That makes sense - that's exactly what it looks like. Ponding challenges differ from one area to another, that's for sure!
Pond was clear - but bottom was disturbed
- Thread starter Priscilla
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Yes, I think some sand is being blown in. We are trying to raise the edge of the pond a few more inches to cut back on that and once I have plants around it I think it will cut back on dirt/sand being blown in.
I will not even say how much I feed the fish, because its apparently way too much - but I will say I won't feed them again for the day.
The guy at the pet store where I buy fish said if I put a substrate on the bottom that would hold the silt from floating around - especially when the fish get big and disturb the bottom.
Do you think I should just empty the pond and start over. Get all the dirt and muck out.
I just put some quilt batting in the waterfall filter and I think its helping already.
My dad will come by tomorrow to help me hook up the larger filter (Laguna Pressure Flo with UV light), so hoping that will solve everything. I will let you know if its cleared up tomorrow.
On a happy note, I'm attaching some pictures of my flowering plants one of the perks of living in the Cayman Islands, gorgeous flowers all year round.
I will not even say how much I feed the fish, because its apparently way too much - but I will say I won't feed them again for the day.
The guy at the pet store where I buy fish said if I put a substrate on the bottom that would hold the silt from floating around - especially when the fish get big and disturb the bottom.
Do you think I should just empty the pond and start over. Get all the dirt and muck out.
I just put some quilt batting in the waterfall filter and I think its helping already.
My dad will come by tomorrow to help me hook up the larger filter (Laguna Pressure Flo with UV light), so hoping that will solve everything. I will let you know if its cleared up tomorrow.
On a happy note, I'm attaching some pictures of my flowering plants one of the perks of living in the Cayman Islands, gorgeous flowers all year round.
sissy
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never empty you will be starting over just clean a little each day and besides that a little sand will not harm your fish .They will just root it around and the filter will pick it up so no big deal .Only thing sand will harm is you viewing the fish .Your plants are great and will help too .The quilt batting will also help pick up fine algae cells .I keep it in my filters most of the year .After awhile it needs cleaned less and less.Cleaning the quilt batting with peroxide and water and reusing it will save money .I know things are not cheap there since they have to be imported
If it was my pond I would not add anything to the bottom and I would stir up the settlings a little bit about ever 2 or 3 days and it should filter out.
sissy
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fish will stir it also they like to suck it up and spit it out .Rocks on the bottom can look ugly after awhile and make it even harder to clean .Think of a fish tank and how hard they can be to clean with the gravel on the bottom
Yes I agree rocks can collect detritus cut back on our feed ' it's always better to underfeed slightly than o over
feed your fish .
What do your water test kits say about your water perameters as I doubt your pond and filters will have matured as of yet .
Dave
feed your fish .
What do your water test kits say about your water perameters as I doubt your pond and filters will have matured as of yet .
Dave
I would not add a substrate to the bottom. I do think a water change would be helpful. No sense wasting all of it though. Suck out a few hundred gallons or so. One thing I will suggest that will probably help clear the water is to shut the pump off for a few hours. Since you have a pump and waterfall going, but a filter that is not quite sufficient to filter out all the fines, you continue to circulate the debris through the system. If you shut it down for a short time, the debris could settle.
Priscilla,
I would like to advise you regarding raising the edging of the pond to deter blowing sand and dust from entering the pond. if you think that this is a great problem for your pond, I would recommend that you do not create a "birm" right at the pond's edge for this purpose as you might exascerbate the situation and result in MORE silt falling into the pond. Think of the sand and silt as if it were snow. Obviously, you wouldn't have much experience with snow in the Caymans, but bare with me for the explanation.
Living here in Nebraska, we get much wind. High, constant and gusty winds and this creates blowing and drifting snow. Fencelines, treelines, ditches and birms cause the snow to form drifts. To avoid creating drifts where you don't want them to be, there are special design rules regarding the fabrication and location of snow fences.
Obviously, you are not going to install a "snowfence" type structure to stop the sand, but you should be aware of the principles behind them so that you design your sand birm properly.
Let us consider a road or a driveway that you want to prevent snow drifts from forming on. You have to install the snow fence back so far from the roadway based upon the height of the fence. The rule is roughly H x 35 = D. Where H is the height of the fence and D is the distance from the road. Unfortunately, this is probably immaterial to your situation as sand and snow are so different in density. However, it is still going to make a difference. If you increase the height of the edging directly around the pond, you will likely increase the amount of sand and silt that gets deposited in the pond as the sand and fine silt is going to drop right there behind the birm, thus you would be making your situation worse, not better.
I don't know what the formula would be for a sand fence, but it would obviously be based upon and proportional to the density of the material. Since sand is much more dense than snow, the distance foir the birm or fence would be much less. You would have to experiment with this to discover the proper location (distance from the pond's edge) that this would be as well as experimenting with the total height of the birm or fence.
I will try to include a link to an article for you to read if you desire.
Gordy
http://www.dot.state.il.us/blr/l002.pdf
I would like to advise you regarding raising the edging of the pond to deter blowing sand and dust from entering the pond. if you think that this is a great problem for your pond, I would recommend that you do not create a "birm" right at the pond's edge for this purpose as you might exascerbate the situation and result in MORE silt falling into the pond. Think of the sand and silt as if it were snow. Obviously, you wouldn't have much experience with snow in the Caymans, but bare with me for the explanation.
Living here in Nebraska, we get much wind. High, constant and gusty winds and this creates blowing and drifting snow. Fencelines, treelines, ditches and birms cause the snow to form drifts. To avoid creating drifts where you don't want them to be, there are special design rules regarding the fabrication and location of snow fences.
Obviously, you are not going to install a "snowfence" type structure to stop the sand, but you should be aware of the principles behind them so that you design your sand birm properly.
Let us consider a road or a driveway that you want to prevent snow drifts from forming on. You have to install the snow fence back so far from the roadway based upon the height of the fence. The rule is roughly H x 35 = D. Where H is the height of the fence and D is the distance from the road. Unfortunately, this is probably immaterial to your situation as sand and snow are so different in density. However, it is still going to make a difference. If you increase the height of the edging directly around the pond, you will likely increase the amount of sand and silt that gets deposited in the pond as the sand and fine silt is going to drop right there behind the birm, thus you would be making your situation worse, not better.
I don't know what the formula would be for a sand fence, but it would obviously be based upon and proportional to the density of the material. Since sand is much more dense than snow, the distance foir the birm or fence would be much less. You would have to experiment with this to discover the proper location (distance from the pond's edge) that this would be as well as experimenting with the total height of the birm or fence.
I will try to include a link to an article for you to read if you desire.
Gordy
http://www.dot.state.il.us/blr/l002.pdf
Priscilla,
The next thought I have is to help clean up the existing problem. The quilt batting is a good step, but if your pond is really dirty right now, you might try cascading two or three 55 gallon HDPE barrels together and pumping the dirty pond water into the first and allowing the sediments to drop out in each barrel. Pump from the pond to one barrel, pump out of that barrel to the next or install some piping so that it gravity flows from one tank to the next, etc. Then let the water return to the pond. This won't clog up like the quilt batting, but you will have to empty the tanks eventually.
This would be a start. Then you could get into the pond and really stir up the bottom up to drive those sediments out and deposit them in these tanks. Once it has become much cleaner, then add the quilt batting to finish it off and catch all the really fine sediments. Once you have it all cleaned out well, you can remove the barrels and go back to normal operation with your existing filter system.
Gordy
The next thought I have is to help clean up the existing problem. The quilt batting is a good step, but if your pond is really dirty right now, you might try cascading two or three 55 gallon HDPE barrels together and pumping the dirty pond water into the first and allowing the sediments to drop out in each barrel. Pump from the pond to one barrel, pump out of that barrel to the next or install some piping so that it gravity flows from one tank to the next, etc. Then let the water return to the pond. This won't clog up like the quilt batting, but you will have to empty the tanks eventually.
This would be a start. Then you could get into the pond and really stir up the bottom up to drive those sediments out and deposit them in these tanks. Once it has become much cleaner, then add the quilt batting to finish it off and catch all the really fine sediments. Once you have it all cleaned out well, you can remove the barrels and go back to normal operation with your existing filter system.
Gordy
Good information on the berm height/distance. I would add, however, that plants around the perimeter of the pond - both inside and out - should also help reduce the amount of silt/debris that blows into the pond.
sissy
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Thing is that in the Cayman Islands they may not have access to a lot of stuff we do here and they can be rather pricey.We have to really factor that in .I was there for 2 weeks and everything seemed to be high in price since it is imported .I saw a rain barrel type thing at a garden center I visited there and it was over 250 dollars and that was 8 years ago .I would guess that planting like she said would be her best bet ,things grow there really fast .I remember plants at the hotel seemed to grow 2 times there size overnight .Any island has high prices .I was even wondering if she could get quilt batting :cheerful: Why would you need quilts
Good Morning!
Again, I can not thank you enough for all the advice!
I have good news! The pond is CLEAR! The quilt batting worked. I added it last night and by this morning it was pretty much back to clear. I will add my larger filter as soon as my Dad can help with it, hopefully tomorrow, since flirtation is obviously a problem.
Gordon, thanks for the advice on the snow/sand fences. I think I will just try to add a thicker layer plants along the edges and see how that does.
I will take every one's advice and not add rocks to the bottom of the pond.
The walls of my pond are bare, but with the algae and the sand sticking to the algae, it has a natural feel to it that I am liking. Same with the bottom.
THANK YOU ALL FOR THE INFORMATION!!!! I'm off to work on the waterfall now. So watch out for questions from me!
I will try to get a picture of a wild iguana swimming in the pond so you guys can have a chuckle at my challenges here.
Again, I can not thank you enough for all the advice!
I have good news! The pond is CLEAR! The quilt batting worked. I added it last night and by this morning it was pretty much back to clear. I will add my larger filter as soon as my Dad can help with it, hopefully tomorrow, since flirtation is obviously a problem.
Gordon, thanks for the advice on the snow/sand fences. I think I will just try to add a thicker layer plants along the edges and see how that does.
I will take every one's advice and not add rocks to the bottom of the pond.
The walls of my pond are bare, but with the algae and the sand sticking to the algae, it has a natural feel to it that I am liking. Same with the bottom.
THANK YOU ALL FOR THE INFORMATION!!!! I'm off to work on the waterfall now. So watch out for questions from me!
I will try to get a picture of a wild iguana swimming in the pond so you guys can have a chuckle at my challenges here.
sissy
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We have all been there we laugh at no one we just love to help and good luck with your happy pond and your beautiful Island life .
Sissy, LOL!!! You are so right!!!! I managed to find the batting after checking three stores. I paid $10 for a yard. So yes, its expensive here.
sissy
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WOW .Well use it over and over leave the sun dry it out .I have had pieces of mine for 6 or 7 months and then lay it out for the birds to make nests with it .But they have a couple of times taken it upon themselves to steal it .Even had a deer run off with a piece .As long as you are getle with it it can last a long time .Here I buy a whole roll on sale for 5 dollars ,the size for a queen sized bed .