New Pond Owner (water issue)

[Snooz3]

Hello guys, new to this forum and looking for some advice (I am new to pond ownership).

I purchased a house last year and it came along with a pond, I had always planned to keep this from the beginning of the house renovation we have carried out.

The time came a few weeks ago to start on the pond.. the pond was already fully established by the looks already had an external Oase filter. I pumped the pond to a low level last year and it has gradually filled up with rain water, I haven’t cleaned any algae off or any of the dirt that was on the bottom of the pond, I had read that it’s best not to make the pond clean and then fill it up with tap water that contains chlorine.. ANYWAY I digress..

The pond water is not very clear, I purchased a “pond bomb” hoping this would aid in clearing the water but a couple of weeks later this hasn’t made a visual difference. The water doesn’t look green it like murky and dark? You can see about an inch or so into the water then it’s just darkness.. I have added two carp to the pond and I can only see them when they are near enough touching the surface. I have also added some Blagdon Clear pond.

Would really appreciate some advice, I haven’t actually removed the pond filter I ran the water out externally into my garden whilst pumping the handle, again an online guide showed that this was the way to clean it.

Thanks guys, sorry for the long post it’s a pleasure to be part of the community.

I have attached a picture of the pond.

 

[GBBUDD]

I myself have no experience with oase filters or any other mechanical filters. I came from the aquarium world where i did use a similar canister filter but i also know the size i needed for a simple 90 gallon tank. When i tripped on garden ponds on the web the more studying i did the more bogs intrigued me. WELL thats where i headed and definitely very satisfied . I was ripping out plants today and completely clouded up the pond like your self i could only see the fish if there were at the surface. just shy of two hours latter you can see the bottom at 6 feet deep .

 

[GBBUDD]

I have seen many people use skippy filters .
Showers filters
Canisters filters
Bead filters and have seen all the above jump to a bog . Only one person ever complained about doing so and from looking at the design of there bog . Lets just say it left more questions then answers

 

[brokensword]

I'll add; stop putting in any chemicals, except for countering any chloramines/chlorine. We get more horror stories from those that have added chems to their ponds than any other. A bog is actually an upflow wetland filter, and it'll clean the water naturally by providing a huge amount of surface area for the good bacteria to break down the bad components in your water into something LOTs of plants will then use up. So the keys here are; bog filtration combined with lots of plants. And I don't mean just in the bog but also in your pond. They say to aim for 60% coverage. Water lilies are not the best for this purpose but we love them anyway for their shade and flowers. I'm talking plants that float, like water lettuce and water hyacinth. They'll help.

I'd also recommend taking a pool net and SLOWLY scooping any rotting decay from the pond bottom. Take your time and don't stir things up, you may make it worse. Once you've got most of it out, make sure you have some water movement and consider bog filtration + floaters to help you out. Most 'new' ponds take some time and patience; yours isn't new so you've got a leg up on the issue already.

Good Luck!

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

 

[poconojoe]

I think you're saying that your water is not green, it's just murky.

Can you describe your filter? Is it adequate for your size pond and amount of fish load?
Have you rinsed out any filter pads you might have? Rinse them in a bucket of pond water, not chlorinated water. And just rinse the heavy gunk. Don't scrub it hospital clean. You want to save as much beneficial bacteria that has colonized in there.

The usual diagnosis is add lots of plants and have lots of patience.

Good advice has been given.

Make sure you don't have a lot of decaying debris accumulated on the bottom. Do as suggested, slowly scoop the bottom with a net.

 

[Snooz3]

I think you're saying that your water is not green, it's just murky.

Can you describe your filter? Is it adequate for your size pond and amount of fish load?
Have you rinsed out any filter pads you might have? Rinse them in a bucket of pond water, not chlorinated water. And just rinse the heavy gunk. Don't scrub it hospital clean. You want to save as much beneficial bacteria that has colonized in there.

The usual diagnosis is add lots of plants and have lots of patience.

Good advice has been given.

Make sure you don't have a lot of decaying debris accumulated on the bottom. Do as suggested, slowly scoop the bottom with a net.

Hello, thank you for the reply. I have literally just rinsed the filter pads today, they were quite fouled but nothing shocking. I also did use pond water.

Much to my surprise after looking around the pond filter set up today the previous person has been using a sump pump instead of a pond pump. This has been mounted on an oven shelf with two bricks to sink it/ keep it off the bottom of the pond. This is however connected to the filter and is in use all the time. I am guessing this will do the pond no favours at all and I will need to get myself an actual pond pump?

The pond only has two small koi carp (although I can’t see them right now) looking at the size of the pond I’m guessing the filtration would be classed as sufficient?

I have attached some more photos so you can see the pond better and my filter set up. You can also get a clearer idea of the water quality.

 

[GBBUDD]

Yes sump pumps are not meant for continuous use. Id get a pump but why fix whats no broke yet. If your home all the time then little to worry about

 

[Snooz3]

Yes sump pumps are not meant for continuous use. Id get a pump but why fix whats no broke yet. If your home all the time then little to worry about

Fair enough, I wasn’t sure if it would provide an adequate flow rate.

 

[Snooz3]

I myself have no experience with oase filters or any other mechanical filters. I came from the aquarium world where i did use a similar canister filter but i also know the size i needed for a simple 90 gallon tank. When i tripped on garden ponds on the web the more studying i did the more bogs intrigued me. WELL thats where i headed and definitely very satisfied . I was ripping out plants today and completely clouded up the pond like your self i could only see the fish if there were at the surface. just shy of two hours latter you can see the bottom at 6 feet deep .
View attachment 140609
View attachment 140608

Thats incredible, looks fantastic.

 

[TheFishGuy]

To me based off the current pictures it does look green, not pea soup, but kind of a lower density of free floating algae.

it sounds like you added a lot of chemicals ( just the name pond bomb scares me ) and I would stay away from those.

As others have mentioned bog/skippy filters are an amazing option for this, however I would start by just adding more plants, if they are legal where you live water hyacinth/lettuce are amazing fast growing options that are fairly cheap ( and floating so you can just pull some out if there are too many )

 

[Lisak1]

Very pretty pond! Any idea how many gallons it holds?

What it looks like to me is a pond that's murky from a lot of organic material decaying in the bottom. That will make the water brown (tea-stained is the usual description). Your filter may not be big enough, or it may just be struggling to catch up. The floating bubbles are another clue that you have a lot of organic decay going on.

You were correct when you said you don't want to break the pond down completely and clean it, but you can scoop the bottom to see if there are leaves or other plant material that need to be removed. While nature will eventually break it all down, anything that you can remove manually will help with the process. Stirring up the bottom will also help get the stuff you want to filter out into the water column so your filter can remove it.

 

[j.w]

@Snooz3

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!

 

[GBBUDD]

I had a filter that was that size on my 90 gallon aquarium. Did a great job for that. Im no expert on canisters on a pond