My big pond at home

Hello friends,

I built a big pond at home.

Do you have a tips for clear water?

My pond pictures when i built it step by step


Me digging:

Nice work. That was a lot of hand digging!

include lots of plants for clearer water, that will help filter out the suspended particles, i believe that floaters help clear things up particularly well but this isnt speaking from experiences

I see from the date on the picture that you built the pond in 2004, so I assume your water clarity problem is not due to construction related issues.

When does the water become unclear? Does it seem to be a sediment/soil problem or a plant problem?

Different types of problems have different solutions.

I used barley straw that's dropped into a mesh bag and tie it to either a rock under water or floating at the edge. Keep in mind that barley straw does not kill existing algae but prevents new growth from propagating. In my opinion you should put it in the water as soon as the ice has melted and the water warms up.

Here is an article PennState college: http://extension.psu.edu/water/ponds/barley-straw

Thank you,
Kris

That was a lot of work by hand. Is your pond a feature or does it serve a purpose?

Kris Minto wrote:I used barley straw that's dropped into a mesh bag and tie it to either a rock under water or floating at the edge. Keep in mind that barley straw does not kill existing algae but prevents new growth from propagating. In my opinion you should put it in the water as soon as the ice has melted and the water warms up.

Here is an article PennState college: http://extension.psu.edu/water/ponds/barley-straw

Thank you,
Kris

This problem go away and back.... weather factor and sunny time...

But now using a creek to filter... but water is not still perfect.

if weather and sun are the factors to change your ponds water quality i am guessing it's algea?
i am not a pond expert but only recently installed several small ponds at home. as starting plants i grow water hyacinth, pistia and azolla as pond cover, hornwort, watersprite and eichhornia diversifolia submerged, and i try to go by the rule of thumb of having maxium half of the water surface covered. in fact, if there is more than half of the surface covered the water will be very clear and the fish and tadpoles appear a lot more hungry, so i am thinking the hyacinth and pistia with their long submerged roots are cleaning the water too much, and i try to throw some of them out as mulch or compost before this happens. so, i agree with what Devon said, the floating plants do a lot of cleaning in the pond! and they are fast growing and easily removed.

Aeration is amazing for how it will improve water quality.
Cascading water is a good thing always, though it is less valuable when your pond is deep, as it really only effects the surface waters.
Bottom diffuser aeration, like a vertex aerator connected to a small gast pump on land is excellent. I use this and see a striking difference in water quality within a few days of startup.