Question

After a month of heavy rain, a formerly clear pond on a golf course is covered with slimy green algae. What do you think happened?

Answer 1

Pond water most definitely gets cloudy after a good rain, most of this cloudy water caused by dust, pollen, dirt, debris, and other materials getting washed into the pond and as this material floats and circulates in the pond it gives a cloudy look to the pond, and typically it is just a matter of a day or so for the pond water to be filtered clear again. After your pond water has filtered clean, it is a good time to clean your pond filter too, as all those materials need now to be removed from your pond filtration system.

However, sometimes pond green water conditions can occur. The green water condition in the pond occurs because of the sudden introduction of nitrate and nutrient rich water into your pond; the nutrient levels spike, the planktonic algae in your pond has a sudden huge food (nutrient) supply available, so it can now reproduce like mad increasing in numbers exponentially and wah-lah! You’ve got green water, and green water is simply that….large numbers of floating planktonic algae that now are so densely populated that their green coloration from chlorophyll makes your water appear green.