Moving House - Moving Pond

[barry]

Hi Guys,

Its been a few years since I have been on here, and everyone was more than helpful with getting me started on my first pond - so thank you very much for that.

I am now moving house, the new house has a pond which was badly neglected for 4 years and became completely overgrown with plants which plended into one huge plant which took 7 hours to empty by hand as we had to cut the plants up piece by piece.

This is the pond right now after clearing everything out. I would like your opinions on plants etc on what you would do with it if it was yours.

 

[sissy]

I thought you were moving the whole house and dragging the pond behind it Wow talk about neglected and that is after, glad you did not post before pic could have made people sick .How big and deep is it and what shape is the liner in would be my first worry

 

[barry]

The liner seems fine, but I have been in wading around for about 7 hours so i'm going to let it sit and make sure that I havn't accidently punctured it. At its deepest I think it is about 3 feet deep in the center. size wise I am guessing 10 foot by 5 foot approx.

I'll post a before pic later lol

 

[mrsclem]

Hi Barry- lots of prospects there. It looks like the pond is at ground level. You may want to bring the edges up a bit. Some lilies A seating area next to the pond would be awesome!

 

[dieselplower]

I would empty it completely. No way to tell what is down there with all that debris. Can't get a pump and filter going til that debris is removed. Net out everything. Empty most of the water. Refill. Put back all salvageable plants. Get water circulating.

 

[j.w]

If you have enough liner tucked into the soil and you decide to raise it up to protect pond from runoff getting in there than I suggest you might add a little short shelf around the edge by digging it out some and then placing the liner back so you can now add some rocks down in the water on that shelf so as to make your liner un-seeable. Here's what I did and you can't see the liner anymore.

 

[morewater]

Drain it. Pressure wash the liner. Inspect for liner damage. Refill.

 

[barry]

here's a picture of how it looked before I started taking stuff out

 

[barry]

I've been looking at the liner, once you fill it up you cant see the liner at all

 

[addy1]

here's a picture of how it looked before I started taking stuff out

wow! that is overgrown

 

[barry]

it took 7 hours to clear it out

 

[dieselplower]

Wow hey consider yourself lucky to have all those "free" plants. The garden centers around me want a fortune for pond plants.

 

[Lisak1]

Wow! You did say overgrown!! It's hard to tell there's even a pond there!

It's nearly impossible to have a pond that's at ground level and filled to the top. Not saying impossible, but I think you will battle with runoff. And how is the liner held down? Is it buried under the ground?

 

[sissy]

I would not pressure wash the liner if it is older liner you may damage it worse if you use a high pressure nozzle .Hose should clean most of it .How did you even know there was a pond in that mess .You can get a pump sprayer and mix peroxide and water together and spray it with the mixture and the hose it off

 

[morewater]

A pressure washer will not damage a liner. Select the proper nozzle. If using a pressure washer with the appropriate tip damages the liner, it wasn't much of a liner to begin with and should be replaced anyway. Better to find out now than to go to all the trouble of rehabilitating it only to find that the liner is way past its prime and is needs to be replaced..

As an aside, most EPDM liners are good for 25 years, depending on thickness.

It looks to me that there's stone coping around the perimeter. As others have mentioned, run-off (particularly if you intend to fertilize the surrounding plants) will cause you a lot of problems (ie. algae blooms). If you are determined to keep it at ground level, I would suggest installing an overflow pipe (for heavy rain), and a drip irrigation system for the surrounding plantings (will eliminate run-off by watering with the hose). A siphon system will allow you to put fertilizer through the drip irrigation lines.

It sure looks like you've got your work cut out for you.