More water flow + mechanical filtering and possibly UV??

[Conner]

Getting as much of the silt out is going to help the best w/green water. If the silt gets stirred up constantly, it will release nutrients into the water. There is plenty of phos. in native soil to cause a bloom. Rinse the roots of the Hyacinth too. They will have trapped plenty of silt in them. A bucket of clean water works great.

Good job with the wall and silt fence behind it. Keep the wall going, or build up the lip of the liner. Try to build it like a cursive V, (if that makes sence). The liner will get folded/tucked under above the water line and go back into the soil 5-6" away from the water. You can cover the liner w/boulders and gravel.

Thanks!

What's amazing, is I went out around 1pm today, and I could see all the way to the bottom in the shallow end . This week its been amazing. There was only about 10-12" of visibility on Tuesday. Then I built the retaining wall, and we've had 2 rainstorms since then. I guess all the fresh water plus no new dirt really helped to clear it out some. I may still do a small water change to suck out the silt at the bottom, but I'm not going to do anything as drastic as I was originally thinking.

I may just by a small 1,000gph pump and a UV sterilizer and call it quits for now. If anything changes over the summer, I can always add another filter.

 

[mshill90]

If you plan on keeping koi, then you will NEED a UV sterilizer.

A bottom drain would have been best for you to put in along with a skimmer.

Gravel in a pond is ALWAYS a big no no. Silt being stirred up from the bottom will NOT kick up nutrients. It will kick up dormant bacteria, fish poo, algae and will cause an ammonia spike. Think Fish tank with gravel on a larger scale.. plus with all the earthly elements that land into your pond.

You are going to run into problems. Green water is solved with a UV, but it's really the last of your problems. Green water may be ugly, but it's not going to hurt anything.

Also, because you have the gravel look like it runs into the pond, be aware of run off that is going to enter your pond, as well as any roof run off....

Best advice would be to just not put any fish in it, and slip on over to www.koiphen.com

That's where you want to go for pond advice.

 

[Conner]

If you plan on keeping koi, then you will NEED a UV sterilizer.

A bottom drain would have been best for you to put in along with a skimmer.

Gravel in a pond is ALWAYS a big no no. Silt being stirred up from the bottom will NOT kick up nutrients. It will kick up dormant bacteria, fish poo, algae and will cause an ammonia spike. Think Fish tank with gravel on a larger scale.. plus with all the earthly elements that land into your pond.

You are going to run into problems. Green water is solved with a UV, but it's really the last of your problems. Green water may be ugly, but it's not going to hurt anything.

Also, because you have the gravel look like it runs into the pond, be aware of run off that is going to enter your pond, as well as any roof run off....

Best advice would be to just not put any fish in it, and slip on over to www.koiphen.com

That's where you want to go for pond advice.

I know a bottom drain would have been best, but I was unable to do it when I built the pond for various reasons. No point bringing it up now.

I have talked to many people who keep ponds (including some who keep koi and other fish in them) and they have never said anything bad about it. Besides, there is no gravel in my pond, so I don't know what your point is with bringing that up??

And silt being stirred up WILL kick up nutrients, because silt is dirt and debris, which will break down, releasing all sorts of nutrients into the water. Its not like its a single solid state material that doesn't break down. How could it cause an ammonia spike if it WASN'T releasing nutrients??

I'm not worried about green water, because I haven't had any green water yet. I've only had brown water, because of mud runoff into the pond. One end of it settled more than I thought it would, and so is lower than the surrounding ground, causing water to run into the pond.

As for the gravel that runs into the pond, that is my overflow relief. It is a channel that runs out of the pond, going slightly downhill, filled with gravel to keep any fish from being swept out of the pond. It is completely dry except when it is raining. We were building a concrete walkway, and during the excavation some dirt got dumped onto it, clogging it, so that's where this most recent brown water episode came from. Plus I haven't finished the retaining wall around the pond.

There are already fish in the pond, which you would have known if you bothered to read any of the thread before your post.

I've already talked about getting a UV sterilizer as soon as I can afford it, and I'm building a retaining wall to keep out any more ground runoff and mud. What else could you expect me to do?


You really didn't provide any useful, beneficial information in your post that most people wouldn't already know, so what was the point of making it in the first place?

 

[mshill90]

I know a bottom drain would have been best, but I was unable to do it when I built the pond for various reasons. No point bringing it up now.

I have talked to many people who keep ponds (including some who keep koi and other fish in them) and they have never said anything bad about it. Besides, there is no gravel in my pond, so I don't know what your point is with bringing that up??

And silt being stirred up WILL kick up nutrients, because silt is dirt and debris, which will break down, releasing all sorts of nutrients into the water. Its not like its a single solid state material that doesn't break down. How could it cause an ammonia spike if it WASN'T releasing nutrients??

I'm not worried about green water, because I haven't had any green water yet. I've only had brown water, because of mud runoff into the pond. One end of it settled more than I thought it would, and so is lower than the surrounding ground, causing water to run into the pond.

As for the gravel that runs into the pond, that is my overflow relief. It is a channel that runs out of the pond, going slightly downhill, filled with gravel to keep any fish from being swept out of the pond. It is completely dry except when it is raining. We were building a concrete walkway, and during the excavation some dirt got dumped onto it, clogging it, so that's where this most recent brown water episode came from. Plus I haven't finished the retaining wall around the pond.

There are already fish in the pond, which you would have known if you bothered to read any of the thread before your post.

I've already talked about getting a UV sterilizer as soon as I can afford it, and I'm building a retaining wall to keep out any more ground runoff and mud. What else could you expect me to do?


You really didn't provide any useful, beneficial information in your post that most people wouldn't already know, so what was the point of making it in the first place?

It's funny because SILT will NOT kick up nutrients. Where do you think your fish poo goes? Do you think it just disappears?? No, it lays on the bottom and harbors bacteria since you don't have a bottom drain.

I think it's also funny that you were asking about filters, and a S/G filter was recommended, and you said you wanted something simple. Sand Gravel doesn't get ANY simpler.

How many ponds have you built correctly? Any pond keeper knows that a UV is essential in a pond because of the diverse elements it's exposed to. Your fish will end up with ulcers from Aeromonas and other bacterias/parasites.

You said in your title itself a "possible UV"... why would it be a possibility, and not a must?

If you know it all, like you are acting like it, then you wouldn't be on here asking for advice/opinions.

I have built several ponds, and it's always best to do your research FIRST, in which you did not. That is why I am bringing this up.

Good Luck... haha.

 

[Conner]

I asked for some help in deciding what to do, not criticism of what I've done. I don't care what you think about how I've set it up, so keep your opinions of that to yourself.

You know absolutely nothing about me or what I've done, so don't make off-base assumptions like that. You just show yourself to be an arrogant jerk when you do.

I don't pretend to know it all, in fact I know that I've barely scratched the surface of pond keeping, and that most pond/koi keepers probably know much more than I do, or even possibly will know. However, I have done a LARGE amount of research before I dug my pond, and got various opinions (both here and other forums) on how I built my pond. While a bottom drain and UV sterilizer are highly recommended, they are not an absolute REQUIREMENT to keep a pond or koi fish. At the time, due to various reasons, I CHOSE not to use a bottom drain. If I hadn't done my research, I wouldn't have used a bog filter, which is an excellent method of filtration.

I asked about a sand/gravel filter. I said nothing about gravel on the bottom of the pond. You talked about gravel on the bottom of the pond, and said nothing about a s/g filter. So again, what was the point?

And if fish poo just settles to the bottom, guess what? It contains NUTRIENTS, i.e. nitrates, phosphates, etc. What the hell do you think poo is made of? If it gets stirred up, it will release those nutrients into the water.

I understand its best to remove any waste and silt from the bottom of the pond. THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS THREAD. Asking about more mechanical filtration and water flow, to keep the silt and poo suspended in the water column so it could be filtered out.

I mentioned the UV because, IF I can afford to, I want to add one soon. Not everyone can afford to buy every shiny new toy to use on their pond whenever they want. Some of us has to do it bit by bit.

And guess what? If I were doing everything so damn wrong in the first place, why do I have a pond that is successfully holding water, successfully supporting a bog full of plants, and successfully supporting a dozen tadpoles, 60-70 feeder comets, about a 100 native minnows that came in on plants I bought, etc. etc.? I would like to add fancy goldfish and koi in the future, but I won't do that until the pond can support them as well. That's why I HAVEN'T added them yet, because I want the pond to be set up for them and running smoothly first.

Give me a damn break.

 

[Conner]

And it doesn't matter how many ponds you've built. That doesn't mean you built a single one of them the correct way. For all I know it just means you've dug a bunch of holes in the ground and put water in them.