Could use some help.

PjC

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When we bought our house last year, it came with a very large pond. The previous owners had a few koi in it and a super small fountain with submerged pump in the center. The water was totally black and the bottom had a few inches of sludge.

Recently we decided to clear it all out. We drained it, resealed and painted the concrete and added a larger pump, sand filter as well as a skimmer and waterfall. Granted there are a few cosmetic things we still have planned we filled it... And for a few days it was crystal clear.

Now it has turned green and I can't seem to clear it. Once a week I backwash the filter and it's definitely working, is it not enough? I have tried an algae fix but it didn't even touch it.

So my question is what am I missing. Or what do I need to do or add to fix this. We only have a few fish, I am afraid to add more with the water this way.

Thanks for your help.
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Meyer Jordan

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You are experiencing 'new pond syndrome'. The pond needs to establish a chemical and biological balance. Adding more plants would certainly help this along. 'Quick Fix' pond treatments ultimately do more harm than good and really just delay the natural processes. It is at times like this that patience is indeed a virtue. The pond will balance itself.
 

PjC

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You are experiencing 'new pond syndrome'. The pond needs to establish a chemical and biological balance. Adding more plants would certainly help this along. 'Quick Fix' pond treatments ultimately do more harm than good and really just delay the natural processes. It is at times like this that patience is indeed a virtue. The pond will balance itself.

So you believe it will work its self out on its own?

Also the filtration in place is good enough?

And is a bio filter needed?
 

sissy

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if you don't want to wait for it to start up you can use what I use in my stock tanks liquid barley and peat .Sand filters are good for pools but not ponds .Have to say that is a really nice pond ;)at least now it is ,I would not have wanted to see it before
 
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The first thing a new pond of water, with some dissolved fertility, is going to do is cultivate the opportunist which can most easily reproduce. Look at a drop of that water and you will see allsorts of green celled thingies, merrily reproducing
Look at a drop of water from a mature pond and you will see all sorts of wiggly things, that like to eat, the green thingies
This fertile pond has been clear as a bell in full sun since the day it was filled, a couple of years ago. Clear all year round... the water hyacinth not only carried a healthy complex colony of algae munching organisms, the plants themselves gobble up the stuff the algae desperately needs...

water-hyacinth-bloom10-9.jpg

Your pond is low on competition for the algae as yet, assuming your plants triple every 10 days, in a month your pond will have some 300 plants gobbling up the fertility, as well as a biomass of small algae munching organisms doing catch up
 
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You can expect 2 to 3 times reproduction every 10 days if they like the position. Algaefix is a herbicide, not sure how that might interfere with that
 

Meyer Jordan

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So you believe it will work its self out on its own?

Also the filtration in place is good enough?

And is a bio filter needed?

If you have fish, biofiltration is a necessity. The level of biofiltration required is directly dependent of the number and size of the fish. How many and what size are they?
Water flow also plays a major role. What is the capacity (gallons) of the pond? What is the flow rating (GPH) of the pump?
 

sissy

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if you look at there water hyacinth you can see a tinge of yellow which means they are not getting any nutrients from the water and may die .If they take them out and put them in a tub of water and liquid fertilizer they will see the difference.plus they don't say the koi survived just that is what the other owners had .
 

PjC

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So the plants are multiplying but definitely not at that rate. The koi died off before we cleaned it. I have a large and small sucker fish. A few small gold fish and two small koi.

The ponds about 5,500 gallons. The pump is 40 gallons per minute. And the smaller one is a few hundred an hour, not 100% sure about it. The large pump /waterfall pulls from a skimmer and an underwater intake. And the small one is just for the fountain.
 

sissy

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how big are your pumps and reason i ask is that that does not look like much water coming out on the waterfall area .Maybe the sand filter is not allowing the pump to work properly .Sand filters are mostly for swimming pools and can clog fast .I know for my 3000 gallons I have 2 pumps one is 2900 gph and one is 2400gph (laguna) and one small one for my U.V. I don't have a skimmer and no bottom drain .
 

PjC

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how big are your pumps and reason i ask is that that does not look like much water coming out on the waterfall area .Maybe the sand filter is not allowing the pump to work properly .Sand filters are mostly for swimming pools and can clog fast .I know for my 3000 gallons I have 2 pumps one is 2900 gph and one is 2400gph (laguna) and one small one for my U.V. I don't have a skimmer and no bottom drain .

The one pushing the waterfall is 40gpm so I guess 2400 gph. And the small one is a few hundred per hour.

A good amount of water goes under the waterfall also, otherwise it shoots over the rocks lol.

And yes it does clog quickly, every few days. I plan on adding a large bio filter next to it.
 

sissy

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I have 16 fish because i decided to keep one baby that hid on me and have 2 filters because my 2 koi are over 2 feet long .i also have an aerator going .Total watts used by 3 pumps and one aerator 155 watts to keep my electric bill down and that will go down as soon as i add the 1 1/2 inch hose to the other pump .Laguna pumps use less wattage with shorter hoses and bigger hoses the less energy they use .2 pumps are always better than one .I know barley and peat additive works for green water and my uv i got off topdog seller on ebay for less than 39 dollars and is an 18 watt one .I have that on a timer now so it only comes on at night for 5 hours and will soon turn it off .As soon as plants take off and filters are working with a good bacteria load
 
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I grew sick of green water and installed a TMC brand uv light. Within a few days the water cleared up and has never turned green again. Yours may clear up by itself if not consider the UV. It's a small price to pay for eliminating a big problem.
 

Meyer Jordan

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I grew sick of green water and installed a TMC brand uv light. Within a few days the water cleared up and has never turned green again. Yours may clear up by itself if not consider the UV. It's a small price to pay for eliminating a big problem.

UV units do not eliminate problems, only symptoms. The problem remains and typically grow larger.
 

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