Silt Problems

[Apache]

I have just spent 4 hours cleaning out one of the ponds in my back garden. After removing all the water, there was 2 feet of silt on the bottom.

 

Does anyone know of a way to prevent the pond silting up this badly again (bearing in mind I last cleaned it this time last year)?

 

There are a dozen small (4oz) carp in the pond and no fountain or waterfall, but there are two aireators.

 

Many Thanx.

[Ed Matysiak]

I welcome a bit of silt as it holds bloodworm etc.. for fish to much on and swan mussles love it. BUT too much (2ft!!)is a bad thing. Silt can only settle in very still water. hummmm. But if it was moving the water would appear brown. Lillies like to bed in silt. Do you have any?

I cant think how to stop this build up appart from a filter. Sorry, hope i helped.

[Apache]

There is one lily, and the water is quite murky any way. There is no way i can put a filter in the pond as it is too far from a power source. Many Thanx Koi Carp.

[Bunchy]

You need to find out where the silt is coming from, to have 2ft in 1 year is a lot. Do you have trees near by exesive leaf litter could be the problem. Is soil washing into the pond whilst its raining, steep sides to the pond rim will cause this. Are you over feeding the fish, uneaten food is a big problem in a lot off ponds. The silt is coming from some where find out where and do what you can to prevent it. I've been building pond for 20 years and know what a problem this can be. Good luck

[Apache]

There are a few overhanging trees, but not a lot of leaves as they are conifers. The sides are not particularly steep. And the carp have never left anyhting uneaten that I have seen.

 

Many Thanx for help

[Bradford Angler]

I have just chemically desilted one end of a 6 acre lake. This is very still and is surrounded totally by an apple orchard. Each year all the leaves of the trees fall in, we have built up 3 feet of silt in 35 years.

 

do you have any kids ?? are they chucking muck in ? or is the pond stream fed on a redirected course . . this is very abnormally high ??

 

if the pond is fed from a stream, then put in a silt trap before the intake to the pond.

 

you are looking at around 12 mm of build up per week, this is very out of the ordinary . . and I wonder if at this rate the stuff at the bottom would actually turn into silt without the oxygen for the thingies to live off ? is it straight silt or is there more noticable debris in with it ??

[Apache]

As I am ony 15, I dont have kids. It may be that the soil from one of the sides of the pond has been slipping into the pond, as now I have cleared the banks, there are noticable losses of soil from the edges. It was mainly just thick "sludge", with a few leaves and stones.

 

Many Thanx.

[Apache]

I have emptied the pond of the sludge and have filled it up again on friday, and there has been no fish or major plants in there, and the silt is not coming back. It also may have been because the plants from the edge were starting to spread into the pond.