i have had a pond for quite awhile now its used to be clear but now im green! i have tried algaefix. bacteria, we put in a gravel bog........ i really need help. i live in southern indiana and cant find anyone who is willing to take a look and help.
pond help
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Most will tell you algae is a symptom (and a good/beneficial one at that because the algae is saving your fish by consuming the ammonia/organics in the water column) and NOT to use any additives. Green water happens when there's an algae bloom caused by the pond's imbalance. Balance the pond, the algae goes away. Bacteria (the addition of) won't help as you already have enough bacteria. What you need is lots of plants, more shade, and a sufficient supply of surface aggitation (aeration). UV lights will work but they just put what they kill right back into the water column and you start over.
Lastly, you need patience. Let nature (by doing the above) help you help the pond.
And, a bog needs time to get established plus, be large enough to do what you want. Recommended is 30% of your pond area surface, but larger is always better. Put some details here, also, as to exactly how you constructed your bog (i.e. size of stone(s), depth, type of input/output, etc; it'll help to confirm if your bog just needs some time.). Too, what types of plants.
Hope this gets you started.
Lastly, you need patience. Let nature (by doing the above) help you help the pond.
And, a bog needs time to get established plus, be large enough to do what you want. Recommended is 30% of your pond area surface, but larger is always better. Put some details here, also, as to exactly how you constructed your bog (i.e. size of stone(s), depth, type of input/output, etc; it'll help to confirm if your bog just needs some time.). Too, what types of plants.
Hope this gets you started.
Mmathis
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@stormy It would be helpful if you would give us more information about your pond.
We don’t recommend adding chemicals, not even bacteria. A green pond is a sign of excess nutrients in the water. It can take a while for a new bog to begin working on the water to keep the algae down. This may be “new pond syndrome,” but your answers can help.
- How long has it been up and running?
- what size is it?
- do you have fish, if so what kind, how many, and how big are they?
- what is your filtration?
- do you have any run-off from your yard that gets into the pond (especially fertilizers)?
- do you regularly test your water?
- how big is your bog and what plants do you have?
We don’t recommend adding chemicals, not even bacteria. A green pond is a sign of excess nutrients in the water. It can take a while for a new bog to begin working on the water to keep the algae down. This may be “new pond syndrome,” but your answers can help.
Mmathis
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@brokensword It appears we were answering at the same time, LOL!
what levels do you check? i have been watching the ph
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you don't need to check any levels; the fact you have free floating algae tells you all you need to know. A balance is attained when the free floating algae are out-competed for nutrients by your plants and your bio-filtering. Your bog should provide the necessary bacteria colony as well as any other surface underwater. Do you have any details re your bog? It might be that it is underpowered for your pond. So, it would also be good to know how large your pond is (gallonage) and bog capacity (dimensions, as well as what type of rock, how deep, what type of tubing, etc).
I'd at least stop feeding until you can get a handle on what you need to fix/adjust.
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we have 9000 gallorns and ill send pics after i get off of work the bog we just built this late spring... it is 2' wide 18" tall and 30 feet long so far what i have planted in it is doing ok i ordered some floating hybicus for the pond
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Mmathis asked the pertinent questions for which we need answers so we can help you further. When you add the pics, let us know how many fish, fish type and size, what type of plants you have IN the pond and in the bog, how long your bog has been operating. From the dimensions, I think you have a very nice size bog and it should be helping. When you built your bog, did you put the piping for the water supply BENEATH the gravel? Or is your input on top of the bog? Also, type of gravel and depth if you used different sizes of stone.
What is the depth of your pond?
Pump size and amount/flow of water to your bog also. 9000 gallons is decent size, depending on your fish load. Oh, and is your pond in full sun? Hopefully the pics will show the amount of coverage/shade you have.
What is the depth of your pond?
Pump size and amount/flow of water to your bog also. 9000 gallons is decent size, depending on your fish load. Oh, and is your pond in full sun? Hopefully the pics will show the amount of coverage/shade you have.
as far as i know we have around 30 fish different sizes from 18" long to fry i put water iris in the bog and yes we ran a pvc pipe cut a thrid of the way across all the way down under pea gravel i have a regular filter with media with a 17oo gph pump on the bog we are running a 5300 gph pump and then the skimmer is a 1500 gph going to the "floating rock" we have water lillies in the pond and i have ordered hyacents the pea gravel is 15" deep and the water comes to the top and flows we installed it may 11th of this year
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A couple of questions and some musings;
1. I don't see how your bog 'overflows' or exits into your pond. How are you doing this? From what I see, it looks like there is also a layer of 'mud'/crud on the top of your bog which may indicate it's not working well. I think you said you just put it in, correct? There should not be this much crud on your bog if so. Is the water going to the bog being drawn from the bottom of the pond? If so, that might be where all the crud is coming from but it shouldn't be on top.
2. the iris and plantings I see around the pond; are they IN the pond or adjacent? That is, are they doing any filtering of the pond for you? My guess is no, and if that's so, my first inclination is to say your system is out of balance relative to your feeding habits/size and number of fish/ filter size. I use a bog with a prefilter and am not familiar with the filter you have (that is, if it is spec-ed correctly). With a bog as large as you have, there should be pea gravel showing and water draining into the pond with plants that are thriving. The algae bloom you're having is evidence that there's more than enough nutrients for your bog plants. The plants I see in your bog do not look well or numerous enough.
3. How much water are you sending to the bog? 1700 probably a bit less due to head, but that doesn't seem enough (to me) relative to the size of your pond. That means, if you're getting a full 1700 gallons out of your pump, you're turning the water over every 5 hours or more. I'd send much more water through and it should help. But you need to get those plants established.
The rule of thumb is 1+1/2 times to overturn the water; I don't think you've quite got that and it would help. For instance, for a pond your size, I'd have at least TWO 4500 gph pumps if not three (redundancy is better as if one goes out, you still have a pump in the pond).
4. You have pretty much NO shade at all on your pond. I know it's hard to keep koi and plants, but plants are going to be your best friend, both in the pond and in the bog. You can get some baskets and have floating plants that will increase the shade and help immensely with filtering. I'd get some water lettuce and water hyacinths. The idea is to have about 60% coverage. You have zero at the moment. Just shading will both help keep the water cooler for the fish as well as stunt the algae growth. Once your plants get established, the green algae won't be able to compete. You DO want the algae on the pond walls/rock/etc as that type is beneficial (nourishment for the fish and part of a balanced system).
5. I see SOME aeration, which is also good for halting floating algae, but you might think of doubling it.
6. How often are you feeding your fish? How long for each feeding?
7. Without knowing that much re your filter, are you cleaning it routinely, esp as your fish grow and they put out a lot more bioload with each new year? When they are small, you can get away with more but as they grow, it becomes more problematic in regards to water quality. I say this because the algae are feeding on something...
That should give you something to think on but I'd address my questions regarding the nature of the bog and get yourself a lot of plants (and baskets) to cover at least half the pond. Patience will usually win out but you have to have the moving parts in place if it's going to work.
1. I don't see how your bog 'overflows' or exits into your pond. How are you doing this? From what I see, it looks like there is also a layer of 'mud'/crud on the top of your bog which may indicate it's not working well. I think you said you just put it in, correct? There should not be this much crud on your bog if so. Is the water going to the bog being drawn from the bottom of the pond? If so, that might be where all the crud is coming from but it shouldn't be on top.
2. the iris and plantings I see around the pond; are they IN the pond or adjacent? That is, are they doing any filtering of the pond for you? My guess is no, and if that's so, my first inclination is to say your system is out of balance relative to your feeding habits/size and number of fish/ filter size. I use a bog with a prefilter and am not familiar with the filter you have (that is, if it is spec-ed correctly). With a bog as large as you have, there should be pea gravel showing and water draining into the pond with plants that are thriving. The algae bloom you're having is evidence that there's more than enough nutrients for your bog plants. The plants I see in your bog do not look well or numerous enough.
3. How much water are you sending to the bog? 1700 probably a bit less due to head, but that doesn't seem enough (to me) relative to the size of your pond. That means, if you're getting a full 1700 gallons out of your pump, you're turning the water over every 5 hours or more. I'd send much more water through and it should help. But you need to get those plants established.
The rule of thumb is 1+1/2 times to overturn the water; I don't think you've quite got that and it would help. For instance, for a pond your size, I'd have at least TWO 4500 gph pumps if not three (redundancy is better as if one goes out, you still have a pump in the pond).
4. You have pretty much NO shade at all on your pond. I know it's hard to keep koi and plants, but plants are going to be your best friend, both in the pond and in the bog. You can get some baskets and have floating plants that will increase the shade and help immensely with filtering. I'd get some water lettuce and water hyacinths. The idea is to have about 60% coverage. You have zero at the moment. Just shading will both help keep the water cooler for the fish as well as stunt the algae growth. Once your plants get established, the green algae won't be able to compete. You DO want the algae on the pond walls/rock/etc as that type is beneficial (nourishment for the fish and part of a balanced system).
5. I see SOME aeration, which is also good for halting floating algae, but you might think of doubling it.
6. How often are you feeding your fish? How long for each feeding?
7. Without knowing that much re your filter, are you cleaning it routinely, esp as your fish grow and they put out a lot more bioload with each new year? When they are small, you can get away with more but as they grow, it becomes more problematic in regards to water quality. I say this because the algae are feeding on something...
That should give you something to think on but I'd address my questions regarding the nature of the bog and get yourself a lot of plants (and baskets) to cover at least half the pond. Patience will usually win out but you have to have the moving parts in place if it's going to work.
@stormy With the inflow of the bog just dumping on top it is not getting Enough nutrient rich water to the roots of the plants. Just channeling over the top of the gravel and back into the pond however it dumps in. Really need to have it flow up from slotted pvc pipe running the length of the bog, it is much more effective this way.
Also your choice of plants for the bog which look to be all irises. While not a bad choice, maybe not the right/only choice for what you need, irises can be slow to get going when first planted, so they don’t consume much in the way of nutrients initially.once established they are great but sometimes it can take a year or so for them to really get going. Plants like water forgetmenot, water cress, water celery, grow like wildfire quickly after being planted. This is what you want plants that grow very fast, the faster they grow the more nutrients they consume Starving out all forms of algae....
So to sum it up I would replumb your bog using a 2” pvc pipe with slots cut in it, buried at the bottom of the bog, so your water flows up through the gravel. Then add more plant diversity including but not necessarily limited to the fast growers that I mentioned.
Also your choice of plants for the bog which look to be all irises. While not a bad choice, maybe not the right/only choice for what you need, irises can be slow to get going when first planted, so they don’t consume much in the way of nutrients initially.once established they are great but sometimes it can take a year or so for them to really get going. Plants like water forgetmenot, water cress, water celery, grow like wildfire quickly after being planted. This is what you want plants that grow very fast, the faster they grow the more nutrients they consume Starving out all forms of algae....
So to sum it up I would replumb your bog using a 2” pvc pipe with slots cut in it, buried at the bottom of the bog, so your water flows up through the gravel. Then add more plant diversity including but not necessarily limited to the fast growers that I mentioned.
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stormy;
it isn't clear from your pics where exactly your bog flows back into the pond. Are you running the water in one end and out the other (30' away)? This isn't the idea. If you've run the 2" manifold pipes the whole length, the water should rise and then seek escape back into the pond. If you have the outflow at the far end, this means the water is rising and then running over top your gravel. It'll work but not nearly as much as if you had multiple outlets all along the length. If you're getting green on top (algae), you can raise the level of the gravel so it is higher than your outlet (but you still will have issues of surface flow and possible overflow if the outlet is ONLY at the end of your long run.
Can you confirm your outlet position (pics would be nice, too).
The plants you have coming will help but only after they get ESTABLISHED (this includes the bog plants) and start using up the extra nutrient load in your pond. I think I mentioned to try and get 60% coverage with your plants. The shade will help keep the algae at bay, too.
You can also order some low growing and more aggressive bog plants. You can get water cress from the grocery store and it works well for this. Too, there's parrot's feather, sensitive plant, mare's tail, pennywort. All can grow quickly and help filter in your bog as well as are easy enough to thin out when you need to.
You should not have to backwash your bog anytime soon.
it isn't clear from your pics where exactly your bog flows back into the pond. Are you running the water in one end and out the other (30' away)? This isn't the idea. If you've run the 2" manifold pipes the whole length, the water should rise and then seek escape back into the pond. If you have the outflow at the far end, this means the water is rising and then running over top your gravel. It'll work but not nearly as much as if you had multiple outlets all along the length. If you're getting green on top (algae), you can raise the level of the gravel so it is higher than your outlet (but you still will have issues of surface flow and possible overflow if the outlet is ONLY at the end of your long run.
Can you confirm your outlet position (pics would be nice, too).
The plants you have coming will help but only after they get ESTABLISHED (this includes the bog plants) and start using up the extra nutrient load in your pond. I think I mentioned to try and get 60% coverage with your plants. The shade will help keep the algae at bay, too.
You can also order some low growing and more aggressive bog plants. You can get water cress from the grocery store and it works well for this. Too, there's parrot's feather, sensitive plant, mare's tail, pennywort. All can grow quickly and help filter in your bog as well as are easy enough to thin out when you need to.
You should not have to backwash your bog anytime soon.
just got the floating hyaacinth in today i put some in the bog and some in the pond i have more coming for the bog here are some more pics its is starting to clear alittle...... thank you for helping me achieve my dream.....
