new pond murky water...

wilcoes · 11-10-2011, 09:02 AM

Hi there I'm new to the pond scene and just started up a 8ft x 6ft x 3ft pond, I have a 9000 litre green Genie filter with built in UV. Air stone in the bottom and no plants, got a couple of fish in there including 2 koi. The problem is it was running crystal clear, now after 3 weeks its murky and the fish are now barely visible? Is it normal? What should I do? Cheers

Doghouse Riley · 11-10-2011, 10:05 AM

Hi Wilcoes, welcome to the board.

Difficult to tell at this point with such little information.
Are you running a bottom drain?
Can you examine the quality of the water going back into your pool?

If you can fill a 2pt Pyrex jug from the actual return, what is the water quality like? If there's bits of sediment in it, then there's something not right with the mechanical side of your filter. The bio side takes a while to establish. But my first instinct tells me the UV isn't working, some UVs can struggle when there's been continuous bright sun for a few days, but locally this ain't been happening. Can you check this UV out?

wilcoes · 11-10-2011, 11:36 AM

Hi there, thanks for the reply, the iv light is definatly on, weather its working right is another ball game, I do not have a drain on my pond, I will collect water from the return later and have a look, cheers

wilcoes · 11-10-2011, 08:07 PM

Hi there just a follow up on the murky pond, Ok well i checked the water coming out of the Filter and its clean with no bits or anything in it, So i decided to do a bit of a water change, I removed probably 15-20% then replaced the water, Will this help if i do it a few times over the next month or so? Also would it help if i put a few plants in there? Cheers

freddy · 11-10-2011, 08:13 PM

Hi wilcoes.

I found that plants and Koi don't mix. I tried this once and I ended up with mucky water and empty pots! The Koi had great fun foraging! Your pond holds roughly 900 gallons, and for that I would say that you need at least 15watts of U/V. I tried to find your filter set-up on the net, but couldn't find it. Can you check what the wattage is?

Cheers...Freddy.

Doghouse Riley · 11-10-2011, 08:33 PM

Freddy is correct, koi will eat certain water plants, particularly the soft leafed varieties right down to the roots. They naturally scour the bottom of pools as that's where in the wild they'd expect to find their food. If you watch them when they aren't expecting to be fed, they will even pick up and drop their own detritus in their search, or if there's a few pots about stir up the soil and gravel in them.

You're also better off with a constant trickle change rather than bulk changes of a lot of water.

wilcoes · 12-10-2011, 03:11 PM

Thanks for the replies guys, Most appreciated, Ive checked the u.v light, Its defo on and presume working right and it is 16w i was thinking i might leave it for a bit and see what happens as looking inot it a lot of people say with a new pond you get an algae bloom, But do you think it wise a buy a seperate u.v and put it in the system as i was thinking of going for another pump anyway? Cheers in advance, Will

Doghouse Riley · 12-10-2011, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilcoes

Thanks for the replies guys, Most appreciated, Ive checked the u.v light, Its defo on and presume working right and it is 16w i was thinking i might leave it for a bit and see what happens as looking inot it a lot of people say with a new pond you get an algae bloom, But do you think it wise a buy a seperate u.v and put it in the system as i was thinking of going for another pump anyway? Cheers in advance, Will

I think you're right to get another UV, put it in line from your pump before the water goes into the filter. I'd also organise a "trickle change" of fresh water water to waste, just a 24/7 "dribble" in that size of pool will be enough and though some like them, I'd lose the plants. You can always "plant up" round the pool to soften the look.