Topic: Stupid mistake topsoil

[roncarg]

Hello forum

I have just dug and filled my first pond. I intend to attract as much wildlife as possible to it. I have covered the bottom of this pond with sieved topsoil to depth of 2cm. I now read that this covering will be too full of nutrients turning my pond green with algae.

My question is this, can I work with this mistake or do I have to empty and refill? The pond has a surface area of 5 square metres with a maximum depth of 70cm. 10 days after filling and I still can’t see the bottom!

[roncarg]

Pond emptied ;-)

[manicscousers]

sorry, mate, don't know much about ponds, welcome to the site though..hope your pond gets better  :)

[ninnyscrops]

The topsoil from our pond borders occasionally gets washed in if we leave the hose on too long when we're topping it up, the algae doesn't last that long.  I would go with it!

[Margaret]

I would not have been worried at all and certainly not have emptied the pond! The best thing to have done was plant up the pond straight away with lots of plants and oxygenating weed and thenthe growth of the plants ,especially at this time of year would soon have cleared any temporary green algae.Probably best to use ordinary soil if you redo it,i did just that and had no problems with mine.

[Old bird]

Hi - I don't think that you have made a mistake at all!  You need the earth for the micro organisms and wildlife  that will live in there.  The water does tend to go yukky green due to light levels - oxygenating plants (which counteract the green) and shady plants (like water lilies) help. 

There is a way of stopping this and that is to get a chunk of straw and put it in and this absorbs the amoeba or whatever and is an ecological way to get rid of the green and enhance the clarity of the water.  Generally it should only be done once a year so I would put it in a onion bag type affair and take it out in the winter and replace in the spring again.  Make sure that the straw hasnt had any chemicals on it though!.