Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Pond not clear

My pond just filled up completely (finally)and I want to know about how long should I wait until it gets clear again. What I mean was before I drained the old pond (40 yrs old)it was a beautiful color of blue/green and now after all the years of sediment has been cleaned out it is really murky. I don't want to use alum(?), hay bales or any chemicals whatsoever. So does anyone out there with experience, that can give me any ideas of how to clear up my 1/2 acre pond let me know! Thanks.........

Billy, I'll throw out a few suggestions while waiting for other more experienced folks to chime in.

How long has your water been murky now?

You can do a jar test which is to put some pond water in a jar, and just let it sit. If it clears up in a few days, it may indicate that your pond has some other function keeping it murky such as high winds lapping water up against the banks, or in other cases, large catfish stirring up the bottom.

If the water does not clear, then it indicates that you may need to do something to help the water to clear.

On a side note, could you explain what you did to clear the muck/sediment from your pond? IE/ did you bulldoze out the muck?

If your pond was clear before the clean out,
than it will probably clear up again. Give it
some time. I have several ponds that were
murky for a month or more before clearing.
One pond took 4 months to clear.

Keep in mind mind that cold water this time of year is denser (most dense at 39 F.) and this is an obstacle to settling of clay particles)

I have a new pond that although not muddy is cloudy from suspended clay. Due to high winds this time of year it won't settle much. I took two canning jar samples and brought one inside and kept one outside. Both did settle but I believe the one inside settled faster.

I'm looking for it to clear up under the ice however.

Billy,

Based on what you posted, "I don't want to use alum(?), hay bales or any chemicals whatsoever", it looks like you limited yourself to one option, waiting for however long it takes. The jar method mentioned by Sunil may be a good litmus test.

Thanks you guys for giving me some good ideas about my new pond. I will do a jar test and leave them both inside and out. I thought about this weekend to actually put a silt fence on the two banks that are still dirt to keep them from eroding. (good idea?)Hopefully it will clear up over the winter or I will have to deal with it next spring.

P.S. My pond has been murky about a month now and we bull dozed and skid steered the blue mud from the bottom thru the breached dam!

Billy,

Anything helps! I would love to draw down my new pond a few feet, seed heavily and then run and stake a few hundred feet of 6 ' wide burlap around the edges again, but I'm afraid the grass could start and then freeze out and I won't have any grass next spring coming up.

I'll have to wait until things warm up in spring I guess.