Cloudy Water

[gpeeples]

I put in a pond a couple of weeks ago, and it looked great. It is 380 gallons and has a pump that circulates 400 gallons per hour through some filter media. My problem is the pond is in a area with some oak trees and I skim out the leaves and debris but the water is now so dark I cannot see the bottom (28" deep). Do I need to put charcoal in the filter? Or What? Thanks in advance for the advice. Glenn

[RogerMcAllen]

My local pond guy had me add something called microbe lift. It is basically just a jar of bacteria, smells great. Anyways, after adding some the water it cleared right up. I am still a pond newbie, so maybe someone else has some betteradvice.

[fishfreek]

My local pond guy

Hey can you pimp our site to him? We can use all the pond people we can find.

My local pond guy had me add something called microbe lift. It is basically just a jar of bacteria, smells great.

Don't it ever!

Seriously though, the bacteria is a good idea, will help your pond get balanced faster.

the water is now so dark I cannot see the bottom (28" deep).

I'm assuming the water is rather dark green? Many ponds go through this when first set up, or for a brief time each spring. Mine does it some springs, maybe a week or so. Didn't happen this year.

Get the bacteria to jumpstart your biofiltration, and give the pond 2 good weeks, the green water(gw) may well clear up on its own.

Also, you got plants in there? they will help suck up nutrients and starve the gw algae.