Inherited pond and need help with cleaning

[AlenDalon]

We purchased a new home and inherited what was a koi pond (no koi now) last fall.

This is our first year with the pond, and it was incredibly dirty with debris and sludge when we first moved in.

I drained the water yesterday with a sump pump, and went to town on the leaves and debris with a shopvac, sucked up a large portion of it, and pressure washed the rocks.

There are lilies, cattails, and grass growing in the pond. The bottom of the pond is coated with sludge but when I go to suck it up I notice alot of roots therefore I stopped and am thinking of just leaving the sludge at the bottom as to keep the plants healthy.

I would love some advice on what to do to keep our pound clean and in good health.

 

[AlenDalon]

Some images below.
1st is after the clean out yesterday.
2nd is before the cleanout
3rd is the pond in the summer/fall when we first moved in!

 

[MitchM]

Welcome!
I think I would probably leave it as is. Those grasses will continue to feed from the substrate.
Add a few goldfish or minnows but don't feed them, there will be plenty of natural food sources for them to eat.

 

[Lisak1]

What a pretty pond! Like @MitchM said - it looks good the way it is. Go ahead and get a few goldfish. That is definitely NOT a koi pond - too small.

Welcome to the GPF!

 

[sissy]

congrats on your home and wishing yu many happy years there .Congrats on your pond also and cleaning must have been a horror but it will pay off

 

[j.w]

@AlenDalon Very pretty pond! Do you plan on adding fish? With all the rocks in there it will be hard to get all that muck out so prolly the best thing would be to leave as is. I too vote for goldfish, Shubunkins or some kind of hardy minnows. Love Shubunkins!

 

[Waterbug]

It really depends on your desires. To some people a "clean" pond is one with muck in the bottom with plants growing in it. To other people it's a spotless bottom. Same with "good health". For example many people consider clear water to mean "good health" yet the most valuable Koi are kept in very murky water to create a healthy colorful fish.

 

[JamieB]

Set up a good filter, to move water and remove excess gunk, but short of pulling all the plants and rock, you’ll not get all that gunk- mulm, out. Fill it back up, and enjoy. A few fish will quickly become lots of fish, so don’t stock it to the max. A good rule of thumb is one goldfish for every 60-100 gallons. Err to the side of caution just starting out, and you’ll find you’ll soon love them!

 

[Sparky]

Let er rip. Check all your connections and filters best you can. Watch a few decent YouTube videos on new pond owners. Ask questions here! These folk know their stuff and help me immensely.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum! Nice pond, like said above stick with goldfish, shubunkins.

If you want to decrease the amount of grasses / plants now would be a good time to pull some out. Ow just refill and enjoy.

 

[AlenDalon]

Thank you for the warm welcome and great tips everyone. I did a light clean up job near the cat tails removing gunk and leaves, then filled the pond back up and finally got the waterfall working again.

There are 3 foam pad filters I power washed and fit snugly in place in the waterfall and above that I placed 2 netted bags of lavarock roughly 30lbs each and 1 netted bag of bioballs.

I calculated the pond size is approx. 800 gallons to fill up from "near" empty and I believe the pump for the fall circulates about 3000 gallons per hour, from the reading I've done it seems this is adequate filtration.

I noticed the bottom of the pond was full of muck and root system. I see online videos most people have plants in pots but this pond seems to have a root system running throughout which I found interesting. Well see what this summer holds.

Will post new pics soon of the pond up and running soon.

 

[sissy]

Hopefully it is an epdm liner as some other liners roots can burst through liners