Jumping in the deep end!

[Rogue_Life]

I've been searching and reading through the threads before making a post. I see a lot of knowledgeable people and I'm glad I found this forum.
I have started a pool to pond conversion. Our pool equipment went out May last year and we were unable to find anyone willing to make the repairs. We spent thousands of dollars on parts and unskilled labor to no avail. So we stopped adding chemicals about 8 months ago. I have green algae, so it looks like pea soup. I have lots of frogs that love it! a few goldfish I threw in and my pet turtle who has lived in the pool even before it went green. Now my turtle has babies.
I'm adding a small bog filter this weekend but I'm afraid it won't be big enough to clear the pond.
The question is Should I add a pond algaecide or wait and see what the bog can do?

 

[j.w]

and welcome @Rogue_Life
I would never use that algae rid stuff! If you want it gone make yourself a top edge filter out of a big plastic pot w/a hole in the bottom and put upholstery white batting in it and run a tube from your pump to the top of the pot and run your pond water through it to take out the fine junk from the pond water. It takes a long time to do this as you need to clean the batting when it gets clogged a lot and then put it all back in. We are talking days here or longer! Or just leave the algae and wait to see if it will go away. Having lots of good gunk sucking plants will help too. That bog will really do the trick tho. Might be big enough. I'd wait for that before doing anything else. But do add plants.

 

[JRS]

Welcome! I would wait also, although unsightly, the algae is not hurting anything and dead algae can deteriorate your water quality. If you tell us about the size of your bog and the plants, that would give us a better idea. I put a small bog about 2'x3' with cattails, not normally recommended due to aggressive growth, and it has eliminated my green water. What kind of turtles do you have?

 

[GBBUDD]

First question I have is how big is the pond how many gallons are we talking about here.
Is the pond a liner , vinyl , concrete?
Also how deep is the pond
Do you plan on adding fish down the road and are you talking sunies, bass, gold fish, sturgeon etc

Pictures help tremendously.

@j.w batting pot can certainly help but if your talking a pond with 20 or 30000 gallons that won't be the long term answer as you'll be changing it frequently and it's not cheap anymore.

 

[j.w]

First question I have is how big is the pond how many gallons are we talking about here.
Is the pond a liner , vinyl , concrete?
Also how deep is the pond
Do you plan on adding fish down the road and are you talking sunies, bass, gold fish, sturgeon etc

Pictures help tremendously.

@j.w batting pot can certainly help but if your talking a pond with 20 or 30000 gallons that won't be the long term answer as you'll be changing it frequently and it's not cheap anymore.

Yep pot would never be of much help w/a giant pond!

 

[Rogue_Life]

It's a pool to pond conversion. 40,000 gallons. 10 ft at the deep end. It already has turtles , fish, snakes, and fogs and lord knows what else is in there since you can see below the surface. I set up a drum filter this weekend but it didn't work too great. Has a leak I need to fix. The future bog is about 4' x 6' and about 3ft deep. I know I will need several filters for a pool this size but it's a work in progress.

 

[j.w]

It's a pool to pond conversion. 40,000 gallons. 10 ft at the deep end. It already has turtles , fish, snakes, and fogs and lord knows what else is in there since you can see below the surface. I set up a drum filter this weekend but it didn't work too great. Has a leak I need to fix. The future bog is about 4' x 6' and about 3ft deep. I know I will need several filters for a pool this size but it's a work in progress. View attachment 157576View attachment 157577View attachment 157578

The bog is a wonderful way to filter you pond!

 

[JRS]

"You're going to need a bigger boat", I mean bog, comes to mind, but keep at it, everything helps, especially the bogs and aquatic plants in the pool itself. Good to recognize it as a work in progress as you mention.

You can also have the tops of your barrel filters use plants, I have these in mesh pots: https://www.gardenpondforum.com/attachments/barrel-filter-jpg.154281/

Large populations of turtles are not conducive to nutrient reduction or aquatic plant preservation, are the sliders native to your area? If they wandered in, perhaps you could help some of them wander out?

Uniseals are a good way to pipe in/out of barrels using PVC pipe then adapted with the appropriate fittings for your hose.

Amazon.com : uniseals

 

[Rogue_Life]

"You're going to need a bigger boat", I mean bog, comes to mind, but keep at it, everything helps, especially the bogs and aquatic plants in the pool itself. Good to recognize it as a work in progress as you mention.

You can also have the tops of your barrel filters use plants, I have these in mesh pots: https://www.gardenpondforum.com/attachments/barrel-filter-jpg.154281/

Large populations of turtles are not conducive to nutrient reduction or aquatic plant preservation, are the sliders native to your area? If they wandered in, perhaps you could help some of them wander out?

Red eared sliders. The big one wandered in about 10 years ago and I kept her as pet. Apparently, she had babies.