http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2012/05/my_new_pond.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Pond Pics

This is normal. New ponds need to cycle. It helps if you wait to add fish but since almost no one does.....

Don't feed the fish much and adding plants helps.

Otherwise patience is your friend.

+1 What buyorsell said.

It is normal. I went through it last year when I built my pond (clear for the first 2 weeks, then green for a month then clear) and this year the green is just starting to clear after about a month of it. The bacteria needs time to establish, the plant roots need time to establish, then it will fix itself. Patients is the key and I know very hard. I have to stop myself from trying to do something about it. Knowing if I do, likely I will just make it worse. Time is the key.

And put more plants in.

Thanks all! Will keep you all posted.

"... The bacteria needs time to establish"
Temperature in NY is lingering between 55 to 62 in the daytime and much cooler after the sun sets. I think that the temperature needs to be in 70s for the bacteria to establish?

One thing to remember about bottled bacteria -- it isn't really live bacteria. It's enzyms and spores that help naturally occuring bacteria become established. Bacteria cannot live without an oxygen source and nutrients, and they cannot find it in a bottle.

New ponds do tend to turn green until it cycles, and providing shade will help. If your pond is small enough, you can erect one of those inexpensive 10 x 10 picnic canopies over the water for a few weeks to deny the algae sunlight. Plants do a great job of "stealing" nutrients from algae. Floaters are great, like water lettuce, water hyacinch, and parrots feather. They multiply very fast, so you shouldn't need very many before they spread. Clean out any leaves or plant matter that is decaying. Feed sparingly or not at all for a while.

If you lose patience, you can always buy a UV. Contrary to popular belief, they do not affect your good bacteria. Bio bacteria does not float around the pond, but instead attaches itself to your bio media, rocks, and pond walls. My water went green this year after replacing the liner when I installed a bottom drain, and I ended up putting a UV on it. It's clearing nicely.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bottled bacteria

I am trying pond flush
this year and so far my pond has been clear
I still need to get more pond plants

1st 3 years my pond turned green each spring, as soon as it started to warm up. Then I added 3 marsh marigold plants for a little early spring color and my algae problem was solved. The marsh marigold, like crocuses, are one of the 1st plants to begin growing each spring. The plants begin to grow and develop before the algae bloom and therefore use up the excess nutrients for the algae bloom happens. I haven't had a green pond in 5 years.

My ponds are full of plants and they do not turn green every spring. Only once in fifteen years when I cleaned too many out in the fall....

ditto what everyone else says. Patience, plants and, according to Mike, a few beers!!!!

Thanks all...
So yesterday the weather here in NY was 75 and sunny. After a close look at the pond I discovered that it is not only green but also dirty (sand particles?). Since it rained cats and dogs here; I think runoff rain water played a vital role make the pond muggy.

Also found 4 of my only fish dead on the surface.

I do have a 2000 GPH pump hooked up to a 75 gallon garbage can turned bio filter but still... I also noticed that dirty water (dirt particles) is still going through my filter's outlet to the waterfall. I think I need to add more filter media and add another legit "4000 POND FILTER WITH UV STERILIZER BIOLOGICAL MECHANICAL PRESSURE 13w" (Ebay).

when the pond was a few weeks old and clean: http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2012/05/my_new_pond_2.html

http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2012/05/my_new_pond.html

You can spend the money if you wish, but it sounds like you need to make adjustments to keep run-off from polluting your pond and not add more equipment. My pond is between 800 and 1000 gallons and simply has an 1800gph pump pumping the water into a whiskey barrell which overflows back into the pond. There is no mechanical filtration at all. I relay on plants to keep the water clean and have lost only 1 fish in several years.

UV filter is 100% effective at clearing green water in 3-5 days if properly installed.

There are also 10,001 other ways to clear green water, all are hit and miss, many are just plain dumb.

Bacteria in a bottle is generally a scam because they don't generally say what species they have in the bottle. Several studies have shown these don't work.

The only bacteria thought to kill green water algae is heterotroph bacteria, and this is only a theory, but I think a good one. I first saw it proposed by Norm Meck. Trouble is the green water algae produce a chemical that kills the bacteria. So even if you had the proper bacteria in the bottle it would all be killed when dumped into the pond. The UV will kill the algae and allow the heterotroph bacteria already in the pond to reproduce. So after a few weeks the UV can be turned off.

thx waterbug_guy and all the others...

I am just waiting for for NY to get dry and some sun so I can think of a way to to stop run-off rain water.

Now a question: I know that UV lights are sold with filters and cost $$$. Do they sell a UV fixture which I can just drop it in my garbage-can-filter?

I also read that watercrest and Water Hyacinth will make water clear. This weekend I will pay my local grocery stores a visit in hope to find some with roots. Any tips from where I can buy these plants?

Watercress can be found at many supermarkets in the produce section for about two bucks. In a bundle like parsley and cilantro. You can anchor it between rocks and it will root.

The addition of any plants helps, whether they use the nutrients or shade the water, I have no idea both are common theories.

Run off into the pond is not good. You never know what chemicals can be washed in.

Fish often die in new ponds that aren't cycled. Everyone is always in a hurry to add fish. You are not alone....

Pea soup/green algae does NOT kill fish. Fish are actually happier with some cover from predators. Professional koi breeders keep them in mud bottomed ponds not crystal clear "swimming pools" You do need to make sure that your pump is running, ponds can lose oxygen in hot weather, quickly and that kills fish...

I prefer the standalone UV filters. The combo filters are crap imo. I like Aqua UV but any of the non-green kind sold in a big box stores are good. But you could go bigger, up to 57 watt. The unit can go wherever you like. There are in pond and outside the pond units.

I have also read that watercrest and Water Hyacinth will make water clear. Lots of stories on how they do this. The most popular is they "starve" the algae which is of course crazy for many reasons. A simple water test always disproves this myth, not that this would ever slow down a perfectly good myth.

I've read many, many things make water clear and for all kinds of logical sounding reasons. Ponds do clear on their own due to bacteria and macro algae...but in every case it is always that "thing" the was last added that gets the credit. The internet has given a voice to millions of people to tell use what they think cleared their water. And then there's science.

If you did want to try the hit and miss options the best ones, which have at least some science behind them would be streams, longer the better. A trickle tower filter is the same as a stream just in a smaller foot print. The higher O2 of these and water close contact to the media can give green water algae killing bacteria the upper hand.

Next choice is a gravel bog. Water being in long contact with bacteria (different kind), and in darkness for long periods and just plain getting stuck in the gravel, can slow algae growth enough that macro algae and green water killing bacteria can get the upper hand and keep a pond clear.

The choices really get pretty bad after that. And many are related back to these first two.

More than a month now(7 weeks I think) still no joy... Now the water is free of dirt particles but not clear. Only an inch of visibility on a bright sunny day.

Ammonia 0, PH 7.5 and no fish. This is frustrating...

I have had the same problem in years past. What works best for me to get rid of the algae bloom is the barley pads. I found them at Petsmart:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752154&lmdn=Fish+Ponds

Here is a link that might be useful: Clear Pond Original All Natural Barley

Kind of hard to help with so little info. What is blocking visibility? Green? Brown? Scum? Have you done anything in the past 7 weeks? Good luck.

Yesterday I went to my backyard to check up on my empty pond and was surprise to see that it is getting clear. The visibility is now 80% and water quality is in control.

In my garbage-can-bio-filter I found hundreds of these little red worms (looks like thread) 5mm long. Is that a good sign?

Also last week I potted a few of my my pond plants in a pot and placed that pot near the outlet of my bio filter, I think it helped.

Thanks all for the tips.

You can feed those worms to the fish, they love them.

Healthy water supports lots of life...

Yes, those little red worms are a good sign that things are stabilizing. My filter is full of them. They are the larvae of midge flies. Completely harmless little critters.

The "Divine" definition of patience is ponding

LOL @ mckool. I might just have to frame
that quote & hang it on my wall. Good one!

~digger

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

So yesterday, I took my water sample to PetLand Discounts for a second opinion. The guy ran all four tests and told me that water quality is good and its OK to add fish.

My water turned green again (temperature in upper 80s?). Should I wait for the water to get clear before I add Koi?

Digger - still learning to apply it!!

FYI - I've been fortunate in having little algae: I keep a block of plaster paris in my skimmer, keep as many plants as I can, Use barley extract in my smaller pond (100G?).

Can't say for sure if any one of the above or combination thereof is an answer to anything. I've had very few problems, and except for uninvited vistitors and one fish that got trapped between an island and the pond wall, I've lost 4 Koi in 12 years. (Maybe I've had some Divine Intervention.)
.

Hi all,

Got back yesterday from my vacation (7 days)to see that my pond (2300 G) is half way empty. could it be because of evaporation? or I got a leak in 7days?
Finally my new pond((3 months old) was ready for fish and now a potential leak !@#!@#