?’s on creating active bog and discolored water

[Sweetpea]

Another new house, pond came with it post! This is our first spring with this pond and we know we need to work on it. I know there is a huge amount of muck at the bottom. I believe it’s 4” deep in the middle. We drained the top bucket where the waterfall is and it was 36 gallons of sludge we took out of it. Scared to see what is on the bottom of the main pond. Could this be why our water is so dark and murky looking? If we clean out that muck should that help with clearing the water?

Also, in researching how to get the water clear I found information about creating an active bog filter. We are thinking of taking the top bucket and turning that into the bog filter that would then run down the waterfall into the main pond. Does that seem doable and if so would we get rid of the current filter being used or run both? I’m hoping a installing a bog filter would help clean up the water.

Here are some pics of our pond.

 

[IPA]

Edited post. You could just stuff the top pond with stand type plants like iris, cat tail, horse tail rush, etc. plants that can flourish just fine with exposed roots w/o substrate. The bacteria growing in your filter material is valuable so don’t just discard it. It might be difficult to build the bog in the tub; you’d have to do away with waterfall likely, then you may want to actually build a larger bog.
Nice looking pond.

 

[j.w]

@Sweetpea
I would get in that pond and start shoveling out the muck. Perhaps while you are doing this you could allow water to be pumped out slowly while fresh water is allowed to slowly run in there.

 

[cas]

When you take out a glass of pond water and look at it, is there a green tint to it? The murkiness could be suspended algae. I don't see any plants in your pond which will help control the algae.

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome! Nice pond.

 

[GBBUDD]

the wsyerfall tub put your supply to it to the bottom and put a perforated pipe running the length of the tub then fill it up to 3 inches below the edges with pea stone . Its small but it certainly can't hurt. see

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum, very nice pond!

You could put a bunch of plants in the top pond, make it a plant filter. Like said above. If the pond itself is full of muck it would help to remove some of it.

 

[Sweetpea]

Thanks everyone! The prior owners never turned on the pump so they had no moving water, no plants and said they only scooped out leaves and the fish took care of themselves. I would like a nice clear and healthier pond. I did add some plants last week, two lilys a black magic and some tall red leaf things, canna maybe? I think we are going to bring the water level down a third or so and scoop out the muck then add more plants.

I had water hyacinth until my dog pulled them all out, ate them and then I realized they are poisonous for dogs, lesson learned to research plants for that too!

 

[Sweetpea]

When you take out a glass of pond water and look at it, is there a green tint to it? The murkiness could be suspended algae. I don't see any plants in your pond which will help control the algae.

When I do that it stays tea colored, not green. The water all together is really brown. You can see in the pond if the sun hits just right but if not you can’t see very far down. Can only see fish that are a foot or so from the top.

 

[poconojoe]

I vote to turn that preform into a mini bog. Look up the many bog threads here for specific build instructions.
Be careful when scooping the muck out of the pond. The word shovel was used. I don't think it was meant literally. Don't use any metal tools. You don't want to damage your liner. Try using a fine net on a pole. I use a pool net. It has a plastic coated frame and the front has a big lip for scooping. They are sometimes called pool net or rake. All plastic with nylon net.

 

[Sweetpea]

I vote to turn that preform into a mini bog. Look up the many bog threads here for specific build instructions.
Be careful when scooping the muck out of the pond. The word shovel was used. I don't think it was meant literally. Don't use any metal tools. You don't want to damage your liner. Try using a fine net on a pole. I use a pool net. It has a plastic coated frame and the front has a big lip for scooping. They are sometimes called pool net or rake. All plastic with nylon net.

My husband wants to try the shop vac. I’m not sure if that will work. It’s so heavy and wet. That stuff is hard to remove! We used the shop vac on the tub up top but we were able to drain it completely and we can’t do that with the main pond. I’m not sure how to do it effectively.

 

[poconojoe]

You can buy pond vacs, but they are very expensive. Some people have used shop vacs, but they have to be emptied often from what I understand. You can give it a try. A pond vac sucks in the water and muck. While it's running, the water continues to flow out of the vac. At least I think that's how they work. Some people have made their own pond vac. Some shop vacs have a spigot on them to drain water.

Normally I wouldn't suggest this, but under the circumstance, with all the build up of muck, is it possible to drain the pond? There are consequences in doing this. Your pond has been cycling for a long time. Balanced in a way. Full of beneficial bacteria. If you drain it, you'll be starting over. It may take weeks to get the natural cycle of beneficial bacteria to populate again. If you have fish, you'll have to net them and store them somehow. Maybe a kiddie pool.

Or maybe just do a partial drain. Enough so you can use the shop vac. Maybe 3/4 of the water. You can save the water and reintroduce it.

 

[cas]

When I do that it stays tea colored, not green.

Tea colored water can be caused from the tannins of oak leaves or from pollen. Did you see any sediment in the glass of water? Not saying that cleaning all the muck from the bottom of the pond isn't needed, but just that there could be other things causing murky water.

 

[IPA]

I don’t know if this would work but rent a sludge pump from tool rental like HD. Design a catch for the debris and spillway for the water to flow back into the pond.

 

[Sweetpea]

You can buy pond vacs, but they are very expensive. Some people have used shop vacs, but they have to be emptied often from what I understand. You can give it a try. A pond vac sucks in the water and muck. While it's running, the water continues to flow out of the vac. At least I think that's how they work. Some people have made their own pond vac. Some shop vacs have a spigot on them to drain water.

Normally I wouldn't suggest this, but under the circumstance, with all the build up of muck, is it possible to drain the pond? There are consequences in doing this. Your pond has been cycling for a long time. Balanced in a way. Full of beneficial bacteria. If you drain it, you'll be starting over. It may take weeks to get the natural cycle of beneficial bacteria to populate again. If you have fish, you'll have to net them and store them somehow. Maybe a kiddie pool.

Or maybe just do a partial drain. Enough so you can use the shop vac. Maybe 3/4 of the water. You can save the water and reintroduce it.

That was our plan. We were thinking of getting a few plastic kiddie pools to put as much of the water into so we can get near the bottom and work on it then put the water back. I’m hoping that will help clear up the water.