Bought a house, got a pond...and a billion q's

[Zavikan]

Bought a nice big house in northern Massachusetts sitting on a few acres backed by conservation land. Natural planted fish tanks are a serious hobby of mine and im quite experienced in keeping it algae free.

I've got a naturally occurring 'pond' out front I've got to take a stab at now...sorta kidney bean shaped, but roughly 35x20. Currently around 12-18" deep. has the house gutter system piped to it but house has no gutters yet and won't this year. Also has drain pipe leading out to conservation forest.

Has grass growing up all through it and thick surface algae making it very unsightly and more cesspool looking then anything. The whole property is a bit 'secret garden'ish, and the pond is no exception. I've spent the weekend uncovering a rock retaining wall that had been collapsing in and getting covered over with growth and weeds...

So here are a few questions!

The water level fluctuates in the dry weeks to an unsightly low level. I dropped the garden hose in for the last 4 hours and raises the level a good 3 inches. I'd like to raise it another 4. Can I just garden hose feed it in the dry times? Damage to well pump? $$ cost? anything I can do to help water retention?

The bottom is a few inches deep of massive root knots from the grass growing all through it and rotten leaves and guck. Will removing this muck and grass manually help my water retention or water chemistry?

Once I do clear the pond of the grass going all through it, am I going to have some massive chemical shift I need to deal with?

I'd like to dig it deeper towards the center to accommodate fish. How to I make sure this isn't sitting in a clay layer, or verify this is a water table controlled pond? If it IS water table, digging it deeper should be no issue yes?

any other resources for me to read through? A lot of the material I've found online applies to very different kinds of ponds. Acres large, or plastic/rubber lined...that info doesn't seem very applicable.

SO EXCITED!

Oh, and I am mortgage poor now so....cost needs to be pretty low.. Labor is free though!

 

[addy1]

to our group! I top our pond off with our well, I just make sure I only run it for 1/2 hour or so. (all the time needed to top off) With natural ponds, I have read if you disturb the bottom they might drain out, but no experience at all. I know there is something, need to look up the name, you can throw back in that will seal the bottom of a natural pond. Koi keepers that make mud ponds use it. Do a search on koi mud ponds. I would keep some grasses, they make great filters. But clear it out enough the pond has some open water. maybe just one area with the grasses. It would need to be monitored to keep under control.

 

[sissy]

Only thing is with wells how old is your pump and how much horse power you have and the condition and size of your bladder tank .Lightening hit my house last year and blew out the pump and had to pull the pump over 400 ft and new pumps are not cheap .