Silverfluter, Fredericksburg is only a day trip away, come join us! But yes, I am excited to meet and be able to see it, the pics are georgeous!
Funny that all of this started under "Clorox" LOL!
chlorox
It looks to me like your water is not so much murky as tea colored. The use of activated charcoal would take care of that. Jessamine
Tea-like discoloration is often a result of "pollution" from mulch, decaying plant matter, etc. from outside of the pond. In certain cases, this can drop the pH of the pond, but it's typically nothing more than an eye sore. Activated carbon/charcoal often eliminates that, as mentioned by jessamine. I am still struggling with some design blunders on my own part with my latest pond and have had to deal with that with some of the deluges we've had this summer. Last weekend I could not see the bottom of the deep end of the pond for over two days! lol (and I added a LOT a activated carbon into one of my main filters!)
One thing I didnt see mentioned regarding algae......Sun creates it so if you can limit the amount of sunlight.......by either keeping 1/2 to 2/3 covered with plants (my favorite is Water Lettuce because it grows so fast when it gets hot but I do have Water Hyacynth too.) or you can get some blueing type dye made for ponds (Pond Shade). I didnt like the blueing. They also make a product called AlgaeFix, by Pond Care. I use it each spring until my floating plants get big enough to cover the pond.
Also, the floating plants provide shade for your fish. Did you know that your fish can get sunburned?! Yes they can especially if they have white on them.
Final thought........More floating plants just make it look prettier too!
I have tried to keep water lilies but my dang fish keep eating the leaves!!!!
NO CHLOROX!!!!!
Deb
Oh, I forgot........You have a beautiful pond!!!!