk out of the water every day the past two weeks, especially if we get a windy day. This week it has been those little round green leafy seed things from one of the nearby trees... last week it was a dozen or so pink petals from the flowering tree in the front yard... We don't have any maples nearby, thank goodness, or I would soon be scooping the helicopter seeds out of there too.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Good to know. I gave mine a rinse the other day with the garden hose but I think I got a little overzealous... the pond seemed a little stinky for a couple days (it smelled better today, so I'm hoping things are balancing back out.)

It's not easy having trees so close to the pond. I have been scooping junk out of the water every day the past two weeks, especially if we get a windy day. This week it has been those little round green leafy seed things from one of the nearby trees... last week it was a dozen or so pink petals from the flowering tree in the front yard... We don't have any maples nearby, thank goodness, or I would soon be scooping the helicopter seeds out of there too.

Don't you have a skimmer?

 

[teeemkay]

I do. It fills up REALLY fast, though, with all the spring tree junk falling in. I have been cleaning it in the morning and by the time I get home from work it needs another thorough clean-out. Even last fall I was able to get away with cleaning it just once a day.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I do. It fills up REALLY fast, though, with all the spring tree junk falling in. I have been cleaning it in the morning and by the time I get home from work it needs another thorough clean-out. Even last fall I was able to get away with cleaning it just once a day.

But just think what you would have staring at you if you did not have a skimmer

 

[addy1]

Our huge maple tree is getting ready to dump the spinners, they make a mess, constant skimmer clean out time.