New house with a pond !!!

[swede1976]

Hi peoples,

I am new to ponds and fish!! i have just moved it to a house that has a medium size pond. i have no experience of ponds at all. It has about 10 koi fish all different sizes.

My point is it has a filter that i had to clean out, it was filthy, i honest dont think it was cared for, not the problem i have is i can see the fish below about 3 inches of water, it is that black, its not algae as i think that is green.
forgot to mention the filter and pump didnt work they got clogged that is why i cleaned them out.

Any ides on how i can get the water clean and clear. ???

any ideas would be good as i havent got a clue what to do !!!

Thanks

 

[koiguy1969]

o.k when you cleaned out the filter, you did so by hosing it out with the garden hose, right? well if you have city water it has chlorine and/or chloramines in it and you killed the live bacteria in it.. if you dont have one, get a pool skimmer net, for maintainence. use this to slowly scoop out as much gunk out of the bottom as possible...get some dechlorinator. pump out 1/3 of the water. and replace with clean fresh water. dechorinate as you do this. let the pond fill slowly,as not to stir up any remaining gunk. do this a couple times,(wait a day in between) and we should be able to assess further actions... but you should get some beneficial bacteria to get things going alittle faster with the filter. what kind of filter do you have? if you dont know,or even if you do, post a few pictures of the whole set up.. pond and filtration. this will help us help you.

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the forum
Its going to take a little time to turn the pond around
net out what you can like Koiguy told you
If you have a extra pump you can put a laundry basket up on blocks or some thing, in the pond, keep it above the water , put in the pillow stuffing, and let the water flow thru, it will speed things up

 

[BBK]

What type of filter was it? Some are made to be mechanical only, some are made to be biological only, and some are both.


Try the pillow stuffing and if that doesn't work your probably going to have to drain the water and re-fill it with dechlorinated tap.

 

[swede1976]

Thanks for all the tips, what i will do is take some photos at the weekend and post them on here. will net out most of the stuff. It is that bad the fish keep on stirring it up! what is this pillow suffing thing ? Do you mean put it in the pillow it self ?
or just wrap it around the pump ?
thanks everyone.
hope we will have a beautiful pond at the end of all this, there are some stunning fish in it 11

 

[koiguy1969]

if you have a waterfall or where your water returns to the pond you can take a laundry basket or a milkcrate and fill it with fiberfill(pillow stuffing) or quilt batting and it will help filter out smaller particles that your bio filter misses. do this till you get everything in order. after you do a nice partial water change,and scoop the goop,and poop from the bottom. you'll see a marked improvement. hopefully you dont have rocks across the bottom.

 

[swede1976]

So koiguy,
i need to get this laundry basket thing correct.it has a smaller pond above it which currently is empty. if i pump this pond water and let if flow out the pipe in to the larger pond, and put the basket filled with pillow stuffing above the water level in the large pond, and let that flow into the larger pond. is this correct or does the basket have to be just poking out of the the large pond water line?
thanks for all your help.

 

[swede1976]

bbk,

it is big box type filer that has a tray for small stones is the bottom and a foam filter in the middle and tray at the top filled with gravel, and 4 brushes at the front. it get blocked very quickly by the gunk in the water. is it correct having the foam filter in the middle ?
thanks

 

[BBK]

Sounds like a biological to me. Doesn't matter which order it goes in as long as the water flows through it. You might want to think about adding a layer of filter material on top. I buy mine at petsmart, it comes in a 2ft by 2ft sheet that you can cut to size.

 

[koiguy1969]

that is correct... why is the upper pond empty? the water should be pumped thru the filter into the upper pond and back to the lower pond. it does matter what order the medias are in the filter.. the water should first hit the brushes and in order flow thru the corsest media to the finest, out of order causes premature clogging. i would put as much media in the filter as i could without packing too tight. home depot sells a good plastic cut to fit furnace filter. they are 20"x 25"x1" good for first layers.

 

[koiguy1969]

some pictures of the set up would be a big plus in helping you.. does the upper pond have a stream or waterfall to the lower pond, or any way to spill in it? why is the upper pond empty?

 

[swede1976]

Koiguy,

The upper pond i think was just used to have a waterfall effect.
it has been empty since i moved in. Would it be a good idea to pump water from the lower pond into the top pond and then filter it through the basket before it reaches the lower pond ? I only have 1 pump, so shold i pass it through the filter first and the ino the top pond, or can i leave the filter out and pump it dirrectly into the top pond ?
thanks

 

[koiguy1969]

yes, thats it way it should go.. pump in bottom pond pumped up to the filter from there to the upper pond and then to the bottom pond. try filling the upper pond..maybe it leaks, but if you can use it..use it the increase in water volume will help! but anywhere you can put the basket of fiberfill that has a good flow and the basket can sit just above water will work.

 

[swede1976]

hi people, i have managed to take sme photos of the pond i have inhereted with my new house, can you please give me feed back on the situation.
thanks
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[swede1976]

here are some more.
i need all the advice i can get !!!!!!
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