Eeep - new pond and fighting for what to do, where to start!

[wuftytufty]

Hi,

Well, we are British Expats, living in Cologne, Germany. I am a pond "virgin" as such!

We have just bought a lovely house, with a great garden and a pond. First project was to fence of the little pond, to keep our two dogs out of it!

So, the previous elderly couple have set up this pond. I don't think it has a bio filter, or anything at all. Just a waterfall. We measured it and it has approximately 700-800ltrs of water. It is caked in algae. We have been removing the algae as instructed, by the previous owners, with a pole with a deep fat fryer cage/net7seive thing strapped onto it!....not good, seems to do a really good job of wafting the crap in the pond around a lot, so not sure if this is really working!

Despite the bad condition of the pond, it has so much life, we have whilst renovating it over the summer, had Mayflies, dragon flies, newts (palmate) (spawned, grew and then just moved out in the last couple of weeks), no frogs I can see, but we have got 2 water lillies, and some small brown grey fish - they are about the size of my little finger, I think we have 10-15 of them in there. Have nicknamed them the fish-fingers....not creative, I know!! No idea what these fish are, but they have survived a very harsh frozen winter.

It seems that we have been plagued with filamentous algae - some of it looks quite fibrous, like strands of hair and other bits of it seem to be like bubbly green vomit in the top and bottom of the pond.... yummy!

Reading around, I understand that a few things have been going wrong:
1: The pond is always filled from a tap. (I am buying a big waterbutt, and will be standing some tap water in it for a few days to let the chlorine etc waft away). Sadly, we have a heatwave and the pond dries out quickly, as it is not very deep, more wide and shallow.
2: A lot of foliage appears to have fallen in and died.
3: There seems to be a significant amount of pond sludge in the pond too.
4: Just pulling out the algae is causing it to spore, enhancing the problem.
5: The pond is not in a shady place, therefore it is permanently exposed to the sunlight.

So, it looks like we have an ammonia overload. To try to curb slightly the algae, I have used a tetra pond algofin, which has made a slight dent, and really it was just to start the battle.

I am waiting for the delivery of:
1: Proper net for hoicking stuff out of the pond, eg leaves and crap. Currently doing this daily, to remove any decaying stuff, so the fish don't get drowned in the poisonous gasses.

2: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B007QS55X6/ref=pe_386171_37038021_pe_217221_31005211_3p_M3T1_dp_2 - bio-stabil - which includes all the good bacteria. (The quick english translation of this: "Holzum Organic Stable for 30,000 liters of pond water Holzum Bio is a stable quality activated clay, which provides your pond with important minerals. It contains trockengefrostete bacteria that break down pond sludge and support the bio-climate of your pond. Holzum Organic Stable ensures durable pond residents with bright colors. The pond water is very clear, and even the slightest turbidity and water stains are bound and removed by the pond filter. Thread and suspended algae (green water) to get through Holzum Organic Stable no development opportunity. Dust particles on plants and the silt layer in your pond will gradually disappear. Together with the Holzum filamentous algae stop Holzum Organic Stable is the perfect solution to prevent algae in your pond."

3: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B003UZV61Y/ref=pe_386171_37038021_pe_217221_31005211_3p_M3T1_dp_1 - filamentous algae killer - Holzum filamentous algae stop - fast action - clear pond water - safe for fish and plants - highly effective Holzum filamentous algae stop is a unique product on the basis of enzymes and bacteria. Filamentous algae can develop explosively by increased sunlight and grow over the pond. By the enzymatic action of filamentous algae Holzum stop the algae, the nutrients are removed. Shortly after application, the dead algae can be abgekeschert with a fine mesh net. Remains of algae are decomposed by bacteria and disposed of in the filter. Holzum filamentous algae stop is harmless to fish and plants. In combination with organic Holzum Stable is our thread algae stop is the perfect solution to prevent algae in your pond.

4: A pump: http://www.pontec.com/site/?sid=51&cid=103 It is a 3000l capacity, which I think should be enough to counter for 700l plus our 10-15 fish-fingers.... I know that reviews are a bit mixed, but it is a starting point, and I am expecting initially to have to clean it frequently, due to the amount of crap in the pond.... If it looks like it is making a dent in the situation in combination with the bacteria and enzymes, then hopefully I can convince hubby to invest in a better quality system...

Next plans are a bit dependent on the weather. We have quite a snowy winter here, and the pond will freeze over quite a lot, so expecting to remove the filter and overwinter it in a bucket of water. We will continue using the bacteria into the pond, throughout the winter as much as it possible.

Interested in introducing some floating vegetation to give some more cover for the water and also some water snails (more for interest, rather than expecting them to deal with the algae... Wondering what types of vegetation would be good and snails. Also how do I overwinter it? or is it worth waiting until next spring now, before introducing anything like this? We can keep it in the outhouse, which has a big glass door, so will have lots of access to sunlight.... Also, how many snails and how much vegetation is good!

Longer term I guess the possible options are to excavate the pond, to make it deeper. But that will be in a few years. Also, creating some sort of shade, but really not got any inspiration on that!!

Also, one last thing, the owners don't appear to have ever fed the fish...should I feed them? Used to coldwater simple aquarium fish and feeding them, but not sure what to do with the pond? It seems to have plenty of insects, and the fish haven't been fed for just under a year now(house was empty), seem pretty lively and well, fishy...

Sorry, a mix of stupid questions here!!! We are needing to firefight, to get the chemical composition right, but I am trying to learn as much as I can, asap about ponds....

If anyone can point me to some good resources, ideas and advice, I would be deeply appreciative, and no doubt so will the pond inhabitants too!!!

Thanks,
WT

 

[dieselplower]

You will get good advice here I assure you. For starters don't just start dumping chemicals into your pond. You will screw it all up before we can help you. I'm heading into work so this is short but I am sure you will get good help before my work day is over. We will help you have a great pond.

 

[wuftytufty]

Thanks so much, I will be waiting!! :smile:

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome! Sounds like you do have some work cut out for you, but at least it seems like you've got a handle on what's going on and what to do about it! And already thinking about expanding -- way to go

Do you know how deep it is (you said it was shallow)? If you haven't already done so, might want to invest in a water test kit so you can monitor the pH, ammonia, etc. As to feeding, there are many opinions on that, so it's up to you. They do fine living off the algae & insects. But if you do start feeding them, keep an eye on the ammonia levels.

We'd love to see pictures!

 

[Fishylove]

First off, WELCOME TO OUR FORUM! :wave:

WOW, LOTS OF STUFF GOING ON HERE! LOL. I WILL TRY ANSWERING A FEW THINGS THAT NEED TO BE ADRESSED FIRST. AND TO KEEP IT STRAIGHT I'LL JUST USE ALL CAPS UNDER YOUR QUESTIONS IN YOUR POST

Hi,

Well, we are British Expats, living in Cologne, Germany. I am a pond "virgin" as such!

We have just bought a lovely house, with a great garden and a pond. First project was to fence of the little pond, to keep our two dogs out of it!

So, the previous elderly couple have set up this pond. I don't think it has a bio filter, or anything at all. Just a waterfall. We measured it and it has approximately 700-800ltrs of water. It is caked in algae. We have been removing the algae as instructed, by the previous owners, with a pole with a deep fat fryer cage/net7seive thing strapped onto it!....not good, seems to do a really good job of wafting the crap in the pond around a lot, so not sure if this is really working!
NOPE. NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT LOL! AFTER EVERYTHING IS FIXED AND WORKING WELL, YOU WILL WANT TO "close" YOUR POND BEFORE WINTER. AND I DO THIS BY REMOVING ALL OF ITS OCCUPANTS AND SCOOPING AND FILTERING WITH COTTON BATTING ( which would help you now too btw) THEN THE PONDS ARE COVERED with BIRD NETTING, BEFORE THE LEAVES START FALLING ( this keeps leaves and other organic debree out of the water). BUT ANYWHO, THIS IS FOR A DIFFERANT TIME

Despite the bad condition of the pond, it has so much life, we have whilst renovating it over the summer, had Mayflies, dragon flies, newts (palmate) (spawned, grew and then just moved out in the last couple of weeks), no frogs I can see, but we have got 2 water lillies, and some small brown grey fish - they are about the size of my little finger, I think we have 10-15 of them in there. Have nicknamed them the fish-fingers....not creative, I know!! No idea what these fish are, but they have survived a very harsh frozen winter.

It seems that we have been plagued with filamentous algae - some of it looks quite fibrous, like strands of hair and other bits of it seem to be like bubbly green vomit in the top and bottom of the pond.... yummy!

Reading around, I understand that a few things have been going wrong:
1: The pond is always filled from a tap. (I am buying a big waterbutt, and will be standing some tap water in it for a few days to let the chlorine etc waft away). Sadly, we have a heatwave and the pond dries out quickly, as it is not very deep, more wide and shallow.
-BY WATERBUTT, I ASSUME YOU MEAN WATER BARRELS? THIS IS A GREAT IDEA IF YOU HAVE ROOM FOR IT, BUT BE CAREFUL OF YOUR WATER, CHLORINE DOES EVAPORATE BUT CHLORIMINE ( which our water has) DOES NOT. BE SURE TO CHECK TO BE SURE WHAT THEY USE THERE. And USE A NEUTRALIZER IF NEEDED.
2: A lot of foliage appears to have fallen in and died.

3: There seems to be a significant amount of pond sludge in the pond too.
-THE BLACK SLUDGE IS CAUSED BY ORGANIC WASTE, AND IF IT'S BEEN SITTING THERE FOR A YEAR, THIS CAN BE DANGEROUS FOR FISH AND THE LIKE..
.
4: Just pulling out the algae is causing it to spore, enhancing the problem.

5: The pond is not in a shady place, therefore it is permanently exposed to the sunlight.
FOR A TEMPORARY FIX, JUST TO GET THE POND UNDER CONTROL, YOU CAN USE A SHADE SAIL. ( sort of like a tarp on four posts to block the sun)

So, it looks like we have an ammonia overload.
-THE WAY THE ALGAE IS TAKING OVER, I'D SAY IT'S MORE A NITROGEN PROBLEM. BEING AN ESTABLISHED POND ( even without a "bio filter" ) GOOD BACTERIA IS ALL OVER YOUR POND, EVEN ON THE FISH THE GOOD BACTERIA TURNS THE AMMONIA INTO NITRATES, THEN MORE OF THE LITTLE BUGGERS TURN THAT INTO NITRITES; WHICH IS WHAT PLANT LIFE USE. Thus THE ALGAE OUT OF CONTROL I AGREE WITH DESELPOWER, POURING A BUNCH OF CHEMICALS IN, WILL NOT ONLY START COSTING YOU LOTS OF MONEY, BUT MAY DO MORE HARM THEN GOOD REALLY. AS TM HAS SAID TOO, GET YOU A GOOD LIQUID TESTING KIT AND FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT YOUR DEALING WITH.
To try to curb slightly the algae, I have used a tetra pond algofin, which has made a slight dent, and really it was just to start the battle.

I am waiting for the delivery of:
1: Proper net for hoicking stuff out of the pond, eg leaves and crap. Currently doing this daily, to remove any decaying stuff, so the fish don't get drowned in the poisonous gasses.
-MY SUGESTION IS TO GET SOME TYPE OF FILTER ASAP, STIRRING UP THE "CRAP" ON THE BOTTOM IS AS I SAID NOT GOOD FOR YOUR FISH, WILDLIFE OR YOU FOR THAT MATTER. IT'S GOT SOME REALLY BAD LITTLE BACTERIA IN THAT STUFF. SO BE VERY CARFUL HANDLING IT. ALSO, IF YOU CAN REMOVE THE LITTLE FINGER FISH (lol cute, THAT IS IF YOU ARE WANTING TO KEEP THEM IN THERE) IT WILL BE BETTER FOR THEM TILL THE POND IS IN BETTER SHAPE. STIRING UP THIS MUCK WILL HURT THEIR LITTLE IMMUNE SYSTEMS; which will open them up to all kinds of PARICITES.

2: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B007QS55X6/ref=pe_386171_37038021_pe_217221_31005211_3p_M3T1_dp_2 - bio-stabil - which includes all the good bacteria. (The quick english translation of this: "Holzum Organic Stable for 30,000 liters of pond water Holzum Bio is a stable quality activated clay, which provides your pond with important minerals. It contains trockengefrostete bacteria that break down pond sludge and support the bio-climate of your pond. Holzum Organic Stable ensures durable pond residents with bright colors. The pond water is very clear, and even the slightest turbidity and water stains are bound and removed by the pond filter. Thread and suspended algae (green water) to get through Holzum Organic Stable no development opportunity. Dust particles on plants and the silt layer in your pond will gradually disappear. Together with the Holzum filamentous algae stop Holzum Organic Stable is the perfect solution to prevent algae in your pond."

3: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B003UZV61Y/ref=pe_386171_37038021_pe_217221_31005211_3p_M3T1_dp_1 - filamentous algae killer - Holzum filamentous algae stop - fast action - clear pond water - safe for fish and plants - highly effective Holzum filamentous algae stop is a unique product on the basis of enzymes and bacteria. Filamentous algae can develop explosively by increased sunlight and grow over the pond. By the enzymatic action of filamentous algae Holzum stop the algae, the nutrients are removed. Shortly after application, the dead algae can be abgekeschert with a fine mesh net. Remains of algae are decomposed by bacteria and disposed of in the filter. Holzum filamentous algae stop is harmless to fish and plants. In combination with organic Holzum Stable is our thread algae stop is the perfect solution to prevent algae in your pond.

4: A pump: http://www.pontec.com/site/?sid=51&cid=103 It is a 3000l capacity, which I think should be enough to counter for 700l plus our 10-15 fish-fingers.... I know that reviews are a bit mixed, but it is a starting point, and I am expecting initially to have to clean it frequently, due to the amount of crap in the pond.... If it looks like it is making a dent in the situation in combination with the bacteria and enzymes, then hopefully I can convince hubby to invest in a better quality system...

Next plans are a bit dependent on the weather. We have quite a snowy winter here, and the pond will freeze over quite a lot, so expecting to remove the filter and overwinter it in a bucket of water. We will continue using the bacteria into the pond,
-DURING WINTER THE "GOOD BACTERIA" GOES DORMANT (or dies off im not sure really on that one) DURING WINTER TEMPS. SO CONTINUING TO PUT THE STORE BOUGHT BACTERIA IN THERE IS A WASTE OF MONEY. YOU'LL HAVE TO LOOK SOME, BUT I BELIEVE TEMPS HAVE TO BE ABOVE A CERTAIN POINT BEFORE THEY START TO REPRODUCE AND DO THEIR "thing" lol

throughout the winter as much as it possible.

Interested in introducing some floating vegetation to give some more cover for the water and also some water snails (more for interest, rather than expecting them to deal with the algae... Wondering what types of vegetation would be good and snails. Also how do I overwinter it? or is it worth waiting until next spring now, before introducing anything like this? We can keep it in the outhouse, which has a big glass door, so will have lots of access to sunlight.... Also, how many snails and how much vegetation is good!
-THE MORE PLANT LIFE YOU CAN GET IN THERE, BARE ROOT, SUCH AS: FLAG IRIS, ANY KIND OF RUSHES, HORSETAIL REED AND THE LIKE; very hardy plants, WILL WORK VERY WELL AND WILL BEGIN TO "FIGHT" THE ALGAE FOR THE RIGHT TO THE NITRITES IN THE POND WHICH IN TURN THE ALGAE WILL START TO DIE OFF BE CAUSE IT WILL HAVE NO NEUTRIENTS. WE DO THIS BARE ROOT SO THAT THE PLANTS ROOT SYSTEM IS IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE WATER.
IMHO, I WOULD RATHER SPEND MY MONEY ON PRETTY PLANTS THAN ON A BUNCH OF CHEMICALS, DON'T YOU AGREE?


Longer term I guess the possible options are to excavate the pond, to make it deeper. But that will be in a few years. Also, creating some sort of shade, but really not got any inspiration on that!!

Also, one last thing, the owners don't appear to have ever fed the fish...should I feed them? Used to coldwater simple aquarium fish and feeding them, but not sure what to do with the pond? It seems to have plenty of insects, and the fish haven't been fed for just under a year now(house was empty), seem pretty lively and well, fishy...
- I WOULD HOLD OFF ON FEEDING RIGHT NOW, TILL YOU FIND OUT WHAT YOUR AMMONIA, PH, NITRATE AND NITRITE ETC... ARE. THEY HAVE PLENTY TO EAT

Sorry, a mix of stupid questions here!!! We are needing to firefight, to get the chemical composition right, but I am trying to learn as much as I can, asap about ponds....
-BASICALLY, TAKE YOUR TIME, THINK THINGS OVER BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING AND ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS.... WE HAVE BEEN THERE.. AND WE STILL ASK QUESTIONS

If anyone can point me to some good resources, ideas and advice, I would be deeply appreciative, and no doubt so will the pond inhabitants too!!!

Thanks,
WT

 

[wuftytufty]

Hi Mmathis and Fishy Love, this is great. I am off to the garden centre now to buy a pond testing kit.

I am defo much more in favour of avoiding chemicals. The idea of a sail canopy, is a great idea. They are very popular out here, and therefore quite cheap too, so that is an extra bonus.

I will look at picking up a tap water conditioner to go in the water barrel (still prefer the British WaterButt!!! BUt I am a big child!)

The tetra poison I put in does seem to have done something as this morning, I could actually make out where the filter is sucking up water. This is good, as it looks like a big old rock has been placed on top, which means I can probably get to it and see if I can hoick it out and clean it up and find out if it does have any filters in it....

So in terms of pulling out the fish-fingers, can you advise me on what sort of container, preferably the cheapest option....that I can put them in, and the sort of size I would need? Presume I should put in the water lilies too, if I can unroot them, if I am going to drain it right out?

Re the Bird netting - fantastic, and since I have the fence all round the pond now, I can just hook it over...

Is it worth just draining the pond, letting the weed and crap die of and then pulling it out. One friend suggested that I get in there and clean out all the stones with a good wire brush, but wouldn't that be damaging to the good bacterias that are in there? He seemed to think that you should do that every five years... But that doesn't strike me as particularly conducive to getting the right baterias and nutrients?

Luckily we have a big garden (1000m²) which to us is Massive, coming from UK where space is seriously at a premium! So we do have plenty of space to store the fish out of the pond, poss with the lillies, and also for a water butt-barrel!

Also, can you explain how to do the filtering with cotton batting - sorry, I am such a novice, it is all new!

I think I can learn to grasp the chemical side of things, and will post again when I have done the tests and get a pic too. Before now it was literally swamped in Algae, simply because I was having to focus on the house renovations, so we could move in. Now you can see the fish! I am not sure if we have a lot of pond sludge, that is dark in colour, but more just tonnes of algae underwater...it is all just green snot...yuck! I am seriously amazed that the fish-fingers have survived through being frozen and then smothered with algae!! Will need to find out what make and model these mystery indestructible fishies actually are!!!

So, til later, and thanks already for the help!

 

[addy1]

You could pick up a big tote from a store, (storage plastic container) to put the fish fingers in, have good air running for them. Fill the tote with pond water, not hose water to keep the fish from too much shock. Do this the same day you are going to clean the pond.

If it was me, as I net the muck out, I would have gloves on and sort out all the life you will find, like you state above the newts, frogs, etc. I would not want to kill all that stuff off either.

If it has rocks on the bottom, I would pull them all out, don't just scrub, pull them out and don't replace. They just get covered with muck and collect muck. Use your net, or some have even used a shovel to clean out a pond. Carefully so the pond is not damaged. IF it was mine, I would drain, clean mainly by rinsing, not scrubbing with soaps etc. That way you will leave some of the good bacteria, algae.

The lily, if not in a container, has sent its roots everywhere, that will take some work to get out. You could trim off roots, tubers as you work to get it out. They can get real big and heavy if allowed to grow non-contained.

The filtering with cotton batting, is quilt batting, old pillows stuffed with fiber stuff, just run you pond water through it via the pump, a small waterfall etc. It will collect a lot of muck.

 

[sissy]

welcome and think you are the first from Germany and nice place my hubby was stationed there I think it was Baumholder and we went back to visit his friends after we got married .Gosh sounds like you got one mess there .Think addy is right start fresh and clean out all the muck ,just try to save most of the water but not kill the fish

 

[dieselplower]

Alright I am glad to see we are getting him some help finally! I agree with pretty much everything that has been said. One thing to consider is that at this point, it is possibly the algae that is keeping the ammonia down. Killing all the algae could raise your ammonia and nitrite levels significantly for a while so I'm glad you are getting the test kit to keep and eye on it. Personally, I would empty out some of the water but probably not more than half. This will help you catch the fish and make it easier to clean debris from out of the pond. I would not scrub the rocks or liner etc because as you said, it could disturb the bacteria. Next on the list is figuring out the filter situation. Pond with fish need filters. Figure out the pond gallonage and then shoot for a filter that is roughly 5 to 10% the size of the pond. Too small of a filter will require too much maintenance. Remember that when you add somethi g to the lond to kill algae, or to clear up the water, that the algae etc does need to be filtered out, otherwise it will remain in the pond and provide nutrition for more algae.

 

[wuftytufty]

Hi There!

Thanks so much for all your replies. So today, I have been doing some "pond maintenance"!

Testing:
GH = 13 to 14 (lost count on the drops!!),
KH is 10, which I think is unhealthy and linked to the tap water here, it has high levels of limescale in it....,
PH is 9.0, so just getting on the high side of things, and I understand that this is related to the tonne of algae...
O² is 11-14mg which I understand is about as good as it can be?

So, I have been algae dredging again, and I think I am seeing evidence of algae die off....it's starting to go brown in parts. Currently, there is a lot of it low down, so today I focussed on that. It seems that we don't have a great deal of pond sludge , none of the dark stuff that people have mentioned, which is good.

I take the point re the stones, but you can see from the attached that the rocks are damn big, and will take a lot of effort to remove them. As this is a new house, we need to also work on the house, so my plan is to see how things go getting the chemical balance in the pond, and removing the weed, by introducing the bacteria that kills it off.

I am going to keep removing algae, esp if it is dying off, and will defo look at doing the cotton filtering. With the new pump coming soon, I wonder about setting it up with a bit of hose on the end, and not putting in the filter medium into that, but instead wafting up all the water again, like today removing the algae, and then using it to filter through an old pillow shoved into a big plantpot that has big holes in it, so the water can trickle back in again....

Today I found what look like really tiny fish, fry, I think is the word, and they were tiny. Some short see through wriggly things, looked like little wormy maggots, and a few things that look like a transparent/pale brown version of a cross between an big aphid and a cricket - looking online this is clearly some sort of fly nymph. Tried to put back as much as I could.

Still waiting for a decent net to come through, but actually still using the frying basket contraption, as need to used something to remove the yuck. Hvae bunged in the first doses of good bacteria for good measure and the bacteria that is targeting the algae, so will see how this all goes over the coming weeks and months...

So, any suggestions on how to reduce the PH?

Have also bought a water barrel, and some tap water treatment, applied a dose to the pond and a dose to the water barrel, which I will leave to stand for a few days. When pump comes through, might attempt a partial water change, and filter the rest, and see it this helps things..... Would this be sensible?

Also, pics are on the way, but Flickr is on an almighty go slow, and I have to naff off and get on with other things! (like being freaked out by the wierdy nymphs!! - defo wearing rubber gloves next time!!)

Thanks again!!

 

[Mmathis]

For your cleaning, have you completely drained the pond for this -- I couldn't tell. Or did you just remove the fish & plants?

 

[wuftytufty]

Hi, I am waiting for the pump to be delivered, before I do anything.

Then was going to remove half of the water, filter the remainder through the cotton, and then add fresh treated water, but won't be for a few days or a week or two, as have a lot of projects ongoing at the moment.

Today, I just tried to get as much weed out as possible...it seems like we are pulling so much out every day, I hope it will eventually come to an end!!

 

[wuftytufty]

Some Pics:
My best boy Denny, Lurking, as only a lurcher can...


Denny bush by dennypixie, on Flickr

Three angles of the pond.... it is quite big in width, but not in depth....

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3689/9330370316_b74245cf23.jpg
1pond 20.7.13 by dennypixie, on Flickr
...
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2821/9330398750_c9ebd96a45.jpg
2pond 20.7.13 by dennypixie, on Flickr
...
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3689/9330370316_b74245cf23.jpg
1pond 20.7.13 by dennypixie, on Flickr
...
And last but not least, the fish-fingers loitering in the murky green...


fish fingers by dennypixie, on Flickr

 

[wuftytufty]

Some problems getting all pics to work...v odd....will need to look around to work out what I have done wrong, but you can see the murky pit in all its glory, clicking on the links!

 

[Fishylove]

VERY NICE! Your pond will be gorgeous when you are done
Wayne will like the rocks too! Lol
Your doing great! Now you are going to need an ammonia level and at least a nitrate level too, to get the whole picture.
YOU HAVE MINNOWS!
When you get the pump going the batting will help alot, and once you get it all cleaned out, then..... Plants plants and more plants!