Topic: is water clearing product safe

[tomatoada]

I have a small round pool in my garden about  36" in diameter and 24" deep.  It has been there for 6 years.  The original 5 fish are now 12.  The water lily blooms and the oxygen plants thrive, I have to prune them every year.  However the water is very green and cloudy so I thought I would try some "Cloudy Water Treatment".   It says it is eco friendly  and suitable for all types of pond.  However I am now getting second thoughts.  I would hate to harm the fish.  Also it says use 10 mils for 250 litres and I have no idea how to work this dose out for my pond.   Please Margaret and any mathematician help me.

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

well if it's 24 in deep all round (as it were) I make it 400 litres, so you need 16 ml

But i'd wait for a second opinion if i were you  :D

[tomatoada]

Thanks R/T.   How did you work that out?   I only remember doing cubic feet of squares  at school.

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

work it out in cm. 1 inch = 2.54 cm. 1 litre = 1000 cm3

QED  ;D (i'd still wait for  a second opinion if i were you  :D)

[misfit]

you can work out the size here
http://www.aquatics-warehouse.co.uk/extras/Info/Size_of_UV_filter.html

[misfit]

i make it roughly 520 litres

but get a 3rd opinion  ;) :)

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

that's for a rectangular pond I think. Tomatoada's is round

[misfit]

oh yeah  ::) ;D
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Ponds/PondRound.htm

try that instead lol  8)



i now make it 405 litres  :P ;D

[grannyjanny]

I have a large rectangular box with tadpoles in. Can I use it in there?
Janet

[tomatoada]

Now I have some idea how much to use where is Margaret to say how safe it is.

[Kepouros]

The volume depends on whether the sides of the pond are vertical or sloping.  If they are vertical, the total volume is indeed 400 litres.  However, if they are sloping the volume will probably be around 290 litres, so check this first.

As to safety, I use such a product every year, and it`s never harmed any of my pondlife yet, and my pond contains everything from taddies and dragon fly larvae to 5lb carp.  I`m also a firm believer in the `drop extra for luck` approach, so I don`t think you have to be perfectly exact in your measurements, although obviously it isn`t wise to seriously overdose.

[tomatoada]

The sides are almost straight.  It is just a large tub I acquired and stuck in the ground.  I would say the diameter of the bottom is 6 inches smaller then the top.  Thanks for your help.

[naff]

Have you thought of using the Barley Straw Balls that LBS sell? I,ve also seen them on Ebay.They would be safe although I do,nt know how good they are.

[tomatoada]

Tried them few years ago.  No effect.  Thanks for thought.

[Ishard]

Its never a good idea to add chemicals to a pond unless you really know the volume and if the stuff works, I doubt if that stuff you have will.

The water is green because of the sunlight on the water allowing the algea (microscopic)  to grow and its cloudy with 'fines' which you physically need to remove. Shade the pond, allow no more than 1/3 to the sun.

An easy way to filter the fines is to fix/tie a net curtain over the outlet pipe and clean it when it gets clogged.

OR buy sponges and use these.

 :)

Oh and by the way theres too much nitrogen in the water so please reduce the feeding.

[Kepouros]

Why you should doubt that the stuff will work I don`t know.  I don`t know precisely which brand tomatoada has, but my own experience of using such prosucts over the last 15 years is that they workl perfectly well, and will generally clear the water in about a week.

To talk of clearing the water by physically removing the fines with net curtain is balderdash.  The particles causing the cloudiness are so fine that they will go not only through your old net curtains, but also through fine culinary filters, and sandbed filters and the water will emerge the same colour as it went in.  Filters will not clear the water as a rule until they have trapped sufficient algae for a biological reaction to commence, but this can take a long time.  The proprietary brand of water clearers in fact operate by causing these extremely fine particles to clump together  (floculate, in fact), and sink to the bottom, and when this process has occurred the `clumped` particles are then large enough to be filtered out through a normal pond pump and filter.

The alternative, of course, is the kill the algae with UV light

I have had fish ponds for over 40 years, tried just about every method of filtering (including UV light), and now use a 50 gallon filter box with 9 layers of fine foam, but at this time of the year I still need to use a water clearing compound, and I repeat - IT DOESN`T HARM THE POND LIFE

[Ishard]

I'm sorry if I have pressed any buttons with you, but hey I too have large ponds and my filters (500 imp gallons in  filters in the koi pond) plus a pressure filter,  trickle tower, in filter sponges and UV I don't get green water or fines.  :)
The goldfish pond and natural pond don't get so over filtered as they don't need it but the water is still clear.

A net curtain will work just fine for a quick fix, been there, done that on the ponds I am callled out to look after.
I too have vast knowledge about ponds, meds, chemicals, fish and I even helped develop the criteria for using Telmin (mebendozole) as a fluke treatment.  ;)

However, ANY, repeat ANY chemicals added to a pond ( and yes thank you I do know how they work) stresses the fish which puts pressure on their immune system and then allows systemic disease to gain the upper hand so its always better to use physical means to remove dirt that the filters don't.

But each to his/her own.  :)

Ishard Bsc (hons)

[misfit]

I have had fish ponds for over 40 years, tried just about every method of filtering (including UV light), and now use a 50 gallon filter box with 9 layers of fine foam, but at this time of the year I still need to use a water clearing compound, and I repeat - IT DOESN`T HARM THE POND LIFE

9 layers seems a bit excessive, you sure there isnt another problem in your pond that needs addressing!! or maybe try a pond vacuum to remove as much solid waste as you can

[Kepouros]

There is no problem with my pond, which, apart from  from having a pump and filter to keep the water sufficiently oxygenated, is kept as natural as possible.  That means that I do NOT vacuum  the bottom (which would remove all the natural pond bottom living creatures) so there is always a reasonable deposit at the bottom.  This, of course, is every spring stirred up first by the copulating of a huge population of frogs, the mirror and common carp and the tench (all bottom feeders), the large orfe chasing the tadpoles, as well as by the mallards which visit very afternoon for a paddle and to chew up my oxygenating plants.

The net result is, as I have said, that the water is clouded with with very fine particles, which are fine enough to pass through filters, but which, with one treatment, will floculate and clump together and will then be caught in the filter, and the water then stays clear until the following spring`s activities.

[Andy H]

If it is a natural pond then why do you want Clear water?
If it was a Koi pond then I can understand wanting it clear to see the fish but thats a whole differnet story......