Can you clear a clay lined pond using....CLAY?

Hello there, quick update time. Well, it's not really an update. It's more or less just a quick experiment that I've been doing with the pond. Using a product that many of you won't be familiar with. I had no idea what this stuff was until about a year ago, and I realized how popular it was in other countries. So I've taken what I know about how well it works in aquariums, and I've tried to translate that to my pond with regards to the water clarity. So if you're interested in seeing how this experiment has gone, please watch on. This is a 25 kilo bag of something called Montmorillonite, see it, I'm going to put the name across the bottom there. Montmorillonite clay, whether it's my lips or what, but I just kind of feel a very, very fine powder clay. Apparently this is the very best quality stuff from either France or America. And what I'm going to do. I'm going to chuck it in the pond, all 25 kilos of it. My thinking is that it's so fine, it'll act as something called a coagulant. Which will stick together all the particles in the pond and settle them down. I'm going to give it a week between applying this stuff all around the pond and then having a look to see if there's any change. I probably won't notice because I see the pond five or six times a day as I go past it. But I'll compare the footage before and after and see if there's any difference. I would like to think there was. I don't know. There might not be. This is actually the stuff that covers a sort of filter media that I sell called Bio-Motion. And it does act as a water conditioner. I'm hoping on a large scale, it can also... Right, that's the whole 25 kilo bag chucked all around the pond and distributed using the pump. The pump's normally on a timer, but I'm going to leave that on for about an hour just to make sure that the whole lot goes all the way around the pond. It's also been sucked up into the shower filter as well, so it's been well distributed. Now, if anybody has ever used a product called BioEarth... No, sorry, not BioEarth. Yes, BioEarth. That is this plane. It's used quite a lot in the Far East. Arowana's another fancy. Apparently it really makes the water crystal clear, remineralizes the tank, and it also helps with the the shine and the color of the fish for show purposes, I imagine. But that's what this stuff is. So it works on a tank. I'm hoping on a larger scale it'll work on this pond which is approximately One million litres. It is a huge step up, and it's a big ask for it, but if it works as well as the reports say in aquariums, hopefully it'll work in the ponds as well. See, it's gone very, very milky there. Hopefully that'll clear out. If it does, I'll be absolutely over the moon. I really don't know what to expect Here we go. The pond is pretty much clear now. You might not look at here, but just take a look at the side. You can see well under the water there, and it's a pretty dull day. Look at that. What a difference that 25 kilos of Montmorillonite clay has made. But I want it clearer so there's actually another 50 kilos for two bags like that. They're going to go in today and hopefully in another two or three weeks it'll be even clearer than this. I'm hoping for a real crystal clear water here. I'll try and spread this out across the surface as much as possible, just the same way as I did with the first bag. And then I think when I finish this bag, I'll go on to the last bag and I'll put that in where the big pumps pumping water in and really circulate it all the way around the pond. This is going to be awesome for the kingfisher because the kingfisher has a hard time of it over the winter. It's been coming up here recently when the river has been coloured. So if I can make my pond really clear. There should be enough small fry from the roach and rude to see the kingfisher through the winter. That's pretty important to me. I know this is costing a bit but it's certainly going to be good for the kingfisher and it's going to be good for my trout. The trout have really responded since the water has cleared. Today is about a month after I put the first lot in. Maybe it's three weeks, three or four weeks anyway and it's done a cracking job so far. This will take it to the next level. Right, that's about half an hour after applying the last lot of clay. See how well it's distributed there? I've got a little spring coming in the top which is helping to spread it out. And we've got the big pump just there, which is on a timer. So that has really spread it about. Well, this is about two months after the first application of the clay in the pond. Hopefully you can notice a difference straight away just by looking at what's behind me there. No longer is it the kind of... Sandy sort of clay mixed up dirty color. It's got a lovely sheen to it now. It's not quite an alpine lake, but it's not far off it. Pretty clear. So in a second we'll go around the sides and hopefully you'll be able to see quite a long way into the water. It's certainly clean enough, sorry, clear enough to be used as a trout fishery. And I do have, I don't know, 30, 40, maybe even 50 trout in here now. I put them in about two pound in weight, which is about a kilo, that was maybe three months ago, so I assume they've grown now. I was waiting until the water had cleared, I think that's one that's risen there, so I was waiting until the water cleared until I first fished for them, because I didn't want to fish with any sort of bait or anything. I always like fishing with fly and that does rely on the water being clear. I haven't put the fish in here to relentlessly hammer them with a fly rod day in day out, but Every six months or so, when I have trout in the pond, I like to catch two or three just to check the condition of them. If they're in good condition, I know the water's in good condition, so they are a good indicator of how the pond as an ecosystem is doing. It's pretty difficult to get the shade in the right place, but hopefully you can see around the edges there. That's a heck of a lot clearer. That actually drops almost straight down to about somewhere between 15 and 20 feet. So I'm not expecting to see to the bottom, but you can see where the shade is there. It is very, very clear indeed. Look at that. This is up near the topper end of the pond, and you can see how clear the sides are there. That water is very, very good now. Just zoom in there. Look at that. It's not exactly gin clear, but it's damn clear. Pretty good. This is at the top end of the pond looking down. Obviously, it's so deep, you're never going to see the bottom of it, but that is a hell of a lot cleaner. If you were fishing a fishery and it was that clear. You'd be using small flies to catch the fish. It is that clear. Now without having a drone, this is about as high up as I can get. I'm standing on top of my cabin now which overlooks the pond. Hopefully you can see that that is very very clear. It's got a lovely colour to it. One beautifully clear pond, one happy pond owner, and one important lesson which shows how you can clear a problem pond. Where the problem is suspended clay particles by using a different sort of clay particle to clear it. That sounds like a total contradiction, but it worked. Hope you've enjoyed this video. Keep an eye out for an upcoming video where I'll be checking on the health of the fish by fishing a few out on the fly rod. Thanks very much for watching, and I'll see you next time. I've already got a hard enough job explaining to people what I actually do to earn a living. If anybody comes around and asks me that now and finds me covered in white powder, it's going to be even harder to explain.