My pond is green

[Lisak1]

I’ll let you know if it happens
I’ve had snails in a bucket for 2 weeks
I use the water from my pond, it’s very clear after a week, 10-12 snails in there

A dozen snails in a bucket. How many do you think you’ll need in a pond? What’s a bucket hold - 5 gallons? I’ll need appoximately 8-10000 snails i guess.

Get to the source of the issue and resolve it. Too much organic matter in the pond will lead to an overgrowth of algae. All these quick fixes are not the answer. But carry on.

 

[addy1]

Plants and more plants = no green.

 

[Derrick]

I have 6 swan mussels in my 3 ponds and about 200 snails, fish and floating plants in one pond, they seem happy enough

I have a pump and a filer tank with 3 sponge filters and two pad filers, I clean them at least once a week

The filters work well the bottom of the filter tank is full of mud

The pump, pumps water from the bottom pond up to the filter tank, through all the filters, then out of there into the top pond were the water runs quite clear

Given time I think it will clear both ponds

My new pond has no fish, no plants but has 4 swan mussels and too many snails to count, that pond is still and green as ever, it does have pump going to another filter tank, it only has 1 pad, but 2 cloth filter pads, it’s not cleaning it very well though, but the mussels have grown nearly a cm, since have put them in there

 

[bjorn_toulouse]

Plants plants and more plants, just saying.

 

[Derrick]

Cant get any more in there, not even sunlight is getting in there

 

[Phaewryn]

Okay, you say I need plants before fish
So what kind
I can’t see there being any ammonia in there, there are no fish
When I was working we had water hyacinth plants, but now they are banned (or I can’t find em)
How do they keep koi ponds clean?

Almost no one has completely legal plants in their pond. I've got invasives that are illegal in my pond (purple loosestrife, frogbit, brassica) and you'll find most other people have invasives in their ponds, whether they're illegal or not (creeping jenny, for example). The simple fact is that most pond plants that you can buy at ponding stores are invasives. Don't let that stop you from using them. Just dispose of them responsibly. I tried to go natives early on and had no success. Once I gave up and bought popular invasives, my pond started thriving:

 

[Phaewryn]

My original question was about the Walsted method, all I wanted was someone to tell me if they had heard of or tried it
I still have no idea what cycling a pond is supposed to do, google threw up a few interesting answers

The Koi bloke, breeds, imports and sells them, he has won a lot of competitions, cups, certificates, so I assume he knows a bit about fish, but I wont be keeping Koi in my pond, just goldfish
Yes you are right, plenty of women here, but as I said I dont check profiles, there is also lots of strange names that give no idea of their sex, gender, age
I usually highlight someone's name when I am reply to them (unless I can reply to their posting (like this one)

I am considering using chemicals now, but trying to find one with a 5 star reviews and actually work

My original question was about the Walsted method, all I wanted was someone to tell me if they had heard of or tried it
I still have no idea what cycling a pond is supposed to do, google threw up a few interesting answers

The Koi bloke, breeds, imports and sells them, he has won a lot of competitions, cups, certificates, so I assume he knows a bit about fish, but I wont be keeping Koi in my pond, just goldfish
Yes you are right, plenty of women here, but as I said I dont check profiles, there is also lots of strange names that give no idea of their sex, gender, age
I usually highlight someone's name when I am reply to them (unless I can reply to their posting (like this one)

I am considering using chemicals now, but trying to find one with a 5 star reviews and actually work is nigh impossible

The walstad method (for planted AQUARIUMS, no relevance to ponding):
https://buceplant.com/blogs/aquascaping-guides-and-tips/the-walstad-method-tank-guide

Cycling:
https://ozponds.com/quick-guide-to-the-nitrogen-cycle-in-a-pond/
https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/nitrogen-cycle

Also plenty of nonbinary people here (like me).

Chemical algaecides are never a solution, just a stop gap measure. You have to solve the problem causing the algae. Just killing it won't solve the problem: it will keep coming back.

The only thing you need to combat algae is plants. You asked what kind of plants others use. What kinds of plants others use will depend on their growing zone which means the climate in the area where they live. In order to recommend plants that will work for you we will need to know your zone. That means telling us either the city state and country where you live or telling us what your zone is. If you're in the United States you can find your Zone by using this link:

https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/

If you're only a month into ponding and you're already this frustrated and finding that you hate it, you might as well drain it and fill it in now because ponding requires a lot of work. It is not a hobby for people to do not have patience and a lot of extra time on their hands. It's not a hobby for people that can't deal with problems without getting frustrated. If you want your pond to work, you have to have patience and you have to put effort into it. Just rinsing the filters is not enough. In fact if you have a pond with nothing in it but filters, every time you rinse your filters, by washing them out with the hose you're removing what little bit of beneficial bacteria you have meaning that your pond may never actually cycle. You have to rinse your filter pads in a bucket of pond water by swishing them around and then squeezing them out with your hands if you want to maintain the beneficial bacteria in the pond which is what helps your pond to cycle. If you are having to rinse out your filter pads constantly to deal with algae then you need to consider adding extra filtration temporarily until your pond does cycle and you get your plants established. One way to do this is to line a milk crate with filter pad material or quilt batting and put your pump inside of that so that it has to pull water through that extra filter pad material. This you can take out and blast off with the hose since you are maintaining your beneficial bacteria on your primary filter pads.

There are plenty of plants that will do fine planted at 3 ft deep. For example, all water lilies really prefer that depth. Most pond plant stores online will have a planting guide that tells you exactly what depth a plant prefers to be planted at but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's the only place it can grow.

You can also look in natural areas in the region where you live to find things that are already growing on the margins of your rivers and ponds and you can take those from nature and bring them into your pond and you know that they will grow in your area. I've done that a lot.

If you want recommendations for plants, tell us your zone. It doesn't sound to me like you're the type of person that has the patience to deal with annuals so we need to be sure that anything we recommend will be hardy/perennial in your region so that you do not have to worry about them in the future and you can just let them grow as they will without much effort on your part.

Any other specific questions you have that I can help you with?

 

[Derrick]

Well I live in the UK, west London to be precise
I have access to garden centres, fish suppliers, who also sell pond plants
I annoy koi carp suppliers/breeders with too many questions, the same with pond plant suppliers
I asked the what plants would thrive at the bottom off my pond, not many of the pond is murky, because they need sunlight to thrive, so they are a waste of Time and money
So I use floating plants
The swan mussels I have in there seem to be enjoying there life at the bottom of my pond
Now winter is approach, I will be leaving it alone to do what it likes, I’ll clean out the filters weekly
I have read all the recommendations, so I have tried, most I have ignored as not relevant or I can do
It’s the wrong time of year to put fish or plants in there, plants are dying back
The fish won’t have time to acclimatise
So that’s it until next year

 

[Phaewryn]

Well I live in the UK, west London to be precise
I have access to garden centres, fish suppliers, who also sell pond plants
I annoy koi carp suppliers/breeders with too many questions, the same with pond plant suppliers
I asked the what plants would thrive at the bottom off my pond, not many of the pond is murky, because they need sunlight to thrive, so they are a waste of Time and money
So I use floating plants
The swan mussels I have in there seem to be enjoying there life at the bottom of my pond
Now winter is approach, I will be leaving it alone to do what it likes, I’ll clean out the filters weekly
I have read all the recommendations, so I have tried, most I have ignored as not relevant or I can do
It’s the wrong time of year to put fish or plants in there, plants are dying back
The fish won’t have time to acclimatise
So that’s it until next year

Floating plants are the bulk of what I use as well. If it floats and it grows there, use it. I usually purchase a variety pack of "floating aquarium plants" off of eBay every spring (typically containing frogbit, red root floaters, salvinia, azolla). Obviously, they're usually invasive plants that you "shouldn't" be putting in a pond but I find that beggars cannot be choosers and my pond was begging for some floating plants so I stopped being choosy.

Lilies should work for you next year. Just add them after your floating plants start to clear the water, which will probably be faster the second year since you're more established (you have some healthy bacteria already). You can always do as you say and put them up in a pot on a stack of bricks temporarily until they get started and then remove a layer of bricks every week or two until you slowly get them down on the bottom as the leaves stretch out to reach the surface.

Good luck!

 

[Derrick]

Yeah, right I put a stack of bricks 4 feet high in my pond, that will never happen, I am not bothered about invasive plants, my pond is self contained, the plants can’t go anywhere apart from a composter (it’s a Hotbin, look it up)
My pond pump runs 24/7 365 days of the year only time it’s off is when clean the filters
The filters are comparatively clean, but in the filter tank there is plenty of mud and bugs

Floating plants are the bulk of what I use as well. If it floats and it grows there, use it. I usually purchase a variety pack of "floating aquarium plants" off of eBay every spring (typically containing frogbit, red root floaters, salvinia, azolla). Obviously, they're usually invasive plants that you "shouldn't" be putting in a pond but I find that beggars cannot be choosers and my pond was begging for some floating plants so I stopped being choosy.

Lilies should work for you next year. Just add them after your floating plants start to clear the water, which will probably be faster the second year since you're more established (you have some healthy bacteria already). You can always do as you say and put them up in a pot on a stack of bricks temporarily until they get started and then remove a layer of bricks every week or two until you slowly get them down on the bottom as the leaves stretch out to reach the surface.

Good luck!

The floating plants can’t go I use are in baskets and I use floating rings (available on eBay )
I tried water lilies, they died despite being 3 inches below the water level, won’t be using them again
Weds have taken over some of the floating plants pots, v
I’ll clean them out when they die

 

[WaterGardener]

Your water lilies may have been too shallow. Most do best at around 2 feet below the surface.

People use all sorts of things to get the plants at the right height. A large overturned planting pot works well. Some build frames from PVC pipe to home plants. There are other alternatives than bricks.

 

[Derrick]

If they were any deeper I wouldnt even know the lilies had died, I put them at that height so they would get a bit of sunlight
I put a small stack of bricks on top of a bucket, nothing grew because the water was so murky that got no sunlight and were completely under water, they died
The floating plants that had lots of sunlight and their roots were completely in the water really flourished and flowered
We have had our first frost, so the plants are dying back
They will be coming out so I can trim them back and cut the roots back
That is going to take a day cleaning/cutting them out and putting fresh soil in there

 

[WaterGardener]

The he base of the water lily really doesn't need much in the way of sun. The leaves do, not the tubers.

 

[Derrick]

The leaves were about 1 inch round, the tubers never grew very much, when the frost or ice kills them off to the bin with em
The soil goes on the veg patch

 

[Phaewryn]

I put a small stack of bricks on top of a bucket, nothing grew because the water was so murky that got no sunlight...My pond pump runs 24/7 365 days of the year only time it’s off is when clean the filters. The filters are comparatively clean, but in the filter tank there is plenty of mud and bugs.

I wonder if you don't have enough filtration? How many liters per hour does the pump you're using provide? And can you remind me how many liters the pond is? Can you post some photos of your filter? As long as it's been established, you shouldn't be having this much trouble. There has to be a problem beyond cycling issues. I'm sure we can figure it out. Mud should not be appearing in the filter unless the pond gets runoff in it, which is a solvable problem.

You're correct, it's the wrong time of year to be adding new plants but it's a great time of year to fix the problems so that you don't continue to have the same struggles next year when it is time to get the pond up and running again. Figuring out what plants could work will give you a place to start earlier in the season next year.

Submerged plants may not be a good solution, but marginals do the same type of filtering of the water as other types of plants, but since the crown of the plant is above the water and it's just the roots below the surface your murky water won't be a problem for them. You will have to create a stand or shelf. If the bricks were too difficult, find easier ways: floating planters, stacked pots, stacked milk crates, etc.

Here's a UK website that lists a number of plants that will work there (I think that's where you said you are?):

https://wetland-plants.co.uk/product-category/marginal-pond-plants/