Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Tea color and desilting...newbie needs help with pond.

I'm new to this site and appreciate any help. I bought property in VT with a 3/4 acre pond that's over 20 years old...maybe older. Everything is great except the water has a slight tint to it like tea when the sun hits it and there are several inches of silt on the ledgestone bottom. If I snorkel in the water, visibility is maybe 10 -12 feet. Is the tea color from the silt? If the silt is removed, will the color be clear? Can the silt be pumped out using a trash pump? There are no problems that I can see from the year that I have owned the property other than the tint and silt. The pond is fed from a snow/rain runoff creek that travels through a section of cattails before it enters the pond. In spring it flows hard down from a ledgestone ridge and summer it trickles. The sellers also told me it was spring fed...the pond dropped only an inch or two over summer. What can I do to clear the water? Thanks for your advice.

The tea color is most likely caused by tannins from leaves. What kind of trees are around the pond? I have lots of trees on the south side of the pond and plan on fencing the length to keep a bunch of the leaves from blowing into the pond. Here is a link that discusses tannins.

http://www.aquascapesdesigns.com/tannins.html

Bob

Tea color (tannin) can be caused by water leachate from a peat bog, bogs or peat moss beds.

Thanks for the info and the weblink to the tannins article. It sounds like it is tannins caused by the many leaves that get blown into the pond. If I drain the pond and refill it, how long before the tannins affect the color? Is it years or will it be right back to tea color after fall?
Also, does the silt affect the water quality and does the silt keep the pond from leaking since it's so dense and packed in along the bottom? Do I just leave that alone? Thanks for the help...

Engine66,

I have tannin stained ponds and can find absolutely no problem associated with the tannins. A couple of my ponds are an estimated 70 years old. One pond has probably about 100 acres of heavily forested land that drains into it...and no problems whatsoever. The water that drains from this forest is tannin stained...so pumping the pond out to get "un-tannin" water would be an exercise in futility.

Are you concerned about aesthetics or some other problem?

Silt.. sorry missed that question. No, silt does not help or prevent leakage...it is very porous and easily penetrated by water. Unless you are concerned with insufficient water depth, leave it alone would be my recommendation.

If water depth is insufficient, you may be faced with significant problem removing the silt depending on the depth. Search the forum and you will find several discussions on removing silt and/or muck. It is generally cheaper to simply raise your dam height if you need deeper water rather than removing the silt...either way, it isn't cheap or easy.

Thanks Meadowlark. Not having any useful experience in pond management, I really wasn't sure if the tea color or silt was a problem that needed addressing. I'm happier hearing to leave it alone...the depth is fine. Now I just need to explain to the family that the squishy stuff on the bottom is here to stay so enjoy it! They're used to the beach, so when the silt oozed between their toes, they just about flipped! Thanks.

Engine's last point reminded me of an idea I had for one of the family farm ponds in Texas. Is it practical to lay a section of beach along a part of the waterline, or would it soon be mucked-covered too?

Edit: Oops, I did a search for "beach" and found the answers. Might interest you, Engine:

beach

Good find Martin!
Isn't it amazing the info stored on this site!

Thanks Martain...good info on the beach.

Whoops...sorry about the mispelling Martin

Our pond is "tea" color. It has been from day one (now 2 years old) This is caused by the fact that we have a bog that drains into the pond and hemlock forrest all around. It seems to have no effect on the water quality or the health of the fish. The pH of the water tends to be acidic so we put 4 tons of limestone in last year and may need more this spring. The pond is about 1 1/2 acres and varies in depth from a few inches to 16 feet. As long as your Ph level and alkalinity are at good levels I don't think you'll have any issue with the color of the water. Also don't think there will be any way to deal with the color.

Two different thoughts...you can "compost" your silt with bottom aeration, using a high volume, low pressure compressor designed for such use. Read through some of the aeration posts.
Secondly, the "tea" color can be changed by altering the water chemistry. Test your water and look at pH, alkalinity and hardness. Tannin stained water is acidic. Buffer the acid with aglime and the color usually changes. I have changed tea colored water with aglime, and minimized organic material by aerating.

Bob,
We are "composting" our silt with aeration and have put as mentioned before 4 tons of aglime in our 1 1/2 acre pond. pH and alkalinity have improved greatly but up hear in the hemlock forrest lands of the northeast we still have "tea color" water. Does not seem to cause any problems for the fish or the human swimmers. Will probably need to add more aglime as we also have had tremendous runoff with the continued drought free weather since we created our little patch of paradise.