pond maintenance

[dax]

have just built my first wildlife friendly garden pond. have put in oxygenators,

marginals and some lillies but it still seems to be getting cloudy.

any advice on whether i need a filter or any thing else to help

with general pond clarity would be very much appreciated.

xx a hopeful beginner

,

[Ladymuck]

If you've only just built it - it may be cloudy for up to a few weeks. Just leave it be for everything to settle. Enjoy the new life to come.

[Penguin68]

In my experience a new pond can take up to a couple of years to 'balance' fully, depending on what you have in it and how large it is - reasonably soon with luck you should have frogs/ toads/ newts - later on this summer damsel flies (smaller versions of dragon flies) should visit - but the initial cloudiness should clear, as stated above, in a few weeks. My pond only has oxygenators - but I do top it up with fresh water quite regularly - you can get an additive which neutralises the chemicals put into tap water by Thames to keep it clean - which you will need if you have fish. Sadly, when birds start to use it they will bring in with them blanket weed - which you will need to fight against; I have found both the chenicals and the barley stalks which are recommended don't work, and I just have to keep twisting it out when it gets too intrusive.

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[Ladymuck]

I would seriously not recommend putting tap water into a wild-life pond due to the chemicals which damage the ecological balance. I would invest in a water butt and top up the pond with the the rainwater collected as and when required.

[woofmarkthedog]

Chuck in..

A bale of barley straw

Keeps the nutrient level down naturally

W**F