Bacterial Bloom in outdoor mini pond?

[Sgooosh]

Last year in summer, I set up a new mini pond, and within a few weeks everything clouded up... It is still clouded up now, and the water is not green, but is white like a bacterial bloom. The floaters all grew abnormally long roots, and everything is "slimy"
The bottom is a thin layer of sand.

I'm wondering how to fix this, so that this summer I will be able to put fish in?

 

[Colin_T]

Flush it out and start again.

 

[Sgooosh]

Flush it out and start again.

okay, Its gonna rain for a few days, is it okay if I just let rain fill it back up at least partially?

 

[Colin_T]

yeah but you should flush it out first if you can. No point just topping it up when there's a major issue.

 

[TNG]

Last year in summer, I set up a new mini pond, and within a few weeks everything clouded up... It is still clouded up now, and the water is not green, but is white like a bacterial bloom. The floaters all grew abnormally long roots, and everything is "slimy"
The bottom is a thin layer of sand.

I'm wondering how to fix this, so that this summer I will be able to put fish in?

Not sure what causes the water to turn white. Did the plants decay in your pond, what is the volume and depth of the pond, the water temperature?

I have a tub outdoors, probably 50 litres / 13 gallons, with water lilies and lots of other semi aquatic plants in it. I have mud as substrate as that’s the water lilies’ natural substrate. The tub receives direct sunlight about 3 hours a day, so the temperature fluctuates a lot during the day (and night). For that reason, I don’t have fish in it.

I never have any algae or bacterial bloom since day one, so I’m wondering if the quantity of plants, water depth or temperature could be the cause of your problem.

My floaters also have long roots as you mentioned, and I suspect that it has something to do with the lack of nutrients in the water. I never remove any dead and decayed plant material during the growing season but drain the water in winter when the lilies go dormant. The water pH always remains at 6.8, ammonia & nitrite = 0, nitrates always under 5 ppm.

 

[Sgooosh]

yeah but you should flush it out first if you can. No point just topping it up when there's a major issue.

okay, so i just keep it as dry as possible?

 

[Sgooosh]

Not sure what causes the water to turn white. Did the plants decay in your pond, what is the volume and depth of the pond, the water temperature?

I have a tub outdoors, probably 50 litres / 13 gallons, with water lilies and lots of other semi aquatic plants in it. I have mud as substrate as that’s the water lilies’ natural substrate. The tub receives direct sunlight about 3 hours a day, so the temperature fluctuates a lot during the day (and night). For that reason, I don’t have fish in it.

I never have any algae or bacterial bloom since day one, so I’m wondering if the quantity of plants, water depth or temperature could be the cause of your problem.

My floaters also have long roots as you mentioned, and I suspect that it has something to do with the lack of nutrients in the water. I never remove any dead and decayed plant material during the growing season but drain the water in winter when the lilies go dormant. The water pH always remains at 6.8, ammonia & nitrite = 0, nitrates always under 5 ppm.

decay might be a good reason... It's under a persimmon tree, which sheds many leaves and potentially rotten fruit. I will try to remove those best as I can.
The volume is around 20 - 22 gallons, and has a sand bottom, it receives basically direct sunlight 8 hours probably (half is shielded by the persimmon tree in summer).
I have another pond, which has been successful, and it has way more plants in it. This other pond has the same dimensions but has a deep mud bottom like yours instead.
The temperature, and water depth are basically the same for this new pond as the successful old pond.
I've never tested the successful tank of mine, but it has successfully bred guppies, platies, and gambusia.
maybe I'll have to add more plants, since the volume of this new tank is technically larger (less substrate)

 

[Colin_T]

If it has a lot of leaf litter in it, then it probably has a lot of infusoria too. That is good for baby fish.

 

[Sgooosh]

If it has a lot of leaf litter in it, then it probably has a lot of infusoria too. That is good for baby fish.

oh, I think that makes a lot of sense then. I emptied the whole thing today, and the water was exactly like a giant infusoria culture... along with almost a carpet of fallen persimmon leaves. imagine 20 gallons of this:

not my image*