Hello

[laurabeth]

Hey,
My husband and I bought a house last may that includes a beautiful koi pond :lol: However we are not so good at keeping it "beautiful" it's not gross, it doesn't smell it's just cloudy brown. we have 5 small (really small) koi and like 10-15 really really small gold fish, we didn't mean to have so many but we thought the gold fish had all died but it turns out they were just all dormant and hiding ...

We also have a pump that circulates the water very well. I'm guessing since the pump takes about 2 hours to empty the pond and I believe it can do about maybe 300 or so gallons an hour it's gotta be about 600 gallons or so? I have no idea though.

We also have a bio-filter we purchased about 2 weeks ago and set up at the top of the waterfall.

The pond is about 5 feet wide by maybe 10 ft long or more. I keep forgetting to measure.

it's about 3-4 feet deep on each end with a 1 - 2 foot deep center.

I have Lillie pads, some floating plants, ivy around the edges, and some seeweed grass stuff on the bottom.

Hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to keep the pond nice and clear.

Thanks!

 

[DrDave]

Welcome to the Forum. Search and read, you will find a lot of information is already posted.

 

[koikeepr]

Hi laurabeth. The first thing that I'm assuming isn't happening is water changes. Do you remove 20% of the water every week and put new fresh water in?

This is part of routine maintenance and something you will need to do.

If this has not been done in quite some time, and you are saying your water is brown, I would do a 30-40% water change the fist time and then 20% every week thereafter. When you replace the water, you need to make sure to dechlor it with a pond dechlorinator you can buy at any Petsmart or local pet shop.

Have you tried to get a net and remove whatever mulm or debris is at the bottom of the pond? Usually that's a sure sign of brown water.

 

[laurabeth]

Nope I'm doing the water changes. It's clear for about 3 days and then turns brown again ... the last one I did was when we got the new filter... about two weeks ago. I can see maybe a foot down. it's just really brown and cloudy ...

In the begining of this season I completely removed all the water ... and scrubbed .... I've been skimming everyday. So maybe I just need to do more frequent water changes???

I don't mind doing the water changes :lol: I just use the water to water the plants

 

[koikeepr]

is that mulm on the bottom? That cloudy stuff you see?

Have you checked your filter to see if the sponges are clogged? What kinda filter are you using. Tell us about your set up a bit.

 

[laurabeth]

Just a biological water fall filter. I can't post links yet here, but it's just a black
that has a bag with a bunch of plastic pieces in it, that the water flows through at the top of my waterfall. That's all I have.

 

[koikeepr]

OK, that's helpful here. What's happening is that you don't really have enough filtration.

First of all, we need to get a more accurate figure of what the actual gallonage of your pond is, since you say your are not sure in your sig line. This is an important figure to know for a number of reasons like, 1) if you need to medicate the pond or add salt in case of an illness, you need to know the exact gallonage you have to be able to dilute a product; or 2) to figure out how much filtration you actually need.

Waterfall filters are rarely enough for any pond. So, let's start from the beginning.

Get a tape measure and give us the following measurements:

1) length of pond
2) width of pond
3) depth of pond (if pond has varying depths, then give us the measurement for the deepest pond and the shallowest point)
4) shape of pond (is it rectangular or circular)

 

[laurabeth]

Great, as soon as I get home from work I"ll measure! Thanks so much!!!

 

[laurabeth]

Here's some photos from last summer. I've since added the bio filter, some floating plants and lilly pads. And some more ground cover around. I"ll take more photos later after work as well.

 

[DrDave]

Your photos may have been too large. look at the limits where you add them, there is a guide.

 

[laurabeth]

1) length of pond = 15ft
2) width of pond = 7 at the biggest, and about 5 at the smallest.
3) depth of pond = deepest is 3ft / shallow is 1 foot ( I was way off with what I thought it was)
4) shape of pond (is it rectangular or circular) = I guess kind of kidney shaped ... oval

Here are some pictures of the water / filter I have / and surroundings that I took last night.

Thanks!

 

[koikeepr]

Ok, so based on these measurements (and using 2 feet as your average depth), a good guesstimate is aroud 1571g for your pond. Let's call it 1,600g.

Therefore, your filtration is not sufficient, and you need to increase the size of it to clear your water.

 

[jason081180]

you would also need a bigger pump 300GPH just isn't enough. 1000GPH would be more like it. the 300GPH could be used to make a nice fountain.