Brown Pond Water

[cstevens01]

Okay we are very very frustrated at this point. First off we had allot of rain and our PH went thru the roof. My fish started dying, my pond water was turning brown. We changed out over half the water, well about 75% of the water and shopped vac the bottom of the pond. Ph was great and was much better. Within days our water is brown again. There are a few plants in there but really no other reason why it would be brown. Does anyone have any suggestions. It's really starting to get frustrating.

We did not have this problem last year so I don't know what's going on.

[miguynmkoi]

Sorry to see you're battling with the water.  Enough filtering?  Too much dead plant material at bottom?  Have you used Microbe lift or similar product to help with the decay?

Somebody's bound to see this with better help.  Good luck!

[Julles]

I'm no expert at all.  Brown water can be caused by a couple of things.  One is stain, which can come from pine needles and tree leaves.  Changing out the water will help with this.

Another reason is suspended matter in the water.  I use Clarity Max to make the stuff clump up and fall to the bottom, where it gets sucked into the filter and removed.

Is the water cloudy?  or just brown?

[LeeAnne151]

Clear brown like iced tea or cloudy brown like chocolate milk? The former won't hurt anything and is likely tannin from mulch, potting soil, acorns, tree leaves.

[Zoe]

I was having the very same problem.  After many water changes and adding bacteria, there was still no change. We looked around and one side of our pond is planted and the guys that came and put down mulch this spring had thrown dirt and mulch where is was on the very edge falling in the pond through the moss rocks. We did not notice it because the rocks hid it and the water level was up. After two days of rebuilding the pond and cleaning out a very dirty bog , I can see my fish.  I bet it is run off from somewhere.  It was like compost all along the edges.  Good Luck

Cindy

[cstevens01]

It's like brown muddy water. We have changed out the water twice to make sure that there is no dead matter in the water like leaves or anything like that. For the first couple of days its fine and then it starts to cloud over and get the brown muddy water look. We are going to try to add more filering to see if that will help it. and we have put some sludge remover in there, but it's not working so I will try and see if I can get the Clarity Max or the Microbe lift.



I will also check and see if we hae any run off from somewhere again. We have looked but still can't find any, but maybe I'm overlooking it.

Thanks

[Zoe]

Take a look first. I spent the money on sludge remover and clarity max and wish I had looked first.

[LeeAnne151]

Fresh water can turn cloudy/brownish on it's way to green. This might be what is happening if you are sure there isn't any actual mud in there. Draining and starting over just prolongs the agony.