Problem with white foam

[Cinnamon]

Well we cleared our water up but now we have white foam. It comes up bad at night and dissipates as soon as the sun comes up. It doesn't seem to be soap. It does not smell and is not slick like soap. I am at a loss. What can cause this and how do I fix it??


Once again I NEED YA'LL! :grin:

[Jackie Ramo]

Sounds like DOCS Dissolved Organic Compounds. When you cleaned all that pea soup it died in the filter. A water change should clear it up. I'd flush the filter as well. It may also be spawn foam.... which is DOCs as well, look for eggs.

[ozzyrockman]

Cinn, the foam is nothing that will cause harm as long as parma's are good. Like Jackie said its dissolved organics and you will get that until the filters matures when there is a lot of organic matter being cleaned out of the water by the filter. Keep in mind it's going to take a little awhile for it to mature so you may not want to clean the filter too often especially because of its size. I would say lets put the filter to the test and just do so water changes w/o cleaning it and just keep an eye on the parameters. Allen

[Cinnamon]

Sorry I haven't checked the post today. We had a garage sale at my MIL yesterday and today. I just returned home at 3 pm CST. All the water tests out fine as frog hairs :lol: Everything is great as far at the water tests.

PH - 8.5
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate just a tad off the lowest color. Jackie you know what I mean.
O2 is 8
KH - 6 It use to be 9 or 10 but now running 6.


The fish doesn't seem bothered about it at all. So I didn't think it was harmful. We thought it was just odd that it only comes up as the sun goes down. Today is the first day Heiko has got to see it disappear in the morning. I am feeding the fish twice a day. I feed pellets and 1/4 orange first thing am. Then around 2:30 I feed different pellets and another 1/4 orange. I mix it up and put broccoli instead of pellets also. It is fun having them ALL eating out of my hand! :smile: I have read some things say you feed up to 4 times a day with the water temps are like ours. Our's dropped to 63F last night as we had a cool front come in. It was 41F out6side. It has been running upper 60s and low 70s. Should I feed 4 times? They usually wipe the orange out in an hour. I am having no ammonia spikes at all.

Heiko and I both are just amazed at how clear the water is now. We are only running the FishMate with a 16W bulb. We have a 40W inline Pondmaster but haven't put it in yet. I told Heiko we will leave it out unless we need it. I never dreamed it would all clear up that fast.

Thank you Jackie and Allen! You both are our MENTORS! And I am soooo thankful that you two are!

:wink:

[Cinnamon]

We still have some spilage and leakage from the big waterfall. I told Heiko I didn't know if I wanted to stop it completely. That way I exceed the water for water changes. This past week I added 435 gallons of water. Today I cleaned the little Savio filter and drained some off the pond. I wound up putting 135 gallons in it today. I usually put from 130 - 150 gallons every 2 days in the pond. Oddly enough our water bill has only increased by maybe $4 a month since we put the pond in. Even on the fill! Either my meter is running slow or the reader is messing up :lol: Me I am NOT going to complain!

[Jackie Ramo]

Our water rates have gone up. Big difference between th winter water bill and the summer water bill. The inside pond doesn't need nearly as much water as the outside one. The difference is winter 80.00, summer 300.00... yep, lots of water :lol:

[Cinnamon]

Wow Jackie! Does it evaporate that much?? Someone told us we would be in for a surprise when Summer arrived. They said the evaporation rate is unreal. I guess we will learn!

[Jackie Ramo]

Not evapouration, water changes... lots of water changes. I pump the water out of the pond and water the garden with it. Then I fill up the pond.

[Cinnamon]

OIC. You have a lot dryer air than we do too don't you? I am sure a dry area would really evaporate a pond. We have so much humidity here. Our average is like 70 %.

[Jackie Ramo]

Well, we like to think we are humid but I've travelled and know we are not. I had heat stroke in New Orleans in April one year... mind it was hot, nor was I alone. Funny since I really like the heat.

[Cinnamon]

Jackie it can sneek up on you if you are not use to it. My friend I use to have from Toronto came in late June. We almost had to take her to the hospital from a party at a marina close to Houston. Shoot I am suppose to be use to it but it kills me. The heat makes me weak and affects my MS big time. I get to be a wet noodle if I am out in it too much. These spells we are getting has been kicking me already. I told Heiko this summer is going to be rough!

[Jackie Ramo]

Well I freely admit to overdoing it in the heat. We had been on the go from morning til late afternoon wanting to see everything :grin: I had neglected to take water with me. Important to pace yourself in the heat. Us northerners tend to walk and talk pretty fast and have a hard time adjusting to a slower pace.

[Cinnamon]

Jackie did it stop snowing yet up there?? It was hot yesterday! Today suppose to be near 80 again. I almost had to turn on my a/c yesterday. I did out in the shop!

[Jackie Ramo]

Yes, the snow has stopped and the sun is shinning. We will almost hit 50F today but will be warmer tomorrow. All the snow will hopefully gone by the end of the day. Fish are hiding at the bottom of the pond right now but yesterday the silly things were up and about eating algae.

[Busy B]

With all that heat and humidity, how about a pergola to go by the pond so you can sit at least in the shade...

Yeah..I know...one more thing to make but before you put the flagstone in...:grin:

[Cinnamon]

Busy we had tossed the idea around of building a Pergola over the pond to give it shade. Who knows with us :lol: !rofl Everyone says we can't stop. If it isn't one project it is another. At least we don't get bored!

[Cinnamon]

Well our foam is down to about half of what it was. It is dramatically reduced where the new DIY filter is. That is the shallower end. I am going to clean the Savio filter tomorrow and do the water thing. Maybe that will decrease it even more. That should be close to 170 gallons.

[Cinnamon]

No more white foam! YEA YEA! I cleaned the Savio filter once more yesterday and last night there was no foam. I didn't rinse the big filter as I wanted it to cycle etc. Just cleaning the Savio filter worked. It took awhile but when I added water every 2 days I cleaned it. And now NO FOAM! I am so tickled with how clear the water is. In the sunshine it almost makes your eyes hurt it is so clear! :smile:

[ozzyrockman]

That’s good to hear Cinn, I am just going thru my 5:00am ritual paperwork and figured I would check real quickly before hitting the road. Ya sound like things are starting to go the way you want them to. Allen

[Jackie Ramo]

My pond looks like it wants to start is green water stage any time soon. The upside is this means the string algae stage is finished.

[Cinnamon]

Jackie didn't you say you have a FishMate also? Does your pond get a lot of algae? I have heard people say after so many years theirs stabilized. I guess I just didn't want to wait years! :lol: I know that one friend of our's that has the extreme "water garden" said his was green for about a year. He was sick. He had parrot feathers on the waterfall and he said when they kicked in he never had green water again. He is the one that has spent over $15K for rocks alone. I told Heiko hey we did this one "ourselves". Hoss hires his done! :lol: Must be nice! You ever hear the saying more money than sense?

[Jackie Ramo]

No no fishmate for me. Most years the pond clears up quite quickly but last year I discovered the filter was emptying into the pond.... backwards... Yuck the problems that caused!! Fixed now so hopefully a summer of wonderful ponding ahead.