Green cloudy water

[Leatherandlace6157]

Our pond has been up and running roughly two months... We've been having a non stop battle with cloudiness, first brown then green, we had it clear, and for the last three days, we've had hot sun for three hours a day, and here we go again, green and cloudy....
We know and have been told about new pond syndrome, but we're loosing patience...the fish are happy, healthy and growing, so it appears to be cosmetic, and nothing else...
The pond is roughly 2200-2500 gallons, and for filtration we have the aquascape 2000-4000 biofalls, and skimmer w/2000-4000 pump...
There's a total of 9 small fish, 5 gf, 4 koi...had 11, but somehow Houdini made them vanish, (we have trail cams set, so no fowl play is suspected)

We have water lettuce, hyacinths, creeping Jenny, and several other plants, and are slowly adding more..the plants are either free floating (lettuce) or planted in rock (biofalls plants included)
We can handle the hue from the tannins, as we can see the bottom and fish happily swimming, but now we can't see the bottom and can only see the fish when they are on or near the surface....
We also have activated carbon and the fine filters installed, but they're not working......I read about uv light, but do not want to do anymore digging to install, unless we have a misconception of how they're used.

 

[Jhn]

You are going to be dealing with the green water unless you add a lot of plants, as you need the plants to starve out the algae. Your pond doesn’t have much in the way of plants at the moment...I would start with Quick growers like creeping Jenny, water cress, forgetmenots, water celery, parrots feather will help starve out the algae and keep your water clear. Iris, pickerel rush, elephant ears, all take abit to get going, but can take off given time and will also help keep the water clear. Water lilies will help shade the pond but don’t do much for sucking up the excess nutrients...

 

[j.w]

@Leatherandlace6157
Nice pond!

 

[GBBUDD]

You are going to be dealing with the green water unless you add a lot of plants, as you need the plants to starve out the algae. Your pond doesn’t have much in the way of plants at the moment...I would start with Quick growers like creeping Jenny, water cress, forgetmenots, water celery, parrots feather will help starve out the algae and keep your water clear. Iris, pickerel rush, elephant ears, all take abit to get going, but can take off given time and will also help keep the water clear. Water lilies will help shade the pond but don’t do much for sucking up the excess nutrients...

Another plant to add though not a bog plant is the impatience they love water and grow very fast only the feet need to be wet not submerge the plants base. your heading for the natural method it takes some time a year even two to get the microbes bacteria and plants established

 

[Lisak1]

I answered in your other post, but wanted to add - watch that chameleon plant. If it hops the fence into the landscape, you'll have a lifelong friend.

 

[bagsmom]

@Lisak1 -- you are so right about the chameleon plant. My SIL gave us some extra years ago. It was given to her by some well meaning friends and she wanted to share. At that time, I didn't even know it was a pond plant. We planted it right in the dirt and now it is EVERYWHERE!
Leatherandlace -- hang in there!!!!!!! It is hard to be patient - but as I said in your other post: considering the newness of your pond, it looks FABULOUS! By next year, the water clarity will be much better. My pond is 4 years old (I think) and it gets that cloudy green every spring, until the plants take off for the season. It took a couple of years for my plants to get mature enough to reliably clear the water every year. I wonder if you could add a water lily to help shade the water a bit? They don't do much to suck nutrients out, but the shade factor seems to help with the floating algae.

 

[poconojoe]

Uh oh, my wife just came home with a chameleon plant!
We'll have to keep an eye on it!

 

[Leatherandlace6157]

You are going to be dealing with the green water unless you add a lot of plants, as you need the plants to starve out the algae. Your pond doesn’t have much in the way of plants at the moment...I would start with Quick growers like creeping Jenny, water cress, forgetmenots, water celery, parrots feather will help starve out the algae and keep your water clear. Iris, pickerel rush, elephant ears, all take abit to get going, but can take off given time and will also help keep the water clear. Water lilies will help shade the pond but don’t do much for sucking up the excess nutrients...

Just purchased several more creeping Jenny, a beautiful forget me not, and going to add some butter lettuce, hubby wants lilies next...
Our pond place mentioned moss in the falls area, your thought on it?

 

[Jhn]

Just purchased several more creeping Jenny, a beautiful forget me not, and going to add some butter lettuce, hubby wants lilies next...
Our pond place mentioned moss in the falls area, your thought on it?

Love the look of moss on the rocks and wood in wet areas, it can’t hurt to put it there. My thinking is if it is growing and touching pond water it is using nutrients out of the water to do so and every little bit helps.

 

[poconojoe]

I love moss. I find it all over my property. I'll pull it off and stick it to the rocks by the pond. It looks great. I have a bunch of it around my spillway. Different types too.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!

Plants plants and more plants. I filter with only a bog type filter, pea gravel and plants. Never have green water.