Ok, so we bought an amazing house with a pool hot tub, 6 fountain "pools" and a modest 60,000 gallon koi pond. The pond was put built in the mid1980s.
Previous owner said they left it "natural" meaning they never put in food, would add fish they caught in a nearby creek, any snakes they caught and killed would be tossed in as food for the fish, and they would throw their Christmas tree into one end of the pond to provide a safe place for all the fish babies to hide and grow. To control the fish population they would throw more in to have more fish and less for less. They said that every couple of years they would use a long handled rake to scrape muck out.
It is basically a "Q" shape with an island in the middle. More or less 60' per side with the tail of the Q adding another 20-30 foot length. It averages around 15' wide. There are 2 water falls that pull water from the base of the fall, so it cycles about 3-4'. But they do have it attached to the irrigation system so "fresh" city tap water is added nightly. It is a lovely split pea soup color and you can see about 1-2" into the water. The only life you can see is a 1 1/2-2 ft koi and a water turtle of the same size. Oh, and lots of algae. Standard green in the water, large foamy clumps and vast sheets of string algae.
It is gunnite and I have heard that it is about 4' deep with the bottom 3 being muck. It has large trees
Around which occasionally drop large branches (15' one the other day, which I removed) as well as leaves etc into the water.
So the previous owners apparently did everything contrary to how it should be. I have a lot of work to do, and most of what I have found deals with ponds that are about 1% of what I am dealing with. So the $15 container of whatever to deal with a chemical condition means buying 100 containers.
I was going to try algaecide, but with poor water aeration and 100-110 degree days have decided that fixing the water aeration/oxygenation should take priority. Dealing with chlorine and ph from nightly dumping of tap water might be second and algae control third.
The stated rule of thumb seems to be cycling the pond hourly, which seems to mean a half dozen big pumps to cycle water. Is this correct on a pond of this size? Any thoughts on steps to take to make maintenance on the pond easier? Also the pond is devoid of plants (well I added a few plants but they spent a week with no light before going in, so likely won't survive. I'm willing to put some money into it to correct it. Ideally I would like to stay under $10,000 but given the size that might be unrealistic. Really, ideally it would cost zero to fix and it would just be maintenance, but it is what it is.
I am a complete newb. So I really know nothing, so if you suggest something, if at all possible give specific brands or specs, as the size of the pond seems to take me out of the realm for normal stuff.
Oh, and the nearest pond store is 2 hours away... As is the closest city large enough to have any real specialty shops, so anything that would be trial and error might mean 2-6 weeks between trips to a shop (Internet deliveries work just fine though).
Just a bit overwhelmed.
Previous owner said they left it "natural" meaning they never put in food, would add fish they caught in a nearby creek, any snakes they caught and killed would be tossed in as food for the fish, and they would throw their Christmas tree into one end of the pond to provide a safe place for all the fish babies to hide and grow. To control the fish population they would throw more in to have more fish and less for less. They said that every couple of years they would use a long handled rake to scrape muck out.
It is basically a "Q" shape with an island in the middle. More or less 60' per side with the tail of the Q adding another 20-30 foot length. It averages around 15' wide. There are 2 water falls that pull water from the base of the fall, so it cycles about 3-4'. But they do have it attached to the irrigation system so "fresh" city tap water is added nightly. It is a lovely split pea soup color and you can see about 1-2" into the water. The only life you can see is a 1 1/2-2 ft koi and a water turtle of the same size. Oh, and lots of algae. Standard green in the water, large foamy clumps and vast sheets of string algae.
It is gunnite and I have heard that it is about 4' deep with the bottom 3 being muck. It has large trees
Around which occasionally drop large branches (15' one the other day, which I removed) as well as leaves etc into the water.
So the previous owners apparently did everything contrary to how it should be. I have a lot of work to do, and most of what I have found deals with ponds that are about 1% of what I am dealing with. So the $15 container of whatever to deal with a chemical condition means buying 100 containers.
I was going to try algaecide, but with poor water aeration and 100-110 degree days have decided that fixing the water aeration/oxygenation should take priority. Dealing with chlorine and ph from nightly dumping of tap water might be second and algae control third.
The stated rule of thumb seems to be cycling the pond hourly, which seems to mean a half dozen big pumps to cycle water. Is this correct on a pond of this size? Any thoughts on steps to take to make maintenance on the pond easier? Also the pond is devoid of plants (well I added a few plants but they spent a week with no light before going in, so likely won't survive. I'm willing to put some money into it to correct it. Ideally I would like to stay under $10,000 but given the size that might be unrealistic. Really, ideally it would cost zero to fix and it would just be maintenance, but it is what it is.
I am a complete newb. So I really know nothing, so if you suggest something, if at all possible give specific brands or specs, as the size of the pond seems to take me out of the realm for normal stuff.
Oh, and the nearest pond store is 2 hours away... As is the closest city large enough to have any real specialty shops, so anything that would be trial and error might mean 2-6 weeks between trips to a shop (Internet deliveries work just fine though).
Just a bit overwhelmed.
