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Barbtommrt
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 - 03:48 am: |   
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I set my 7' x 20' pond up about a month ago and have a problem with the water being tea colored. I read that this is due to either sand runoff, the river rock (I washed it first) or trees above. Have barley straw in, plus good filter, skimmer and pump.
Bought the activated carbon, etc. and hoping this will work.
However, someone just mentioned that this could be from our generally "brown" well water which we filter before it enters our home, but is pretty brown coming directly from the outside hose.
Makes sense that the pond water would be tea colored. If so, other than spend quite a bit of money for filters to refill my pond with filtered water, is there anything else I could do?
I tested the water and all is fine except for the water hardness (very hard).
Goldfish all healthy
Thanks
Barbara
Barbtommrt
- FL,
Zone "9"
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Gardenfiend
My Weather
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 - 04:51 am: |
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It is normal for the water to be a bit brown. The question is, is the water clear? If it is, I wouldn't worry. You should try to get the pH down, however, possibly by sinking bales of peat into it.
You didn't mention whether you have sufficient plants, including some to shade the surface. I'm not a believer in filters unless you have far too many fish. Otherwise a pond should be able to take care of itself. It sounds like yours is healthy.
Gardenfiend
- Germany,
Zone "7a"
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Birdgarden
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 - 03:11 pm: |
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Barley bales are great for helping keep string algae at bay but they are the cause of the tea colored water. I have decided to just live with my dark water as it is better looking than a green pond.
Birdgarden
- MN,
Zone "4"
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Cezhart
My Favorite Photo
My Weather
My Garden
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - 09:53 pm: |
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As I understand it, the brown tint could be "tanins" which comes from leaves that have decayed in your pond. I would make sure the pond is cleaned of all debris & then do a water change.
Cezhart
- Missouri,
Zone "6"
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Mike_in_chicago
My Garden
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 09:04 pm: |
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The best information about ponds I got when getting mine going the first few years was at rec.ponds. This forum has lost many of its better people lately, but I recommend going to Google, hitting the Groups search button, then putting in rec.ponds and brown water in quotes.
Though I've never had brown water, I know many others have, and this was the place to go for many, many responses (at least it was the place to go about 8 years ago).
Here is a link to the search I am describing:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.ponds/search?q=rec.ponds+%22brown+water% 22&hl=en
Mike_in_chicago
- Chicago, IL,
Zone "5b"
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Karalyn
My Weather
| | Posted on Friday, August 18, 2006 - 10:04 am: |
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I just wanted to add my ditto on the color coming from leaves that fall into the pond.
Also, some algae looks brown. There are many types of algae that come at different times.
Even our mountain rivers and streams have tea colored water, which could be the type of algae or the run off from pine needles and etc.
What is happening with you pond now?
Karalyn Idaho Zone 6 |
Markvs
| | Posted on Sunday, October 22, 2006 - 05:57 pm: |
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Usually tea coloured water is a sign of tanins in the water, but you also describe having hard water. The rio Negro river in sth America is tea coloured, and also is very soft and quite acidic. You have not mentioned what your pH situation is, but if it is a little acidic, then perhaps I wouldn't worry too much. Do you have fish in the pond? If the leaf build up is excessive, then the co2 build up from the decaying leaves could cause the fish some problems. Note that I am not talking about the normal tendency of goldfish to "gasp" at the top of a pond. That appearsto be normal for them.
Also, is the water in your area high in Iron content? This can lead to discoloured water, but also according to some leads to very good plant growth.
Markvs
- Waiuku,
Zone "9 down to -5 C"
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