Best forumla for Clear & Safe Water?

[shanezam203]

Hi Gang, I am going into my 1st Winter with my Pond, LOVE it so far, I have a mixture of Koi and Goldfish and they are getting along well.

My water was so clean the 1st 3 weeks from the hose, I could see the floor 6 feet down; but soon after it became Murky and I could only see the fish when they came to the TOP.
I have a strong filter going in the back behind the water falls, is there any FISH friendly chemical I can add in the Spring to make the water clear almost like a Pool or my Hot Tub???

Now:

Thanks,
Shane

 

[sissy]

no chemical out there will work like that unless you have no fish .Then it is just a water feature .Best thing is home made filter with lots of plants to help clean and shade the water .

 

[capewind]

I would skip chemicals and figure out what the murk is... Is it just cloudy from the waste, or is it algae... may just need a simply tweek to your filtration.

 

[capewind]

Just looked at your filter above the water falls... looks sort of like one of ours... aka a Laguna Filter Falls 5000.... if so, the last chamber (front, closest to discharge), I would try to swap the media... aka go to a discount store and buy a CHEAP pillow $4-5... with 100 % polyester fill... stuff that last chamber with the stuffing, and it should pull the fine particles... will need to be rinsed off daily... after several days, just throw the used material out and put the normal media back (bag the rest of the pillow for a future clean up)... but I would try that first...

 

[sissy]

I just use quilt batting

 

[capewind]

Basically the same concept, just easier to find. As a kid, I could get what you are using nearly everywhere for short money,,, now, if I wanted to MAKE a pillow, I cant find it except for one sewing store...

 

[Waterbug]

Baquacil Oxidizer, but it actually depends on what's causing the water to not be clear. And of course you have to know what you're doing adding any chemical.

However, I'll bet what you're asking for isn't really what you want. Yes, an oxidizer can make your pond crystal clear, but at what cost? $$$, time, risk? If you're asking if there's a pill you can drop into a pond that's cheap, requires no research or learning and has to be added to the pond once a year then the answer is no. Unless of course you believe any of the many sucker products out there like barley straw, bacteria in bottle, etc., then yes. There's an endless supply of people willing to sell you exactly what you're wishing for, and for some reason not used by experienced pond keepers.

Same deal with filters. There are endless kinds. A few even work. Unfortunately research is the only way to separate good info from the pretty bad.

 

[sissy]

YEH AND THEY ALL WANT MONEY .They can make all the promises they want but they fail to give you what you want .It takes work and time to balance a pond .I use lava rock in my filters and crushed oyster shells ,furnace filters,peroxide and quilt batting ,thats all I am willing to spend and so far so good .Not lost a fish yet ,but have gained a few :goldfish: :goldfish: :goldfish: :razz:

 

[shanezam203]

Thanks for the advise, I may install a UV in the spring and then play with the media in Filter Falls unit.

 

[whiskey]

Very good advise on uv...make sure its big enough for water volume passing through it and regular filter cleans and 10% water changes till water is clear again.

 

[capewind]

Just want to add a note on UVs... different schools of throughts on them, so form your own opinion.

Undersized unit with high flow will work more as a clarifier... kills some things passing through, but not ALL... (how ours is set up)

Large UV with slower flow will basically sterilize... aka kills all passing through... (will kill the good, as well as the bad).

It could be said that there are pros and cons to each... thus the need for you to form your own opinion

 

[sissy]

I have never owned one and just over filter water

 

[callingcolleen1]

I'm with Sissy, never needed one cause I have lots of good sedges and good filtration. Extra batting can help too!

 

[sissy]

like colleen says plenty of grasses or sedges do the job and spring i put some in after colleen told me about them and pond was much cleaner this year than ever before

 

[crsublette]

It could be free floating algae. If it is, then a properly installed UV will knock it down for a while. UVs only kill what is free floating in the water that passes through the UV. As far as I'm aware, most of the good stuff in your pond is not free floating. UV does not need to be on all the time, maybe just for a week once every month. I just turn mine on for 3~4 days each month.

Plants actually excrete agglutinins from their roots which helps to cause the finer particles in water to coagulate and settle. You would probably need a very good, noticeably large colony of roots to make a difference.

I bet it is a matter of poor filtration, be it mechanical or lack of plants. I bet you'll see a noticeable improvement with putting in different media in the mechanical chamber of your filter, such as Sissy and Capewind has suggested.