Habitat - Outdoor :: Pond question

[turtletex]

OK, so heres what I have, 3 small res and 1 small softshell plus about 10-15 goldfish(suppose to be food,lol) and a few water plants, no ideas what they are called but one looks like pine needles or a small Christmas tree? The other looks like green onions? They are all living in my 270 gallon pond(roughly 6' x 5' and 18" deep in most areas) and the vegetation is covering about 1/4 of the pond, which I understand is not enough, but lets look past that for now. My question is I made my own "skippy" type filter out of a 30 gallon tote and 1" pvc with lava rocks and filter material that you would use to make a blanket? I think its called batting, but it has yet to be used. SO hers my question. How many gph of a pump should I be running, Im going to buy it this weekend, and how soon should I notice a change? My pond has been running for about 3 weeks and the turts love it and they have several areas to hide from people and plenty of basking areas to use and be completely out of the water, but the beggining of the week when I mowed my yard, i noticed the water turned green almost immediatly afterwords, it was clear up to that day, the only thing Ive put in there has been tap water de-chlorinator for the fish, oh, by the way Im just using a small 200 gph fountain pump cause i made a temp water fall for some circulation. Does anybody have this problem with there ponds while mowing? I didnt mow too close to the pond but I think the wind blew it in the pond. The mower was on mulch mode ofcourse. Thanks for reading and please let me know your imput on this. I will be buying a submersible pond pump this weekend. If at all possible I would prefer to buy from lowes cause I work there and can get a better deal then most of ya'll,lol. So if you can look at there website and let me know your imput that would be great.

Thanks
Turtletex
aka Tony

[Diamondbacks4Life]

I get grass in water all the time, doesnt do anything. Just watch if you put like poison on the grass for weed or insects.

Look into a pump that does at least 1000gph. I run 1500gph pump for 300 gallons. It might not help your water though, sure it will be clean but if its green you need to look into a uv sterilizer.

[turtletex]

thats what i was thinking, but my friend from work said 1500 was overkill. I think i saw one that put out about 1900 that I was looking into.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

You can never have overkill! If if you can afford the 1900 pump go for it. Its well worth it. My water stay crystal clear.

[turtletex]

Believe it or not i dont have to buy one after all. Somebody in my city was moving so they gave me there submergible pump(3000 gallon) and filter along with enough zoo med floating turtle docks for a 200 gallon tank,lol. I got lucky on this, so far the only thing Ive really bought for my pond besides there food has been the hose and a small pump which i will return this weekend,lol. Another question though painteds4life since your the only one answering,lol Im going to have to make some adjustments on the ground underneath and on the sides of my pond, should i just start my pond over and just dump everything out since its soooooo green still? Im actually thinking of running 2 filters since i recently built my "skippy." Just have to buy hose now! Would love everybodys imput on this!! Thanks Painted

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Wow thats really lucky lol. I wish i was that lucky, argh I had to spend $550 *ouch*

I would dump it out and start over since the new filter has no good bacteria in it anyway and the water is probably really bad since you didnt have a proper filtration to begin with.

So yea empty it and fix the ground and sides and start over with a clean slate.

[turtletex]

yeah thats what im talking myself into doing, just gotta find the energy today,lol. If not, im off the next 2 days so it will get done. I was mistaken about one thing, its not a 3000 gph pump its 300,lol. Oh well it was free.