I am a new pond owner. I have a 250 gallon pond and we have well water. Last year I thought that our Ga red clay was somehow getting into my pond. My daughter and I spent hours on our hands and knees wiping out what we thought was the mud. Then I recently read that the icky stuff was from the minerals in our well water. What can I do???? :unsure:

Minerals or heavy metals? Minerals may raise the pH and hardness (which you should test) but are otherwise not overly toxic. Heavy metals though (iron, copper, lead, mercury, cadmium, etc.) are toxic. You should find out exactly what the stuff is. It could be iron. You can add dechlorinators (pond water conditioners) that include chelating EDTA which will bind up the iron so it's not as much of a concern. I use this one:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/199635/product.web

Good luck with your new pond and welcome to the forum!

Hi gamom529! I have well water too and we get a red slime build up in our water filters. From what our well guy tells us it is minerals, mostly iron. It will turn the shower heads red if we don't keep the filters changed. :o Yuck!
Can you get your water tested so you know if it is clay and/or minerals? Where do you live? It might make you feel better knowing what you are dealing with. :)
Welcome btw!
Tia

I too have well water. High levels of Iron and Magnesium. When filling my pond, should I use the water that goes through the softener ( and recharge it every 800 gallons or so), or direct from the well water with maybe an inline filter to take out the solids. There'd be sodium in the softener water.

Water without the softener has black magnesium particulates and iron that is suspended and coats all it touches in a few minutes. So I'd at best end up with a brown/red coating on my pond...at worst brown/red coating and chunks of magnesium on the bottom.

Or should I just wait for a lot of rain :D

Linda

I would use the water that's run through the filter. We have a sediment filter. Yet, the one spigot that's not through the sediment filter is the one by the pond so, if I fill from there which I normally do, rocks are spit out. It sounds like your water is worse with the chunks of metals. You don't want those in the pond.

Linda, You have a huge amount of water to be pumping from you well. I would let nature fill it or if you have any other way of capturing rain water. How are you progressing on the build? Spring rains could work but if you are forced to wait till summer it could be fall before they are filled.

Fm3