New pond owner - Need help pretty urgently.

[raider89]

Im almost just tempted to drain it and just re-build it from scratch. I would think starting fresh would be easiest to maintain and keep clean and healthy due to not knowing how long its been without any type of maintenance.

 

[sissy]

But also means starting over ,I saved most of my pond water each time so it made it easier .2 times dogs have ripped my liner and 1 time moles chewed my liner .It can be a very stressful time also .I refer to as like rebuilding your kitchen in your house ,a nightmare and scary .The not sure what is there and how much work you will have to do and what kind of surprises and how much will it cost in the end .I have remodeled 7 kitchens in my lifetime and now doing number 8 and having a new heat pump put in and putting down laminate floors in the house in Pittsville

 

[raider89]

I can say I have done my fair share of kitchen remodels, the house Im in now was a fixer upper and the kitchen had to be completely gutted. Enjoyed it the first few times. But I have never built a pond before, the liner could be punctured, the lady has been telling me its looking like its losing water but I never paid much attention to it.

I would basically be doing it for the experience to have the pond the way I would want it, and expand it. And do some more higher end type filtering/plumbing underground.

I honestly believe my water quality is not that bad, so I would just pump it into a secondary container. The bottom has so much gunk and build up its just nasty and I literally clean the filter box everyday.

We had a relative who was doing some landscaping and I guess he was checking out the pond and was scooping up the bottom thinking he was doing something good for us. I noticed some pretty nice mossy black thick piles around the pond, maybe he stirred up some bad stuff, I seen in here someone saying something about that.

 

[raider89]

Once the water was clear you could see how bad it really was. Cause everyone has been telling me it has been sitting there so long it has a nice natural ecosystem or what have you. From this picture you can see the thick moss or algae around the sides which never bothered me.

Id like the pond where the water is clear, you can see all rocks at the bottom and have plants. I thought mine had plants but it was just gunk/goop. I could always move the fish to another tank with the curent water and then just vacuum out and inspect the liner etc then slowly work the fish back into it in a weekend.

I only have feeder goldfish that are tiny now.

 

[sissy]

I net my bottom of the pond everyday as I am walking by the pond to keep stuff from building up on the bottom .What ever I stir up goes into the 2 filters .I always use my quilt batting in both filters and in the waterfall come spring .It really helps to start that early

 

[raider89]

I just wish I knew how long the pond had been sitting. Could have been years, I was pretty far behind from the get-go.