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.

 

[Guest]

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.