Another pond is cloudy

[cossatot]

Hey guys,

I am new to the forums and to ponds in general but I have been trying to research and look through as many posts as possible to clear up my pond. Right now it is a 110 gallon preformed pond with 5 small gold fish in there. I just tested the water and it was very high pH (8.8), ammonia was 0pmm along with nitrate and nitrite. I have a constant battle with the pH which I seem to lose since I know your'e not suppose to chemical swing it to far. The gold fish seem to be doing fine though. They have been in there for about 6 weeks. The pond got cloudy after a rain storm and we have since put gutters on the house to minimize the impact of dirt going in it.

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:54873]


[sharedmedia=core:attachments:54875]



As you can see by the picture the pond isn't finished yet. We are actually going to get the rocks to put around it hopefully today. The middle fountain is a filter also. I have been trying to clean it daily to make sure I can get as much crud out of there as possible. I guess my main problems are that the pH is very high and the cloudiness of the pond. We were considering buying a new filter but I see there are other things that you can do too. I realize that every pond is different so I guess I am looking for directed advice. If you need any more information I will be happy to provide it.

Edit: I forgot to mention that i did take all the rocks out of the bottom of the pond also and my lillies are in a basket in a burlap bag with garden soil. (Didn't know about clay at the time.)

Thanks in advance!

 

[sissy]

quilt batting in a basket
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:53507]

 

[cossatot]

quilt batting in a basket

I have seen this in other posts but I didn't see an exact explanation on how to build it. Do you have a post that explains the materials and everything? Any suggestions on how to lower the pH?

Thanks again for the quick reply!

 

[HTH]

Quilt batting is the 'stuffing' in quilts. Can be had at WallMart or a Quilt shop.

Bakset is anything with holes that will hold the quilt batting.

Run the water over the batting. A plate with holes to distribute the water helps but is not required.

 

[sissy]

dollar stuff mostly I am cheap :cheerful: hose from your pump going into it and make sure water goes back in the pond .How high is your ph as I keep mine at 9.I use it for my 200 and 300 gallon stock tanks .I just put a basket weighted down in the middle and the basket with quilt batting on top in the middle of them .I weigh it down with a flat rock or a bag of activate charcoal .
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:53602]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:52128]

 

[Fishylove]

Sounds like your getting the hang of things. WELCOME to our forum family BTW! :wave: Great to have new blood
From what I can see in your pics it looks like you have a pretty small pump? Do you have to change the filter material in it a lot? I bet you do. If so, and can swing a bigger one, I would go ahead and get a bigger pump. One of my ponds is smaller like yours, I also started out with a small pump like that and had to change the filter material waaaaaay too often. So I purchased on at Harbor Freight, if you have one near you, their pumps are just fine, and since then the water is much much clearer, and you won't have to fight the filters all the time. Now if you go to add on (which if you've caught the ponding bug, YOU WILL) you'll have to start thinking about different types of filters and bigger pumps. But for now, the next size up will be good for you
Now, just to let you know what i did, I didn't want to make this particular small preform pond bigger, so I added a spill over preform to the side, added pea gravel and capped the hose that comes from the pump and drilled holes in the bottom/ underside of the hose, then buried it in the pea gravel. So now I have a small 10 gallon bog that will filter the pond more and you can plant bog plants in it
Win Win! The next step up pump will have filtering material in it also, but it will also have a two way valve you can shut off and/ or adjust the flow to two different outlets. One will go to the spill over, the other up to the sprinkler thingy you have now, just turn the flow down on the sprinkler, enough that it doesn't spray out of the pond and keeps the water turbulent, and open the other one up to the bog for filtering. You will still have to change to filtering material in the pump, but not as often and as sissy suggested use a hose hook up to the sprinkler attachment side until the water is clear, then hook the sprinkler back up. I use batting in the pump with the filter that's there along with activated charcoal I put in old panty hose. ( just cut a slit in the center of the black filter and stuff the charcoal bag inside put the black filter back in and apply a layer of batting over that and on the sides, the batting catches pond gunk that is too small to be caught by the black sponge filters, and the charcoal oxygenates (somewhat) and cleans the water of micro bacteria and will help with smell. Now when you go to clean your filter materials. The charcoal I would gently rinse in a bucket of water from the pond ( as hose water will kill the good bacteria and we don't want that activated charcoal is porous and has lots of places for the good bacteria to adhere to ) Some people rinse the batting off and reuse it. I just throw it away and use new ( I buy big teddy bears and pillows from yard sales and the Goodwill for little of nothing, I am cheap as well ) And lastly the black sponge filter material, until your pond is WELL established I would also rinse the sponges Gently in a bucket of water that is treated. First few times may take a few bucket changes but it will get better. By the time you have a well established pond you will be able to just rinse the sponges off with hose. The good bateria will establish everywhere, even on the fish but it take a bit of time and patience. Hope I haven't confused. Please ask lots of questions. We all do! Again welcome!