How long will it take for green water to clear?

15 years ago

Our pond was starting to look a bit green. There is algae on the walls of the pond and the water was slowly getting green. We figured that we probably needed to change the bulb in the UV sterilizer. We took the bulb out and bought a new one as well as another water lettuce plant. When my husband was taking out the old bulb he broke the sterilizer :(

Luckily he's Mr Fixit so he did repair it but we were without it in the pond for 24 hours. The pond got more green and had no pump running for that time. It's now back up and running with the new bulb. Anyone have any

idea how long it'll be til the pond clears again? Anything else we should

do? The fish seem good. They're all swimming around and are becoming less shy but I can't see the bottom of the pond very well anymore.

Featured Answer

buyorsell888

15 years ago

The walls of the liner being green is a good thing. That carpet algae will help keep the suspended pea soup algae under control.

Your pond was scrubbed down and filled with new water. It is going to take time to cycle through to clear again.

Your fish are actually safer from predators in water that isn't crystal clear...

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Comments (6)

sleeplessinftwayne
15 years ago
That depends on a lot of things. The water going through the UV should be going very slowly to give the light time to work. A large pond in sunlight will take longer. The manufacturer says the light needs to be replaced every year. The larger the light, the less time if you have it properly sized for the pond volume.

Don't handle the new bulb with bare hands. It is bad for the bulb. The water coming out of the UV should be some distance from the intake and the one I use now suggests running it through a filter to collect the dead algae.

Don't give up. Almost all new ponds have a start up algae bloom. With the UV and keeping the nitrates down you shouldn't have too many more blooms. My fish always like to gather around the out take pipe to play.
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nmpondguy
15 years ago
Well, seeing as you already had A UV running - I'll assume you noticed the water turning green and got a new bulb before it got really bad (pea soup). Like sleeplessinftwayne said, the time it takes to clear up again depends on several factors, but I'd bet it wont take more than a week (probably less) if the only thing that changed in your system was the replacement of the bad UV Bulb.
Lori_Carlos
Original Author
15 years ago
Yes we did have a uv running but we don't know how old it was. It wasn't burnt yet but when our water started to go green, that was the first thing we thought. The previous owners left all the equipment but we never actually spoke to them Soweto have no idea how old it actually was.

Today the pond is most definately clearer than it was yesterday. I can see the bottom again which I am happy about. I guess I'm not looking for a crystal clear pond, I just want to be able to see the fish.

I'm honestly really loving the pond and our daughter and I have named 4 of the 8 fish. So far we have Goldie (a golden colored butterfly koi), Shimmer (a silver butterfly koi), Domino (black and white koi) and Spunky (a white comet with 2 orange spots on the back). My husband thinks we're totally nuts!
bev_123
10 years ago
How long does it take for uv to work in pond we have just bought a new one but our pond is green
TaraMaiden
10 years ago
I suggest you investigate the usefulness of Barley straw. It's an absolutely amazing material for clearing your pond up. Do some research, but Amazon sell the stuff....