I woke up yesterday and went out to enjoy a lovely relaxing morning by my pond, and do you know what I saw?? TEA! Have this happened to you? If not, keep reading in case it does!
Tannins cause Tea-colored water or water that looks stained or brown. Tannins come from organic material that has broken down. To put it simply, something plantlike is in your pond decomposing. The first step to getting rid of tea-colored water is to find the source of it. In our case, the storms this last week caused a TON of leaves and sticks to get in our pond. The leaves started breaking down, which caused the Tannins. Fun fact: Did you know Tannins are used for tanning leather?
Like many things in the environment, they have a purpose and are very useful. However, Tannins can be unsightly and distract from the beauty of the pond.
How Do I Get Rid of Tea Colored Water in My Koi Pond?
There are two options to get rid of that ugly colored water.
1. Find the source and get it out of the pond. In our case, the storm caused excess leaves to relocate to the pond. Getting rid of organic matter=less Tannins. While this method is the simplest, it may take a while for the water to go back to crystal clear.
2. If you want to see the tea-colored water disappear sooner, do a partial water change or use Activated Carbon. The water change means replacing part of the water with new water. Don’t forget to use Detoxifier if you add a lot of water! The activated carbon binds with the Tannins and other organics and takes them out of the water.Â
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