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The Secret(s) to Keep Your Pond Crystal Clear | The Barefooted Gardener



*The rule regarding gallons of water per fish can be fudged with a little bit, besides I rebuilt this pond in 2019, so the fish got a much bigger home…

Have you ever wondered what makes a pond crystal clear (or not) then stay tuned for an in depth look at how YOUR garden pond functions, and the critical elements to keep it running smooth.

I forgot to mention: Have a mesh bag of lava rock above the filter pads in your Biofalls!

Build Natural Waterfalls:

Install This for Easier Pond Maintenance:

The SECRET(S) to Designing Ponds like a PRO!

25 Comments

  7. Franklin Arguedas

    Would you be able to be more specific regarding cold ❄ weather climate plants?
    Like what plants need to be in the pond to feed the fish and what to filter the ammonia from the water, and how to control algae growth, please?

  8. Morgan Flaherty

    I learned how to do things through YouTube therefore the reason my pond is still green is because I have an understood what to do properly yet and or I'm just impatient

  11. Nosleeptillbrooklyn

    Thanks for explaining the scientific terms of nitrate and nitrite and etc. I’ve been trying to keep my natural spring pond running, without any idea what I am doing- but no matter how much I clean my pond the muck just never ends. I didn’t build mine someone else did back in the day and I assume the natural spring means I don’t need a filter but I will add hostas and plants around. Thanks I learned a lot and I am very impressed you did that yourself.

  12. Chad Landry

    try feeding them in different areas. they are like puppies, if they see you they will come running, they remember where.

  13. Renee K

    Incredible. You certainly have a talent. What kind of fish would you recommend in UP Michigan?

  14. Laurie Kirk

    This is a beautiful pond, but, using your calculation for number of fish per gallons, you seem to be way over-stocked. My pond is almost 3000 gallons and I only have 5 koi, who are without doubt the most beautiful of fish. I use polyester quilting batting around a milk crate container housing the pump, as a pre-filter. Then I have a “Pond Guy” filter with a UV light connected to another filter, both of which are regularly back flushed onto the plants surrounding the pond. My fish are lazy, meandering around their domain looking to,seem if I am going to,treat them to worms 😄

  16. N L

    What about leaves? I live in San Antonio, Texas . And in the ,
    fall , we get a lot of leaves in my pond. If we ad rocks, cleaning would it difficult. Any suggestions?

  17. Callum Clover

    Hi was wondering what plants would be best for a big koi pond which will keep water quality down, on a budget thou please 😂

  18. Leilani Weaver

    I just put in a pond. I put in a waterscape with bioballs, and a pump to feed it…but I didnt install a skimmer. Im thinking thats the main reason my water is murky

  20. dennis buras

    First I would like to say that your pond looks great ! Maybe you could give me a few tips. I live in Louisiana and I have a 3000 gallon pond under a large oak tree. I have garden all around. I have a 100watt UV light to help keep the water clear. I have a pond master skimmer and waterfall.my pump is 3000 GPH. No rocks in the bottom due to the leaves that fall all year long. I have 2 mesh filters in my skimmer and need to clean out every day due to blocking flow I'M trying to do something to prevent me from cleaning the filters every day. I do not have Bio-Matrix Media in my waterfall. I'm going to add a pond master clearguard5.5 pressurized filter with the return to add more flow movement to my skimmer. My questions are 1-should I add bio media to my waterfall? 2- do you think I need the pond master clearguard ? 3 – how can I prevent the filter from clogging so fast Maybe by adding plants? I could give you my email so I can send you pictures.

  23. Lee Wimmer

    On the theory of how many fish to have per gallon at 800 gallons it appears you have too many fish. I’m new to the Koi world and probably like many have made huge mistakes. I won’t embarrass myself listing them. However as of today I think I have it pretty much under control. The biological part is probably the most important item. I now have my water crystal clear and use no chemicals whatsoever . Other than adding a little more beneficial bacteria about once a week. Now I do have a question for you. I’m almost done adding an addition to my pond making it twice the size . My initial pond uses a Savio skimmer/ filter. I have a waterfall with bio balls. The addition is deeper and I’m using a submergible pump and bio falls. This feeds a second waterfall. I was all set to put in a bottom drain but do to my section of yard I can’t put in a SC tank and pump. Without a self priming external pump ( which I’m having trouble finding) it’s not going to work well. Pumps push better than sucking. Sorry I digress. My question is after doing much research I’m wondering which bio balls would be the best to use. I guess it probably doesn’t matter all that much as long as you have. I did use lava rock in the beginning for a little but replaced. I’d appreciate any help, thank you. Your pond is beautiful. Well done. Your Koi are also beautiful.

  24. Χαραλάμπης Σταύρου

    I do things a little bit differently for crystal clear water since I don't have any flow nor filter.
    Daphnia and scads.
    Daphnia will eat the green plankton, and the scads eat the fish poop and the filamented algae.
    It's a bit difficult to have a perfect balance during the first months of the pond since most of fish species will eat the scads, but eventually everything comes into balance.
    Just one more problem that may occur with the scads, is they might eat any oxygenating plants you have on the ponds bottom.

  25. fiona morgan

    Butifull pond well manged lovely 😍 👌 do toads and frogs bread in your pond mine did when I had one moved treess then I can't mum's has my fish now still alive

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