Cloudy,dirty pond....what will help?

To cut down on the occurrences of having muddy cloudy water you need to consider the following preventative steps.

Eliminate any runoff from sources that inflow sediment into your pond such as farm fields, roads, pastures, fertilized fields

There are a few chemical compositions that you may opt for but before doing this you will want to consult a licensed water and chemical treatment specialist

Inject sources of oxygen into your pond via self operational aeration systems that can burn off excess nutrients and materials that are suspended in your water source – windmill aeration systems acts as one of the most cost effective pond aeration solutions on the market today. The innovators of this method is Koenders Windmills Inc. manufactures of pond aeration systems for almost 20 years offering both electrical aeration systems and the more environment friendly windmill aeration systems.

Apply 500 to 700 pounds of land plaster (gypsum) per surface acre. The land plaster usually will ground up into small particles and spread itself all over your pond’s surface bed.

Prevent Cattle or other Livestock from wading in ponds – trampling the shorelines and adding large amounts of manure to ponds is not healthy and contributes significantly to the muddy pond – build a fence around your pond or pump water into a watering trough so that your livestock does not have to go down into the water when they are thirsty. This will not only help keep a pond clean but it will also help keep your livestock healthy. Studies show that cattle can be 23% more productive by drinking water pump out of the pond instead of drinking directly from the pond – See this government pond aeration study.

Plant grass around your pond to prevent of soil erosion.

Cloudy ponds are tough to figure out unless you are there to see what is going on. It could be a sediment or fine clay particle suspended in the water column or algae blooms that are clouding the water. A fountain would help with circulation but I have not seen where they settle the suspended particles. They do great with surface aeration but no the bottom of the pond. This is where a bottom diffused aeration system would work best, the bubbles from the diffuser circulate the pond exposing the bottom water to the surface to off gas and take in oxygen. The oxygenated pond will charge the pond and hold the phosphates to the bottom sediment so they cannot be used as food for algae.

With the pond at 10 years of age and trees around it, there is most likely a ton of leave in the pond. These leave are decaying, creating muck which slowly fills the pond and also creates plenty of nutrients for algae and or weeds to feed from along with suspended organics which could also be clouding the pond. Along with fish waste and what ever the rain washes into the pond, grass clippings, fertilizers and pet waste.

There are products to help clear the water, natural and safe for wildlife that lives in the pond and those around the pond. These are Beneficial Pond Bacteria's that consume the organics in the pond such as the muck build up and suspended organics in the water column. There is also another product that can sprayed over the surface of the pond, when it falls to the bottom of the pond it collects any of the suspended particles, once it collects enough it sinks them to the bottom.

To determine the proper sized aeration system you would need to know the depth of the pond to figure out what type of pump that could be used and total volume of water that needs to be turned over in a 24 hour period.

This is a good size pond, and yes, water circulation is the key. The wildlife is normal,(I also have bullfrogs in mine) It is not the spiders doing any damage, if anything, they are much of a benefit.

I am fortunate to have a small stream that feeds mine, and it isn't the clearest, but not mucky.

Unless you have a spring feeding yours, you will need a similar setup like a pool pump, and fountains can be had at many nurseries and garden centers.

You might also look into treatment chemicals that are harmless to the fauna.

I have load of snails and slugs that can help situations like that, but the ducks eat them.

(They will eat the spiders too.)

The best I can suggest for you.

Check out Skippy's Koi and pond website, that have a ton of information and will answer your questions via e-mail.