Water cloudy from sand and dirt of new build

[Beenzie]

Hi all,

I am building a new pond. Boulders are mostly set except by waterfall which has to be built yet. The-pea gravel in my bog filter and the stone I used for the bottom of the pond added a lot of sand and dirt to the pond. Will this settle out over time or do I need to drain, rinse, and refill?

pond is about 20x20 up to 3 feet deep. Big filter is 10x10 and 2 feet deep filled with pea gravel

 

[poconojoe]

Hi all,

I am building a new pond. Boulders are mostly set except by waterfall which has to be built yet. The-pea gravel in my bog filter and the stone I used for the bottom of the pond added a lot of sand and dirt to the pond. Will this settle out over time or do I need to drain, rinse, and refill?

pond is about 20x20 up to 3 feet deep. Big filter is 10x10 and 2 feet deep filled with pea gravel

It will clear, don't worry.

I tried rinsing the gravel before dumping it in the new bog, but I still got all that suspended dirt in the pond. It cleared up pretty quickly though.

 

[GBBUDD]

Hi all,

I am building a new pond. Boulders are mostly set except by waterfall which has to be built yet. The-pea gravel in my bog filter and the stone I used for the bottom of the pond added a lot of sand and dirt to the pond. Will this settle out over time or do I need to drain, rinse, and refill?

pond is about 20x20 up to 3 feet deep. Big filter is 10x10 and 2 feet deep filled with pea gravel

It will clear its just how much flow do you have running will determine how long it will take. And of course how dirty your rocks were to start with. Pictures speak volumes

 

[Rashad]

Mine cleared up in a couple days, and if I stir the gravel in the bog it releases more dirt, but it settles out pretty quickly.

 

[brokensword]

spent a miserable 8 hours cleaning barely 1 yd of pea gravel by hose; never again. But, I was a new ponder then and believed all the cheerleaders instead of the whispers!

 

[GBBUDD]

There's only one way to clean gravel you can dump water on a pile of rocks for months it will still hold the dirt in. You need a screen and im not talking window screen. If you have 3/8 pea stone then you'll need a 1/4" or 1/8" holes in metal grating so you can have just a very thin layer on the screen like one or maybe two layers and wash that. Is it a you have to get it all nope. Is it better to get as much of it out as you can yup.

 

[addy1]

spent a miserable 8 hours cleaning barely 1 yd of pea gravel by hose; never again. But, I was a new ponder then and believed all the cheerleaders instead of the whispers!

We cleaned two wheel barrels full of the 38000 lbs I had, quit cleaning , used my tractor to bucket load it into the bog. Yep lots of dirt flowed out, but the bog cleared it all up. We are on a well, at the time we were in a semi drought, protecting the well was more important than cleaning the gravel and it was a miserable job. And hot!

 

[brokensword]

We cleaned two wheel barrels full of the 38000 lbs I had, quit cleaning , used my tractor to bucket load it into the bog. Yep lots of dirt flowed out, but the bog cleared it all up. We are on a well, at the time we were in a semi drought, protecting the well was more important than cleaning the gravel and it was a miserable job. And hot!

in my case, it was a 'warm' day here in February and I HAD to dig up bog v1 because it had been overflowing (made the rookie mistake of cutting my liner BEFORE it settled and once channeling started, the water was wicking out by the too-short side) the summer before and I thought to get it fixed by taking ALL the stone out, washing it clean (of course) and then pulling the liner in and backfilling a bit. The pea gravel wasn't bad but the 2" stone was horrible to get out. The shovel wouldn't really dig in so I had to more or less hand pull it out onto the shovel. Had three piles of rocks on my patio and then cleaned in the wheelbarrow. Would not recommend this unless it was a last ditch effort. I think I should have just washed it into the pond and that which did not settle, let the filter (pre) get it.

And I'm on a well too; you can imagine the temp of the water (150' down) I was working with trying to clean everything. Been 4 years and I STILL remember that day....my hands were like prunes and hurt for a week but dammit, my gravel WAS CLEAN! Sheesh.

 

[addy1]

lol I have left it dirty it will stay dirty for the rest time. It works great that is all I care about.

 

[combatwombat]

There's only one way to clean gravel you can dump water on a pile of rocks for months it will still hold the dirt in. You need a screen and im not talking window screen. If you have 3/8 pea stone then you'll need a 1/4" or 1/8" holes in metal grating so you can have just a very thin layer on the screen like one or maybe two layers and wash that. Is it a you have to get it all nope. Is it better to get as much of it out as you can yup.

Before I decided to give up on the idea of washing, my plan was to drill a bunch of 1/4" holes in the bottom of a plastic wheelbarrow and rinse the gravel in that a few inches deep at a time.

Should work well for a small pond. Total waste of time for a big one.

 

[brokensword]

Before I decided to give up on the idea of washing, my plan was to drill a bunch of 1/4" holes in the bottom of a plastic wheelbarrow and rinse the gravel in that a few inches deep at a time.

Should work well for a small pond. Total waste of time for a big one.

Ah, hmm, you mean all this time we've been waiting for you to finish ISN'T because you've been rinsing pea gravel!!!

 

[combatwombat]

Ah, hmm, you mean all this time we've been waiting for you to finish ISN'T because you've been rinsing pea gravel!!!

Well... it partly is. Just a really little part.

 

[GBBUDD]

Before I decided to give up on the idea of washing, my plan was to drill a bunch of 1/4" holes in the bottom of a plastic wheelbarrow and rinse the gravel in that a few inches deep at a time.

Should work well for a small pond. Total waste of time for a big one.

Good plan