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Someone unaware of what would happen put in plants with peat around their roots; the plants have been fished out but now the water is brown and the bottom invisible. The water is very calcaire but has had no cancellation effect on the colour. Any advice please on how to neutralise the discolouration? The pond is planted but no fish until spring. Thanks.

Hi, Mike.

Peter here. Welcome to the club. There's no easy solution to this problem, unless you want to wait patiently for nature to neutralize the chemical imbalance in your pond. If your pond isn't excessively large, the fastest solution would be to drain all the brown water and replace it with fresh water. If any other club members can recommend another course of action, please add a reply below.

Thanks. It seems I must wait until top ups dilute the colour. Impossible to empty the pond! Again, thanks for your help.

The water has now, very suddenly, cleared. I think it must be due to the warm weather spurring on the oxygenating plants and these have done the job.

Glad to learn it, Mike. Nature seems always to provide a better solution than man does with his chemicals.

Warmer spring weather sometimes also promotes the growth of simple single-cell algae that turn pond water green. But soon after, the more advanced vascular plants--the underwater oxygenating plants--start growing. They then consume increasing amounts of the water's nutrients, depriving the algae of the food they need to proliferate. Our ponds in Nyon have a dozen different species of oxygenating plants keeping the water clear.

Other vascular plants whose leaves float on the surface, like the water lilies, also create shade. That deprives the algae of the sunlight they need, and the green water soon turns crystal-clear. We have many such plants in our ponds, and algae is never a problem.

This cycle of clouding and clearing of pond water takes place every spring as the water warms up. It's worked that way for millions of years, starting long before manufacturers convinced new pond owners that the only way to clear the water of its algae is to buy the chemicals they manufacture. Nature seems always to provide a better solution than man does with his chemicals.

Peter