New Pond Now Cloudy

[HTH]

If is something to boost the biobugs or similar then it should not do any harm. But if has chemicals to kill algae then no.

Treating what you have not identified is always iffy. That is how we get to the point where people have tried six things and spent 100s of dollars with no good results.

Everyone wants nice clear water. But one has to get there with a balanced system. Forcing clarity by killing off what nature is doing can be the wrong thing to do.

 

[falconut]

OK, it's been 21 days since I posted this originally. And it still looks the same. Here's an updated photo.



All the fish (6) seem to be doing great. As you can see the lillies look to be doing great. My Amonia is still 0 as is my NO2 and NO3. I did add a small bucket filter with some lava rock (bottom) and quilt batting (top) about a week ago.

Next question, how clear is a pond supposed to be? I can see the fish when they get into the upper 6" - 12" area, but not below that. It was crystal clear in the beginning, I could see clear to the bottom, like a pool. Am I expecting too much? It's been running for almost 6 weeks now.

 

[callingcolleen1]

At six weeks, the pond is still brand new everything in the pond is brand new, new ponds will get better with age. The water appears to be almost yellow, or golden? Am I wrong? Take some of the water out of the pond in a glass jar, and place next to pond, and then take a couple close up pictures. Once the water is in the jar, you should be able to get a better idea of the actual color which can be deceiving when viewed from pond.

Do you have trees in the area? Trees can shed lots of different material into the pond which can dye the water a different color as well. I have many caterpillers in the trees, and their dung can dye the water a golden color every year. Look for clues around the pond, like tiny black grains that look like black sand. If it is caterpiller dung, the water can turn deep golden brown for several weeks until the caterpillers coccoon and fly away,

Koi also can dig up the clay in backets and get to the soil and make a big mess of pond plants, which can also cloud the water.

 

[falconut]

At six weeks, the pond is still brand new everything in the pond is brand new, new ponds will get better with age. The water appears to be almost yellow, or golden? Am I wrong? Take some of the water out of the pond in a glass jar, and place next to pond, and then take a couple close up pictures. Once the water is in the jar, you should be able to get a better idea of the actual color which can be deceiving when viewed from pond.

Do you have trees in the area? Trees can shed lots of different material into the pond which can dye the water a different color as well. I have many caterpillers in the trees, and their dung can dye the water a golden color every year. Look for clues around the pond, like tiny black grains that look like black sand. If it is caterpiller dung, the water can turn deep golden brown for several weeks until the caterpillers coccoon and fly away,

Koi also can dig up the clay in backets and get to the soil and make a big mess of pond plants, which can also cloud the water.

There are trees around, but none right near it. I get a few leaves here and there, that I'll take out. I've seen what has looked like pollen on the surface, which does turn the carns yellow. When I test the water, it looks crystal clear. Would a larger container show more color or is the API test vial good enough?

I don't have any koi, mine are comets and a subunkin. The pots also look completely intact. So, I doubt that's it. Could be the tree pollen though.

 

[HTH]

A quart or gallon jar will better show the color.

 

[Dave 54]

Either your filter hasnt the guts to clean this size pond or your still waiting for both the Nitrite and ammonia to spike may I suggest tryng some microbe-lift PL to your filter following the bottles instructions to the letter it should help kick start your pond nicely

rgrds

Dave

 

[falconut]

Either your filter hasnt the guts to clean this size pond or your still waiting for both the Nitrite and ammonia to spike may I suggest tryng some microbe-lift PL to your filter following the bottles instructions to the letter it should help kick start your pond nicely

rgrds

Dave

Would microbe-lift PL be the same as Laguna Pond Clean? Pond Clean says Biological Pond Water Treatment, powerfull biological breakdown of organic solids, instantly activates and beneficial to aquatic life. I added 50 ml of this to my approx. 400 gallon pond on 5/11. This was a little more thasn a 1/2 dose.

Going back to "callingcolleen's" question of trees, I did have some large, bush type weeds, that were dropping crap into the pond before I cut them down. I cut them down about 2 weeks ago. They were between my fence and my neighbors and about 3 - 4 feet above it. After a big rain store is when it started to get cloudy. Come to think of it, I was fishing lots of these with petal things from this weed out after the rain. I would have though that they would have settled out or been filtered out by now.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Could be a combination of events that caused the water to turn cloudy too, I think it will clear up slowly. Good filters will help clear it up faster too. Laguna Pond Clean will help but it takes times for the biological cleaner to get working and you can never overdose on biological pond clean, and I have used that many many years ago when my pond was new and not yet fully balanced.
Now that I have been running my pond non stop for over 20 years, with powerful pond sedges, it now pretty much cleans itself.
it will take time and it would help to have a powerful sedge plant, like a water iris, cattails, grass, rush, any pond plant with a "spear" shaped leaf is a sedge, and are best for photosynthesis filtration, sedges can take a couple years to get fully established in the pond, so keep your eye out for a sedge for the pond.

It will take time to create a wonderfully balanced pond, and your lilly looks like it is comming along very nice.

 

[HARO]

Would microbe-lift PL be the same as Laguna Pond Clean? Pond Clean says Biological Pond Water Treatment, powerfull biological breakdown of organic solids, instantly activates and beneficial to aquatic life. I added 50 ml of this to my approx. 400 gallon pond on 5/11. This was a little more thasn a 1/2 dose.

.

Laguna's Bio-Booster would be the product you're after. BTW, I thought Pond Clean was only available north of the border?!
John

 

[falconut]

Not sure about the location of Pond Clean, it was a product my dad had. I'll look for the Bio-Booster the next time I'm at the pond store.

 

[dieselplower]

No chemicals. Wait.

 

[falconut]

I guess I'll just see how it goes over the next few weeks. The fish are healthy, the lillies appear to be doing great. Here's what came up yesterday. The other two have tons of leaves, just no flowers yet. I guess not bad for only being in the pond for a month.