Congratulations on your new Ecosystem Pond! This living ecosystem is designed to give you years of enjoyment and relaxation.
The first rule of pond ownership is to relax. Please remember this pond is not a sterile chlorinated swimming pool. It is a living, breathing ecosystem with fish, plants, beneficial bacteria, nematodes, rotifers, plankton, algae, frogs and a million other living things. In this environment, change is constant. If you are patient, you will learn the normal ebbs and flows of this beautiful ecosystem, and you will see the amazing power of nature at work.
“OK,” you might be thinking right now. “That’s cool, and I’m looking forward to learning about all of that, but … Why is my brand new pond water cloudy? How soon will the water clear up?”
As part of our normal practices, your pond install crew washed down the stones and gravel before filling your pond back up. It is normal and expected for every pond we install to be cloudy for a week or so after installation – even after washing the pond. You could wash every tiny piece of gravel stone in the pond, and gently place it back in the pond, but you would still experience this cloudiness. Eventually, the silt will settle out. The pond will become clearer day by day but could take up to two weeks to become perfectly clear, depending on a lot of factors including pond size.
As a new pond owner, you will typically experience 3 stages. Stage 1 is cloudy, silty, dirty water. Stage 2 is what we call Factory Fresh. The cloudiness has gone away and the the pond is gin clear to the bottom. You can see the color of the rocks. Soon you will begin to notice a biofilm develop on the rocks and gravel. This is what we are looking for. As this biofilm develops, your pond is maturing into a balanced ecosystem. A happy safe place for your fish and other aquatic life.
We do have products available that can help speed up this process. Our Rapid Clear works by helping silt particles stick together. These larger and heavier particles then fall to the bottom, clearing up the water. Without Rapid Clear, we typically see ponds clear up on their own within a week or two.
Also keep in mind that every time you get in the pond, you can stir up the water and make it cloudy. This cloudiness will reduce over time as the biofilm develops, but it is normal and expected.
Your pond is not a swimming pool; it is a healthy, natural, living ecosystem.
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