brown Algae?

[Tracey fo]

I am wondering if the brown sludge in my pond is algae, i have a small pond,135 gallons with a 35 g spillway . I started out with clear water but lately the water is so dark I cant see the bottom, i did a water change last week and it was better but a couple days later it was dark again. I scrub the brown stuff and a foam filter is catching it but it gets clogged. should i remove the foam since it isnt reaching the uv light with the foam on? It did not come with the uv filter but i thought it would be better to use it. i have 3 small koi and some goldfish. i don,t overfeed. Another concern is a big mulberry tree that is dropping berries in my pond. It seems they are disintegrating and leaving residue. does anyone use the pond vac they sell that hooks up to a hose. i dont know what to do, i started the season with strig algae and cleared that up with barley and now this?? any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Bat]

strangely enough my post just before yours was about using the laguand pond vac....i have just used it for the first time to suck up leaves & other debris as we have an apple tree and leaves do tend to drop and sink to the bottom, although i try to catch most of them before they sink. The pond vac works as far as i can tell at the moment, the bag did suck up a fair bit of debris from the bottom but as i was cleaning, due to the disturbance became very cloudy as was unabke to see where i was cleaning, so will wait for it to clear and then if need be try again, i'll keep you posted to how it was when it clears......before i used this pond vad the pond water was really clear so hope it returns to how it was!
simon

 

[Tracey fo]

thanks, i think my problem is debri that is building up and if the vac works I would purchase one. it just seems like i always have one problem after the other...

 

[lfreem]

The debris is rotted leaves/muck, fish poop, etc. You need to get that out of your water or it will cause high levels of ammonia and kill your fish. A pond vac is one way (I have the oase pondvac and it's excellent to pick up such matter.

What kind of filter are you using? It does not sound like it's working terribly well. You could also use a solids handling pump that you could move around to different areas, but if you have a lot of muck it will likely clog it. Basically, your problems won't improve until you get that stuff out of there.

 

[DrDave]

You should clean leaves out as soon as they are discovered and before they sink. Don't wait until you have sludge...

 

[gardenplanters]

Welcome to garden planters,
i try to catch most of them before they sink. The pond vac works as far as i can tell at the moment, the bag did suck up a fair bit of debris from the bottom but as i was cleaning, due to the disturbance became very cloudy as was unabke to see where i was cleaning I would purchase one. it just seems like i always have one problem after the other...