Pond clarity changes overnight

[Jerry]

From crystal clear to cloudy.  It will be clear again tomorrow, this seems to be a pattern. WHY?

[Loritx]

My pond is still pretty young. Was pretty grey the first few weeks, turned pea soup for a week and suddenly cleared up.  Some days it dont take much to make it grey -repot a plant, move a plant, clean a filter in the skimmer, look at it the wrong way -poof grey water!   Next day clear again!! 

Maybe fish stirring something up?

[MikeW]

I envy you both. Green water, with a slimey, oily, green slick on the surface, has been my pond for months, literally.
I know better, but I am on the point of draining it, and scrubbing everything!
I am almost at the point of losing interest in the thing - an eyesore in my garden for months on end.

Depressed,

Mike

[Sandyd]

I think a lot of it has too do with the change in temps and weather right now.

I started my pond up the middle of April and just the last 2 days it went from greenish to crystal clear.  Almost 6 weeks.  I threw a couple of extra bags of bio media in the 300 gal tank also.  I did a lot of water changes, cleaned filters continuously and swept the bottom of the pond by feel only towards the bottom drain.  I found a lot of frogs that had winter killed this year.  I am sad to say it was a total of 16 bodies found.  The winter was cruel on frogs plus I had a lot of perrennials die due to ice and freezing temps.

Don't get discouraged.

Try using some koi clay a couple of times a week, do water changes, clean your filters, skimmers, etc.  You can also do a PP treatment to help get any organic out of the water.  I use 1 tsp per 1000 gals. Which is important to know your gals.  I don't do a strong dose, but in the spring I use it once.

[Indiana Karen]

Sorry, don't know what caused yours but when mine goes from clear to cloudy, its the silly koi digging in the lotus pot.  There's hardly any dirt left in the pot.  I'm sure yours will clear soon, when it does it quick like that, I think its the weather.

Karen

[perplexed ponder]

My water is cloudy and brown
we have this new pressurized filter running, but it doesn't seem to be doing much...yet. Supposed to take a few weeks, and it's just about there now, so i am waiting for it to clear up. Alot of gunk comes out when we backwash it.

It's been too cold for my water hyacinth yet, last year it cleared really quick when we added them.

Dumb dog always stepping in there probably doens't help either.

[Jerry]

No koi to stir things up.  The good news is it is clear already!  Not crystal clear, but it will be tomorrow.
Mike W.  I have one word for you "SKIPPY!"

[Kittyzee]

Mike W, I'm not sure what a skippy is but my water was like yours for a whole summer.  Next spring I visited a new pond store after reading all the info I could on this site and made myself a bio filter.  It bought a preform tub that has tubing running to it from the pump, and the water then trickles out over some rocks.  BUT it has to pass through lava rocks which collect the good bacteria that seems to keep my water clear.  DH made a cover for it, but I leave it off and try to get some plants to grow in it in the summer which helps also.  My water went from thick pea green to crystal clear in a matter of days and has stayed that way. 

And not much labor involved...I like quick fixes    

[Jerry]

LuAnn  see Esther's post in Chit Chat under "its quiet arond here".  She gives a link for Skippy.
Gene at Koi Village has it too.
Sounds like you and DH did it on your own.

[Rocmon]

Sometimes fish can get out of the pond and party all night then sneak back in just before dawn—there's sometimes telltale water trails, and they never, never, wash their silly fins before getting back in the pond. Sometimes a fun slide with little spray bars works to keep the dirt out of the pond—be sure to run the drain from the slide to the garden—not the pond. Of course you do that and you make be kept up all night while they scream "Wheee!".... then splash.   

Every other day? Do you have auto sprinklers running every other day? When I run the sprinklers for a long time sometimes dirt washes in I presume as the water can lose clarity. Raccoon visits? Neighbors dogs?

Clean filter—biofilter with pond water only, add more filtration, up the turnover rate...

[Jerry]

There is no runoff from the sprinklers.  I am back to crystal clear.  You may be right about the buggers partying all night.
I think it may be some kind of algae boom?  Not unlike red tide.  No idea of course.