Iron Ochre

[phomlish]

I finished my 800 gallon pond last fall. I'm sure it cycled over the winter as I have a gazillion tadpoles and a few goldfish thriving. I have a 3' waterfall which causes no foam at all. The pond gets quite clear until I stir it up. Then it gets crazy brown.

I'm thinking my problem is iron ochre. I pump 800 gallons PER DAY into the pond from my spring fed sump pump. But my ground water definitely has iron ochre. I've attached a picture (not mine) of it.

I'm actually not overly concerned but am wondering if a bog filter might help. Thoughts?

 

[JRS]

Assuming the stuff stirred up is precipitate, I think the bog would help. The low flow lets particles precipitate out, should reduce the amount in the pond.

If I read your post right, you are doing 100% water turnover per day? If that is your source of particles, couldn't you reduce the amount of water turnover?

 

[Criscar]

I finished my 800 gallon pond last fall. I'm sure it cycled over the winter as I have a gazillion tadpoles and a few goldfish thriving. I have a 3' waterfall which causes no foam at all. The pond gets quite clear until I stir it up. Then it gets crazy brown.

I'm thinking my problem is iron ochre. I pump 800 gallons PER DAY into the pond from my spring fed sump pump. But my ground water definitely has iron ochre. I've attached a picture (not mine) of it.

I'm actually not overly concerned but am wondering if a bog filter might help. Thoughts?

Maybe this is a slightly dumb question, but why are you stirring up your pond, and what do you mean by stirring it up? Are you saying just swishing an arm through the water once or twice sends up a big cloud of silt, or your fish are rooting in the bottom and sending up clouds, or you are cleaning off the bottom and then a bunch of algae and assorted silt and gunk is floating up? I think many here have some light pond scum or silt at various points on the pond bottom or in a bog that will definitely stir up into the water when disturbed (eg using a skimmer net to scoop up pond scum, or removing excess bog plants), but then settle again within less than an hour. And is there a reason you are doing a 100% water change daily, is there throughput to a stream or something like that you are trying to maintain?

 

[phomlish]

Assuming the stuff stirred up is precipitate, I think the bog would help. The low flow lets particles precipitate out, should reduce the amount in the pond.

If I read your post right, you are doing 100% water turnover per day? If that is your source of particles, couldn't you reduce the amount of water turnover?

Why didn't I think of that? Wait, I DID. Last year when I ran the pipes I ran 2 options each with it's own ball shutoff- one to the pond and one not to the pond. I'm going to try limiting the sump pump water for a while and see if that helps. THANKS.

 

[phomlish]

Maybe this is a slightly dumb question, but why are you stirring up your pond, and what do you mean by stirring it up? Are you saying just swishing an arm through the water once or twice sends up a big cloud of silt, or your fish are rooting in the bottom and sending up clouds, or you are cleaning off the bottom and then a bunch of algae and assorted silt and gunk is floating up? I think many here have some light pond scum or silt at various points on the pond bottom or in a bog that will definitely stir up into the water when disturbed (eg using a skimmer net to scoop up pond scum, or removing excess bog plants), but then settle again within less than an hour. And is there a reason you are doing a 100% water change daily, is there throughput to a stream or something like that you are trying to maintain?

We're still decorating the waterfalls with flat rocks and it's easiest while IN the pond. So we're walking over the pebbles on the bottom to do our work. There is no reason to do 100% water change per day. I'm going to divert the sump pump feed for a while and see if that helps. THANKS!