does anyone have a yard pond?

[favesis37]

no matter what we do we can not keep it clear. it is gross right now . last week we moved our goldfish out there and now we can't even see them. any ideas?

[Russ]

If it is really that bad right now (I assume algae), you may have to re-do it. There are chemicals but they aren't cheap and I don't think the fish would like them.
If you do it over again throw some plecostomus in there, they will eat the algae.

There's some info at this website CLICK HERE

[Persimmon Lace]

It will stay cloudy until the balance is restored. Dh has used barley bales in the water to help but keeping most of the water surface covered is what keeps the algae down. Our pond surface is covered by water lilies and parrots feather, before they grew like this though we made a floating screen that covered a section of the pond. You also need to increase your water aeration by either getting a faster pump or putting in a fountain, they make solar ones. We have a 4 foot stream with a waterfall which aerates very well. But we've also used a solar fountain to help when the temps got over 100 degrees for more than a couple of days.

HTH!

[Pianolady]

You can purchase a UV light for your pond, but it's not cheap ($100 and up). This is not a replacement for proper filtration to balance your pond. However, it's great if you want the water clear NOW. Mine takes less than a week to clear.

How large is your pond?

[JPolito830]

I am actually looking into building a pond in my backyard...how difficult is it to do, and maintain?

[Momto2Boyz]

You have to have the right balance of algea. We get some stuff from Lowe's and I can't remember what it is called, but it is the good green algea that eats the black algea that clouds it up.

Your pump also may not be big enough. We had a small pump & filter the first year and had to go to a bigger one. We found to keep it clear, we needed one that was for double the size of the actual pond. Which had the added benefit of keeping the mosquito larvae out too.

[Laurie in Bradenton]

We used water lettuce to keep ours clear. No filter at all. Now I know water lettuce is an invasive species, but we don't turn it out into any water ways. When we get too much in the pond we pull the large adult plants out and fertilize the flower beds with them. Their long hanging roots help to keep the water clear, the frogs sit and crock on them at night and it helps keep our water shaded other wise our water gets too hot. Our pond is a free form pond about 9' long by about 4 feet wide by about 3' deep.
DH dug it about 5 years ago we used heavy black plastic doubled over for the bottom. There is a pump in it to pump water up our waterfall but we only run it from time to time as the noise invites the german shepard to play in it. lol

Laurie in Bradenton

[favesis37]

thanks so much for the info. where do i find water lettuce at?