Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? How Long For the Water to Clear Up?

I have a roughly 3/4 acre pond. It was bult about 50 yrs ago and I recently made it a bit deeper for swimming purposes.

before I drained it and made it deeper, it was crystal clear and you could see the bottom all the way across it.

Now, it is brown water and cloudy as all get out. I know it will settle down but how long ( roughly) will this take? I guess I should mention I can re route the creek beside the pond to run into the pond to fill it up easly with the excess running out the overflow pipe. The pipe i use to do this is a 4" so it moves alot of water.

Any educated guess how long till my water is clear again? thanks.

Maybe you have changed the soil of the bottom? Let's imagine nice and sandy bottom structure - water could be crystal clear in such case. If you dig deeper till clay then don't expect much on clarity. Every rain can make water muddy.

That's only a guess because I don't know much about your pond.

The bottom was a light clay color and was crystal clear. I did did it out but the clay and the bottom did not change color..

It may easily take several weeks to several months. It could take until next spring. Lots of things happen when you disturb the bottom of an old pond. More below. In the long run, it will be very good for your pond.

Adding to this, I assume you got the same extreme rain storms we had in the last week or so. I didn't expect my new pond (now three weeks old) to hit full pool until October -- and it filled last week. My main pond, which hasn't been muddy in several years, has been muddy for more than a week due the heavy rains, plus due to a lot of the dozing and excavating we've done on the property, due to the new pond and several brood ponds. I expect it will be a couple of more weeks before the mud sediment settles out of the main pond. I don't expect my new pond to clear for several months, and probably not until ice out next spring.

When you dig the bottom of a pond that hasn't been disturbed for many years, the sediment, including minerals/chemicals, become unlocked and get moved into the main water body. Below 4 to 6 feet in a pond of this size, these are typically materials that have not been exposed to oxygen for years and decades. Besides the suspended silt/mud, you could have a phosphorous bloom for several months that will keep your pond very green.

Don't get discouraged. This is like getting a really bad scrape on your body. It will heal, it just takes some time.

Regards,
Ken

Thanks Ken. The strange thing is when I drained the pond and finally got a good look at the bottom, there wasn't much sediment at all. I pulled the excavator down in it and it only sunk maybe 2 inches.

I think my grandfather actually only made this pond as deep as it was. so, I dug a good 2.5 to 3 ft out of most of it and it was all solid clay. i didn't think I shoudl push my luck and go any deeper than that.