Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Water Clarity of new pond

Pond was dug April 2018. Full November 2018.

Question I have is how long does it take after a new dig to really see what your water is going to look like? All last summer Ohio had a very wet summer, Fall and so far this winter is setting records for rainfall. Great for filling. But my water is a constant dirty brown. I did a jar test and had clear water in about 3 days with clay particles settled on the bottom of the jar.

I have about 50% grass coverage around the pond that was planted last fall. I will say that I happened to be out during a downpour last week and the run off going into the pond was dirty... not chocolate milk but resembled the color of my pond water.

So I guess my question is at what point after being full can you actually say this is what my water is going to look like? I don't want to sit and wait too long but also don't want to jump the gun knowing vegetation isn't yet mature around the pond. Once grass has full coverage will it significantly reduce the sediment carried by runoff?

For my Ohio pond dug in 2016 it took a while.. guessing about a year and half.. maybe longer until it got consistent blue / green with visibility. Worth mentioning my pond was not a new dig it was a former pond already but full of muck. There are a lot of variables that come into play.

How much run off is coming into your pond during normal conditions and also how much after a big rain?


Although my pond is clear now every big rain event muds it up because there is an enormous amount of incoming water from run off. It all clears up quickly / within a few days.

It sounds like you have planted grass or at least have started grass growing. This helps a lot. Plant it up again this Spring if you have any bare spots. Sometimes I let the grass around the pond grow up thicker in spots so it filters more.

KRM is correct. As the grass becomes more dense and taller the water is correspondingly become clearer; both are closely related providing bottom digging "things" are not in the pond. Your jar test that resulted in a 3 day clearing showed this. Another thing to help the water stay clearer is stone, broken concrete, or riprap lining the shoreline. This minimizes resuspension of sediments due to wave action at the shoreline. Remember as the water becomes clearer the string algae(FA) and weeds will grow more abundantly and deeper. Dye helps slow this plant growth.

During heavy rain... which we've had a lot of since the build, I have significant run off.

I'm considering trying some silt fencing where the majority of the runoff enters the pond until I have a full stand of grass.

Thank you!

The one time we actually had about 3 weeks of no significant rain... I think it was early Oct. the water cleared to about 18".

So I guess... I wait and keep working on the grass.