We had a small pond built in our front woods in December. It is now officially full but the water is very muddy. I am researching aerators and have been told to start with a top floating one so that the dirt that has settled on the bottom will not get stirred up. No liner or pump. Any advice would be greatly appreciated it.

Picture attached.

Welcome to PBF!

IMO I would make no aeration decisions yet. I recommend you do a jar test which is simply taking a nice big jar of your pond water and putting it in a dark closet for a week or so. If the water clears and there is a sediment in the bottom of the jar, then just give your pond some time to settle out. Then start thinking about long term bottom aeration. If the water does not clear in the jar, you may consider an alum or other appropriate treatment to clear it and then consider bottom aeration. IMO, surface aeration will be a waste of your time and money. Do you have any fish yet?

Not a pro...just my 1 cent!

Welcome to the forum, Ks

Per Bill - aeration not needed yet, not until your pond begins the eutrophication process and water quality issues emerge. You're a long time from that stage, can take several years - better to focus on the present issues like clarity and stocking strategies.

Per Bill.2 - collect some water in a jar, set it and and monitor whether the clay settles and how long it takes, too. All new ponds require some settling time - this is normal. I'd perform a secchi disk reading tomorrow and record clarity so you have established empirical evidence/baseline to compare against down the road.

If clarity doesn't improve in the jar and you don't see clay particles settling on the bottom, your pond water chemistry could be experiencing an ionic imbalance [which prevents clay particles from setting out]. The imbalance can respond well to treatment strategies we will outline at that time - few options for you there we're happy to share. Good news is your mini pond will respond to management of any kind quickly and cheaply due to it's manageable size.

Good luck and keep us apprised of the jar test results and congrats on the pond!

Thanks for the replies. I will do the jar test and get back to you all in a week.

Kristan