do you have any filler material around your pump? like quilt batting? when my water gets dirtly looking I change the material every other day and it clears up beautifully.

Hi Troy,

Tell us more about your pond, and the filtration and pump or pumps you have so we can help you better.

Regards,
Lisa

Troy, if you haven't set up a filtering system yet there is no way to get rid of the mud. You don't really want to keep running the same muddy water through your pump. It can really do a number on the motor. Sandy

Hi Troy,

We had a really brown looking pond when we dug it up and we used 50 lb bags of powdered limestone. We got them at a farm store for like $3 a bag. Our pond is almost a 1/3 of an acre and gets about 12 feet deep. We had to use maybe 10 bags? It's been a while but I know it was quit a bit. We have a lot of clay here and if yours is similar the particals can stay suspended indefenitly. I should add that we used a liner but my huband threw so much soil back in the shallow end to cover the liner we ended up with the same problem. If you use it get a cup or a large scoop and throw it around so it has an a chance to absorb more. A day after it settles you'll be able to see if you need more. I guess people use gypson as well (like what's in drywall). We used lime stone because it was cheap and it worked well for us. Good luck!

Hi Troy,

We had a really brown looking pond when we dug it up and we used 50 lb bags of powdered limestone. We got them at a farm store for like $3 a bag. Our pond is almost a 1/3 of an acre and gets about 12 feet deep. We had to use maybe 10 bags? It's been a while but I know it was quit a bit. We have a lot of clay here and if yours is similar the particals can stay suspended indefenitly. I should add that we used a liner but my huband threw so much soil back in the shallow end to cover the liner we ended up with the same problem. If you use it get a cup or a large scoop and throw it around so it has an a chance to absorb more. A day after it settles you'll be able to see if you need more. I guess people use gypson as well (like what's in drywall). We used lime stone because it was cheap and it worked well for us. Good luck!

as an added thought you may want to get your ph balanced before you start adding to it. You can get a pool tester kit for a few bucks. I'd recommend the one with the drops. Just use the ph side of it and you can add baking to get the ph down (works well in swimming pools and hot tubs too). We usually get the giant box and throw in a cup, check it the next day and do it until it's where it should be. If you want to spend more you can go to a health food store and get "aluminum free" baking soda (not powder!). I never worried about the metal but some people do. I guess if people eat it in cookies I figure it shouldn't hurt to swim in it? I've never had to ph up, typically the rain seems to do that I guess due to what we put in the air the rain has become more acidic? But I know lots of people used to give up on pools due to not getting the ph down and I think it's good with a pond too. We did it as soon as it had water. My guess is enough plant life would balance everything out as well, but typically it takes a bit to get them going. Good luck again!

There are also flocculants on the market specifically for settling out suspended dirt and stuff. Of course these may only be a solution to the symptom and you would probably want to find what is causing the water to get cloudy like poor filtration or even that the fish are stirring sediment up, but for a quick fix they are good.

cokeisit I know for sure what caused the muddy water. It was I. We dug the hole ad inserted the liner and filled it up with out thinking ahead that placeing rock around a muddy hole may be a very bad idea. i KNOW THERE IS QUIT A BIT O MUD AT THE BOTTOM. I am hoping that once I get my river rock in the bottom it will settle out. Do they have fish/plant safe cems that will make it all settle out?

Troy

Troy, you have likely struck several old timers dumb. On this forum there are occasional rebels who persist in putting rocks in the bottom of the pond. Those of us who have tried it wind up removing it after a year or two of defiance and exhaustion from using a pond vac every week and cleaning filters sometimes daily while the nitrates and nitrites play a somber number on the lives of our fishies.
Of course you can put the rock on the bottom if you wish and some of the mud may indeed settle there but a goodly quantity will remain free in the water. Save yourself a lot of problems. Resist the rock bottom.
Cliff and Joanne may entreat you to pay heed to the siren call of their exquisite pond with its lovely rock covered bottom, but the rest of us know they have been blessed by the great Koi, god of the pond and the rest of us could entreat him daily with our only reward, mud caked stones, muddy water and sewer gas.
The only thing that will remove mud is filter material. We keep the Quilt batting people in business. Sandy
PS, You still haven't mentioned a pump or filter. Why????

I didnt mention the pump as I posted in another thread about it. I bought a sequence 750 series 4200. I got it from webbsonline. My skimmer and biofalls is Atlantic. Skimmer is a ps 4500 and the biofalls is the bf1250. I bought the combo kit. I have added matala as a prefilter and going to put the brushes in once I get everything setup. I also put in more matala in the biofall along with biological media.

Troy

Sleeplessinftwayne who is Cliff and Joanne?

Troy

I have been looking online and I am wondering if AccuClear pond chem will clear up the mud or make it settle to the botom so I can vacum it out?

Troy,
Mud will settle (in still water) without chemicals however vacuuming from between rocks is next to impossible. (Put a few big rocks on the bottom for decoration and leave it at that)

The mud that is floating in the water is so fine your filters may not catch it. Sandy is right on target with the quilt batting. It is fine enough to catch the mud. 100% polyster blankets from the doller store do the same and can be rinsed/washed - but they are too thick for a prefilter.

Temporarily, I have a clothes basket set on one of the stepping stones in the pond. I have it lined with a blanket and a small pump (500gph?) running into it. It is catching alot of the stuff in the water that built up over the winter and the dirt that got washed in during the big rain we had when the ground was still frozen. It also catches the green algae in the water. I will take it down once the other filters are running 24/7 but right now it is a good mechanical filter.

If you can, rig up a blanket or quilt batting AFTER your filter and see what it catches. I bet you'll be suprised.
sam

I have 950gph magpump from my aquarium I can prolly rig something up with. I tried the batting material but there is so many particals in the water colum its pointless. I turned off pumps and it has settled out quite alot. Gonna leave it off a few days and vacum it out. Then should be good to go. Thanks for the idea of blankets from the dollar store. Will definatly go see if they have them here.

Troy

I was going to add that you can experiment to find out what will settle it. Just take some glass jars or something and put a scoop of water in them. Let one sit on the counter over night and see if it starts to settle. That'll tell you if your pump or fish are making it worse or if the particles are just suspended. You're not drawing water into your pump from the very bottom are you? If you could take the fish out I am 100% sure you can clear that water with chlorine but it'll kill everything (we did that when we first established a garden pond and then let it sit for a few weeks before we added fish. I still think the ph is important (6-9 is fine). Also, spend like $2 and get some lime at your farm store and add it to one of the jars with your pond water in it, I think you'll be amazed. We don't see the lime anymore, it mixed in with everthing settled at the bottom. But it absorbed the floating particles on the way down. I wouldn't guess powdered lime would hurt the fish but I you'd have to look into that. Good luck!

Sorry, Troy. I missed your question. Cliff and Joanne are regulars on this forum who post photos of their pond and fishies that make many of us turn green with envy. Their pond is beautiful, the water clear and their fish happy and healthy. I will put a link below , but do a search for the other 114 threads that will certainly have more photos. Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: Cliff and Joanne's pond

Well I ran the poly stuff in my skimmer yesturday and had to change it out like 5 times. At dark I turned of the pump to see how I faired at getting it out. I could see deeper into the pond today. I am thinking it is going to take several days of this to clear it up.
thought about putting in the lime to settle it out but then I have no way to actualy vacum it from the ponds bottom. Any suggestions? I have no shopvac to use.

Troy

Troy, since you have a skimmer rather than something like a skippy you might get things going a little faster with something like Hortons trash can filter.I would go nuts if I had to change out the filter so much. I hope you can rinse the batting out. It can hold huge amounts of gunk. A roll of hi-loft batting can last me a whole season but when the raccoons took to dropping flower pots in the pond I had to use extra. No more clay in my flower pots. It burned out my pump. I put the whole roll of batting at the top of my Skippy and short of a disaster that is all I need to do.

"Posted by pat_c 5/ N W OHIO (My Page) on Mon, May 19, 08 at 17:48
Here's an old trick Horton taught me years ago. Take a clean tall kitchen trash can. Cut a series of holes in the side at the bottom. Do this on only one side of the trash can. Get a box of poly batt at walmart. Unwind it and stuff it in the bottom of the trash can and set the trash can at the edge of the pond with the side with the holes facing toward the pond. Then run a hose from your pond to the top of the trash can. The water will fill the can and run down thru the batt and filter. Then it will run out the holes in the can back into the pond. Run this for 2-3 days and I promise the pond will clear. You will have to clean the Batt evry so often but it will trap all that suspended algae. I only had to do this once and my pond cleared and stayed clear.
I do agree with the others that rocks on the bottom only invite trouble. They look good for a week and then spoil the pond beacuse they WILL get covered with algae. Then, you can't see them anyway so what's the point?
The only other product I ever had good luck with is ALgaefix. But Once I used the Horton method, I no longer had to use that! Good luck, we have all been where you are."

I hope this was helpful. This whole forum is loaded with suggestions for clearing and filtering. Just put in some search terms and you should get plenty of info. Sandy

I need helping building a homemade filte. I have a 4,500 gallon pond with a 55 pump. I want to put something between outflow and water fall. I keep hearing about using 55 gal drums but can't find any designs. I need clear simple instructions