OK, SO HOW COME NO ONE WARNED ME.......?

[Mmathis]

Apparently the cedar pickets I so carefully placed as enclosure fencing for the turtle part of the pond are releasing tannins into the pond water!. I have the pickets placed so that they are several inches above the water line so they wouldn't be in direct contact with the water. After a little bit of rain and/or watering, no problems. But we've have lots of rain over the past couple of days, and the pond's water level has risen to almost over flowing -- and it may have gone over last night, despite my overflow drain. Now the bottom edge of the pickets is submerged about 1/2" under water. The pond was just starting to clear from an algae bloom (and from my getting in and stirring things up), but yesterday it looked like someome poured Coke in the water. :yikesu: I'm assuming it's from the cedar, anyway.

I'm about to go out and do a water test and will post those results. Also gonna go ahead and drain off a little water via SKIPPY as we're suppose to get MORE rain today.

 

[fishin4cars]

TM, don't get to worried. All this rain and dust from being drought has many ponds doing things they don't normally do. Don't be to surprised if you go through another algae bloom as well. the Tannins may be from the cedar may not. I wouldn't worry to much about it as long as you don't see any rainbow sheen on the water surface. Cedar oil can be a little more dangerous but if the boards have weathered some they usually seal pretty quickly and don't allow the oils to escape to bad. be sure and keep any leaves out of the pond and watch for muddy spots where water may be leaking into the pond from the yard. Cut grass can leach more tannins than the wood fence. Tannins, are in most cases pretty much harmless and will go way in time with water changes and good water quality. The fence may have some to do with it, but i would bet, it's coming from Mulch, ground water, or grass clippings After a hard rain watch the pond edges carefully. you'll be surprised what get's IN the pond. We found a overflow leak in the running pond last night here. One of the berms by the feeding deck has settled a bit and it's right at the same level as the overflow. i got out there this morning to put dirt under the berm and found that mud was getting in the pond in a fold and washing out in another. Then I also found our new bug eyed goldfish. Looks like he swam out of the pond and couldn't get back in.. :sad:

 

[Mmathis]

LARKIN -- Thanks for the encouraging words! My water test was same results as every other time: Amon., nitrite, nitrate -- 0 / pH 7.6 / KH 4 (drops) / GH 5 (drops). The GH was the only thing that changed. A week ago it was 5, and before that it was 6. [still not sure what the relationships are between KH & GH are.....] I did go ahead and drain out about 200 gal in anticipation of more rain tonight.

The sample I took from the pond was visually clear & colorless -- amazing considering what the pond looks like. Still looks like Coke , but did notice that there was dirt on some of the edges and in creases, apparently coming from the future waterfall pile. The fish all seem active & healthy - no floaters or gaspers.

No rainbow sheen noted on the water -- what is that from and what does it mean? The cedar boards were all purchased this year. Some are fairly new. Didn't know they went through any changes -- so they "seal" themselves? Interesting.

 

[fishin4cars]

Cedar, cypress, pine, all have oils that naturally occur in wood. Oil of any type will leave a rainbow sheen on the water in sunlight. If there is oil on the surface of water it can cause breathing problems with almost every living thing in the pond. From plants to fish and yes even to turtles insects, frogs and all. With a skimmer any oil from wood will be removed very quickly as it will be very minute anyway. But it's a good thing to watch for for your reassurance.
What your describing is pretty common look for water that is new and may have some organic build up. That could be anything from fish waste, plants decaying, leaves that have fallen in the pond, etc. It's only unappealing to our eyes. To the natural process of the pond its really a welcome cycle that most ponds go through at some point. Water changes, keeping an eye on water parameters, watching for changes in fish behavior, and green water are things you'll be needing to watch carefully. There is another thread where someone is having similar issues and they posted pics. It's about two months old. i'm betting that if you see the pic you'll see very similar water appearance. Perfectly normal.
On your water, PH, ammonia, and nitrites look good. Gh and KH are a little low. Not bad but probably need to be worked on. GOOD NEWS! easy! lol
List of whats needed. a small bag of crushed oyster shells, available at most feed and seed centers that sell supplies for chickens.
1 panty hose stocking, used is fine as long as it's clean and I mean has been rinsed so there is no soap or lotion residue left on them.
Rinse the oyster shell outside to clean off most of the dust, Rinsing in a collander with the water hose is fine. Don't use a sink as the dust can clog the sink. :twisted: Place 1-2# in the stocking. tie a knot in the end, leave a little room for the shells to be able to be moved around once in a while. Place in a area that has moving water and hidden out of site. (filters and skimmer baskets work well for this). Move ocassionaly so that algae and muck is cleaned out once a month or so. this helps the water to move over the shells to slowly break them down. the faster the flow the better it works.
Oyster shells will help raise the GH, It causes a buffer in the water so the PH stays more stable. The lower the hardness the more unstable PH becomes. PH fluctuations mean your on the edge of a PH crash. The oyster shells slowly breaking down stablize this process and if you do get a ammonia spike your far less likely you have a crash and a total dieoff.

 

[addy1]

oyster shells have been helping me out, our pond dropped this year with the rain we are getting, which is needed and great. The pond dropped to the 50 range (hardness) , now it is slowly climbing after I added another 100 lbs of shells.

 

[Mmathis]

Where do you get oyster shells? How much do you use?

 

[fishin4cars]

Any Feed and seed center, a 5# bag should last you well over a year.

 

[taherrmann4]

TM I have two cedar posts submerged into my pond that help support my bridge I put in last week. It has only been a week but I have not noticed any tannins in the pond. I think they may be coming from another source as Larkin states.

 

[Mmathis]

Was reading some info last night, in general, regarding natural ponds. One common note in several articles that related to brown water: just having trees that over-hang the pond can be enough to effect the water's color, especially following -- wait for it -- heavy rains!! (we have trees)

Thought this was kinda cute, too: GOOGLED the subject, and came across some older forum-type entries [like 2004...]. People were referring to "brown water" as TANNING! Not, as in, "there are 'tannings' in my water," but like, " my water is 'tanning.'" Verb instead of noun. So I have this vision of my pond in BIG ol' sunglasses, kicked back, with a cool drink!! Well, as long as it's using sunscreen.......

Interesting how "tannins" turned into "tanning!". Ain't our language fun? LOL!

 

[Mmathis]

While I was at the big computer [and not an "i" somthing or other], thought I could slip a few pics in. These are of the water after it went to "cola." One shot is of the PVC pipe that supports the turtle false-floor. Because the PVC is white, the discoloration shows up best. The other is a shot of the cedar fence that is currently in contact with the water. Normally, it would be an inch or so above water level, but with all of our recent rain....

 

[brandonsdad02]

You got rain???? I'm not sure I even know what that is anymore its been so long since we have had any rain more than a few tenths of a inch. Next time it rains take a video so we can see what it sounds like again...LOL

 

[Mmathis]

You got rain???? I'm not sure I even know what that is anymore its been so long since we have had any rain more than a few tenths of a inch. Next time it rains take a video so we can see what it sounds like again...LOL

This time last year we were into a horrible drought. By the end of summer, folks' wells were drying up. So far this season we've had [I think] above average rainfall, which has been inconvenient. But every time I want to complain, I remember last summer.....

 

[Mmathis]

TM I have two cedar posts submerged into my pond that help support my bridge I put in last week. It has only been a week but I have not noticed any tannins in the pond. I think they may be coming from another source as Larkin states.

Just curious how much of a difference there is between seasoned & non-seasoned cedar. When I chose my cedar pickets, I went for the freshest looking & smelling pieces [naturally, 'cause they were prettier and smelled good.... ]. Then time passed, and the older of them sat out for a few months. I even used a bunch for other, pond or turtle-related purposes during this time. Every once in a while I would decide that I didn't buy enough, so would purchase 1/2 dozen or so more. These, too, went unused for a while. When it came time to build the turtle enclosure fence, I had a mixture of different ages, plus did end up having to buy more new pieces.

Do you know how "fresh" your posts were at the time?

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BTW, the cola-colored water didn't start until AFTER we had many days of torrential rainfall, but also at about the same time that a mild algae bloom cleared. How much could dead algae be contributing?

Am using poly quilt batting [gosh, it's filthy and gets changed twice a day, at least], and have some activated carbon in my SKIPPY, next to & under the outflow. As to the AC, I know I don't have nearly enough, just haven't had a chance to do any more than visit a pet store [small quantities]. Have done a couple of small water changes.

It's been a week since my OP, and there is no change in the water color. There has been, maybe a 25% increase in visability [still wouldn't want to SCUBA in it]. IOW, I can now easily see the fish swimming within 6" of the surface, but anything deeper is just a blur. When I pull water for testing, it appears clear [some particles, but not turbid] and almost colorless [very, very slight yellowish tinge]. Think I'll pull some today and let it sit for a while and see if anything settles out.

 

[Mmathis]

The other day I did some mods on the outflow tubing from the SKIPPY. Where previously I had a straight piece of 2" PVC dumping directly into the pond, I now have this configuration: straight PVC with "t" on the end -- on each end of the "T" have 45 degree angles connecting to short pieces of PVC where I cut windows into the PVC so the water could cascade out -- then have end caps on the end of each of these. Sort of looks like a reverse letter "Y" Anyway, took some finer mesh bags (from Wally World, made by the TIDE Co. -- I always used to call them lingere bags). They have zippers. I filled them with folded quilt batting and suspended one each over the 2 discharge pipes. There is enough room for plenty of water to pass, even when the batting is full. On the inside of the SKIPPY, I have been putting some folded batting under & around the outflow (I modified that, too, so I could put a plastic "cage" in there to keep the plants from floating out and or blocking the outflow). Well, found some poly material that is about an inch thick, I don't know, 18" by something. I tucked that under the outflow cage that's inside the filter. Oh, and also added some more activated carbon.

Guess what? This morning the water is still cola-colored. BUT, you can actually SEE the bottom of the pond -- not great, but you can SEE it! Can see all the fish swimmng around (had to feed them just so I could watch them ) The poly pad inside the SKIPPY is dark and both bags that are draining into the pond are dark as well. That is about 18 hours worth of filtering progress. But, of course, who's to say that it wouldn't have cleared up on it's own in the same time period

 

[HARO]

Country;
Without going back through all your posts, have you tried activated carbon to remove the colouration?
John