Help, I've inherited/bought a pond

[MrChigleysAunt]

Hi
I moved house a couple of days ago. There is a pond in the garden of the new house, but the previous owner has left no information about it. Also, I notice that there is a large fish in it, which I assume is a carp. I quite like the idea of a pond and, I'm strangely pleased to be a fish owner, but I have no idea what sort of effort or money is involved in maintaining them.
There is a pump running in the garden shed, which I assume is aerating the water.
There are plants, but they're all covered by netting. I have no idea what the netting is for.
I can see lots of leaves in the water, from the surrounding shrubs.
The pond is a figure of 8, about 12 feet long and about 2 feet wide at its narrowest. Even to someone who knows nothing about ponds, this one is clearly well-established and cared for.
There are various bottles of pond-related liquids in the shed, but I haven't had a chance to investigate them.
Where do I start please? My immediate concern is for the carp. He seems awfully big for such a small pond.
Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[j.w]

@MrChigleysAunt
The fish could be a Koi. Plants could be covered w/netting to protect it from the fish nibbling on it. Or is the whole top of the pond covered w/netting? Pictures of the whole set up and the fish would be good for us to see.

 

[GBBUDD]

I would start like a detective and look at your clues.
1. THE PUMP take some pictures of it and get them onto the site here. Is there a filter,?
2. How is the plumbing what did they use for the piping.
3. Pictures of tge pond and fish both from close up but more so showing the whole area.
4. the pond products you mentioned. Some pics of those or label them to here.
5. Depth of the pond
6. your location STATE

 

[brokensword]

Just to give you an overview before you get overwhelmed by requests for specifics.

A pond is a system, closed by definition but open by reality. That is, your pond will have only weather to affect it via Nature and everything else, by you.

This system works like this (for a garden pond); the water will be as clean as your filter system. Your filter system CAN be natural (bog/upflow wetland) or man-made (likely whatever is in your shed, be it filter drums/barrels, various containers to either sift or collect debris). Most on this forum prefer a bog/upflow wetland system as once established, there's a LOT less to worry about/work.

The plants will provide both shade in summer and a means of filtering the water column itself. They will also provide food for the fish, if you want it to be. Otherwise, koi/carp will eat at the roots if they're not fed regularly (and might still damage them; there's ways to protect but more as you get into this hobby). Plants can be used in an upflow wetland/bog to take out the nitrates.

As fish and decaying matter is introduced to your pond, it starts the nitrogen cycle. Basics is this; ammonia is broken down by bacteria into nitrites which is further broken down into nitrates by another bacteria. Having this cycle is what keeps you from having water/health issues. It also can keep pesky algae blooms from occurring. Again, more later as you get into this and begin to ask questions.

The fish provide you with enjoyment as well as food for your plants. When you don't overstock your pond, have enough plants, provide necessary aeration (via water fall, aerator, surface agitation), enough depth for any overwintering/hot summer conditons, you're more than 80% there. The rest is any tweaks and additions you find pleasureable (a hammock comes to mind).

So you should figure out the pond dimensions so you can calculate the gallonage. You'll need to identify the fish and how large (it helps re any recommendation should you want more fish or need to rehome). Pictures, obviously, say a lot so take more than a couple. If you want the maintenance of filter drums, barrels, etc, you need to figure out what system you have and read up so you're knowledgable re needs in that area. If you want to change and do a lot less work, search for 'bog' threads here and see if it's something you're interested in attempting. IMO, well worth any effort this way. Don't worry much yet re your fish as it should still be on the cool side and most don't begin to feed until the WATER temperature reaches 50 deg F. The fish will 'hibernate' during the coldest months and won't your attention.

I'm not a proponent of using any chemicals, unless you need to de-chlor the water as you fill the pond upon evaporation. I'm also not a fan of water changes as it's not necessary. Keep the liner/concrete surfaces as they are as they house valuable algaes and organisms that actually help you achieve the balance. That is, don't go cleaning them.

Learn what type/model/etc pump you have and its capacity so you can understand when/if it needs replacing and why (capacity, etc, or if you want to add more filtering/flow).

That should be more than enough to give you an overview. If you're like the rest of us, you'll probably be saying in a few years that your pond really is too small. Annnnnnndddd, that's when the fun REALLY begins!

Welcome to GPF

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

Please post some pictures of the pond and any equipment attached to it.

 

[JamieB]

Welcome, and welcome to the joy of ponds! Yes, pictures please, as well as numbers on things like size and depth of the pond, if you have a test kit, what it’s reading, etc. so that we can help guide you as you go.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!

Agree with all the requests above

 

[MrChigleysAunt]

Thanks all. It's a bigger pond than I realised, and it's keyhole shaped rather than an 8. It's 6 metres long, 1 metre wide at its narrowest, and 2 at its widest. Shallowest is 40cms and deepest about 80 cms. I can't get at the pump yet because the shed is full of packing crates. Here are some photos for starters. The Attach Files button doesn't seem to work, so here's a link instead:

Pond

Folder

1drv.ms

 

[GBBUDD]

It didn't work for you I belive because your photo is not a jpg or giff

 

[j.w]

Those containers look like disease treatments. I never use all that stuff on my goldfish. Survival of the fittest in my pond. Just try to keep it free of too much muck and give them plenty of aeration and filtration and all seems to be working fine. Did you say you have just one big fish? Can you get a closeup photo of it? Wondering if it is a Koi.

 

[Mmathis]

@MrChigleysAunt Do you have any kind of filtration?

 

[MrChigleysAunt]

@MrChigleysAunt Do you have any kind of filtration?

I Googled Pond filtration and I don't seem to have anything like that.

 

[Mmathis]

I Googled Pond filtration and I don't seem to have anything like that.

So, no pump or anything that is moving water through a filter? What about an air stone? Is it just still water?

There are a million types of “pond filtration,” so doing a Google search for just that might not help.

 

[j.w]

Take photo's of all the equipment you have and let us take a look if you can.

 

[Sharon M]

Hi
I moved house a couple of days ago. There is a pond in the garden of the new house, but the previous owner has left no information about it. Also, I notice that there is a large fish in it, which I assume is a carp. I quite like the idea of a pond and, I'm strangely pleased to be a fish owner, but I have no idea what sort of effort or money is involved in maintaining them.
There is a pump running in the garden shed, which I assume is aerating the water.
There are plants, but they're all covered by netting. I have no idea what the netting is for.
I can see lots of leaves in the water, from the surrounding shrubs.
The pond is a figure of 8, about 12 feet long and about 2 feet wide at its narrowest. Even to someone who knows nothing about ponds, this one is clearly well-established and cared for.
There are various bottles of pond-related liquids in the shed, but I haven't had a chance to investigate them.
Where do I start please? My immediate concern is for the carp. He seems awfully big for such a small pond.
Thanks for any advice you can give.

I would just like to chime in here and say I’m a first year pond owner. I built both a turtle pond and an additional koi pond in my backyard last year. I haven’t a clue what I’m doing but forums like this and local pond supply stores in your area are invaluable in giving you good information. My koi are growing like mad, the 100 surprise baby goldfish that hatched from eggs that came in on plants I bought are thriving too, and I’m completely winging it. Don’t be afraid. Ask questions of your local shops and enjoy your new unexpected hobby!