I recently inherited a pond with the house we just bought. I think it's an older pond. The pump does not work and the water looks nasty-green and scummy. I want to get the pond up and running. My questions is do I need to drain the pond or can I use some chemicals to clear it up? If I do need to drain it, what is the best way?
I am assuming that it probably does not have any fish in it if it is an old pond that is full of algae with a broken pump. I think you could probably restore the pond without draining it by installing a new pump/ filter system and adding some various water chemicals like some pond bacteria and maybe some algaecide, but it seems to me that if you have the time and energy you may just want to drain it and inspect the whole pond to make sure there are no other issues and just start it over fresh with new equipment and clean water.