You want to enjoy the visual and atmospheric aspects of a garden pond. What is of course extremely annoying is cloudy, unsightly looking water. The reasons for the unpleasant development and helpful countermeasures are presented below.
How do you ensure clear pond water?
To achieve clear pond water, you should reduce nutrient sources, vacuum up dead algae and use algae killers. Avoid excessive fish food, fallen leaves, pollen and garden fertilizer to control algae growth.
Why pond water becomes cloudy
It is not surprising that an outdoor pond does not retain crystal clear water in the long term. After all, it is exposed to numerous foreign substances that get into the water through wind and rain and affect its quality.
The main reason for water cloudiness is too high a nutrient content. This in turn provides a basis for algae to live and is therefore the most common cause of cloudy pond water. In order to get permanently clear pond water, it is necessary to keep the nutrient content in the water low. What enriches the pond with nutrients is primarily the following:
- Fall leaves
- Pollent
- Fertilizer from the garden
- Excess fish food
Measures for clear pond water
You should limit the factors of fallen leaves, pollen, garden fertilizer and excess fish food as much as possible as a preventive measure - for example by designing the pond to be wind-friendly and interrupting direct paths of influence from flower beds into the pond. When keeping fish in the pond, you should only feed as much as necessary.
Fishing and suctioning
If there has already been an explosive spread of algae, i.e. an algae bloom, you should fish off deposits on the water surface (for green and blue-green algae) and, above all, take care of the pond bottom. Dead algae material sinks down, consumes oxygen and releases many nutrients into the water through the layer of mulch that forms below. You can effectively vacuum this pond sludge with a pond sludge vacuum cleaner.
Algae killer
You can also use algae killers for a short-term effect. They cause the sometimes microscopic substances to clump together, making them easier to remove from the water using a filter system or a cleaner.
