Muddy pond water

[Janet Jaworski]

Hoping for some advice on my new pond build. It is a 10,000 gal pond with a bog filter and during the construction phase I have gotten a lot of mud and construction debris in the water. Would it be beneficial to build a temporary filter (I'm thinking a tote or stock tank) to filter the water before it enters the bog? There are no plants in it yet. I'm still at the very beginning of this project. I'm thinking I don't want all that debris in my bog. If so, what filter media would you suggest? I've read about quilt batting for very fine particles. Thank you!

 

[MitchM]

Welcome Janet!
If your mud was clay, it could be a good thing, topsoil would present some problems. Construction debris is pretty general, so it depends.
Pictures of your pond and construction area would help us give you some answers.
Depending on your pond and water movement design you may be able to clear the water with some good mechanical filtration like quilt batting.
More information please.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Why was pond filled before construction was completed? I would suggest waiting until all construction is finalized and then do a drain and clean, then refill.

 

[Lisak1]

I would be with @Meyer Jordan on this one...except 10,000 gallons can be a lot of water to pump and replace. Like @MitchM said - it really depends on exactly what type of debris you're dealing with.

 

[Mmathis]

True, and agree that more info is needed regarding what you mean by construction debris. Dirt and fines can be filtered out using quilt batting that you could simply cycle the existing water through and change out the batting as it gets dirty. And again, depending on what kind of debris, as long as it's organic, it's probably perfectly OK for it to be in the bog. Eventually the plants are going to "process" this. In fact, when you plant new plants in a bog, you're supposed to leave the "dirt ball" intact.

Do you have any pictures? Of your entire set-up as well as some close-ups of what you are talking about.

 

[Usman]

if your talking about cement concrete debris , most of the construction debris have harmful chemicals and cement powder , paint etc which fishes can inhale or it can change water chemistry , it depends how much it fell in but def i wud have drained some water and add some fresh , filter will only catch the bigger particles , yes quilt and fine foam is good but much of it must have been dissolved in water .

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Janet. Welcome to GPF. I agree with comments above. Usually dirt and that sort of thing does not hurt and you can filter it out or scoop it out if you need to. Are you planning on putting golfish or Koi in the pond? I have been doing a construction project next to my pond for the last 6 months. A lot of stuff doesn't hurt fish but if you have Koi you have to watch the PH because cement products can make the water too alkaline which can be very harmful to them. I had some bricks disintegrate because I had not finished the edges of my liner and the bricks were holding the liner down and the snow and ice had damaged them. I had two baby koi die and all the rest of the fish which were goldfish were fine.

 

[Janet Jaworski]

 

[Janet Jaworski]

Here are a couple photos. By construction debris, I mean mud basically. We had a lot of snow this winter and so it filled by spring before I had a chance to finish the waterfall. I was hoping I wouldn't have to drain it. This has been a very long project!

 

[MitchM]

Before you think about clearing up the water, it looks like you need to build up a berm around the pond to prevent surface runoff from entering.

 

[Mmathis]

Before you think about clearing up the water, it looks like you need to build up a berm around the pond to prevent surface runoff from entering.

I was just thinking the same thing. It looks like your pond will get more dirt and run-off unless the edges are raised a little bit.

 

[CometKeith]

The mud won't hurt your fish at all. It's very common for fish breeding farms to have mud bottom ponds. The only dissadvantage is it will cloud up after a hard rain and make it hard to see your fish.

 

[Usman]

do u have any suction pump that can suck the bottom? the real prob will be at the bottom , mud has settled down and some part of it is suspended in water if u have lower ground u can siphen it . beside that it shudnt b harmful for fish as cometkeith said and it should cure it self by time i assume mud will become heavier by time and remain at the bottom .

 

[Janet Jaworski]

I appreciate everyone's comments. Thank you! I don't have any fish yet and probably shouldn't focus on water clarity just yet anyway. I have a long way to go. The pea gravel for the bog was the main culprit I think, despite rinsing it first. I will definitely build up the berm.

 

[budgenator]

Clear water is optional, but if that's what you want, your going to have to get most of that mud out of the pond. It looks like a lot of it has settled, so you might be able to scoop out a surprising amount of mud from the bottom. The fine particles will also settle out in the bottom of your waterfall filter and the bog