How to Clean Our Pond?

[abbeygardener]

Hello. We have a very green and a dirty garden pond (photos attached)
with four goldfish which we are planning to clean and are wondering if
anyone can confirm whether what we want to do is sensible. The pond is
about a metre by half a metre. It has a pump which hopefully aerates it,
but to our knowledge there is no water filter attached. The goldfish
seem happy and active though, and it hosts a frog too. The water is very
green and also looks like it contains solid particles. We have tried
TetraPond AquaRem to make it clearer with only partial success. We’ve
not had the house long so I don’t know much of the pond’s history, but I
don’t think there are any plants in it, apart from all the algae –
though I can’t be certain as it’s too green to see the bottom. Just to
make life harder, the water really needs topping up, but we have no good
rainwater to put in. We have water butts, but the water in them is dark
coloured and seems to have lots of insects swimming in it so I don’t
think we can use it.

So the plan is this: We intend to remove the water and scrub the
surfaces, removing the algae. And we will add a couple of oxygenating
plants.
Since we have no rainwater, and I’ve gathered from reading online that
tap water is not ideal, I assume we somehow need to clean the existing
water. I’m thinking of doing that by simply pouring it through an old
chemistry style filter funnel and filter paper. Seems a bit
unconventional but fitting a proper water filter system is beyond our
budget and we can’t think of a better idea. We’ll then top up with some
tapwater, with Tetrapond Aquasafe added to remove the chorine. I suspect
that means the new pond will be about 2/3 original water, 1/3 tapwater.

Does this seem sensible or is anything we should be doing differently?

Thanks.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: Pond1.jpg |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=15681|
|Filename: Pond2.jpg |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=15682|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+



--
abbeygardener

[a425couple]

"abbeygardener" > wrote...
> Hello. We have a very green and a dirty garden pond (photos attached)
> with four goldfish

How big are these 4 fish?
(suspecting/guessing from photos 4"-6")

> which we are planning to clean and are wondering if
> anyone can confirm whether what we want to do is sensible. The pond is
> about a metre by half a metre. It has a pump which hopefully aerates it,

Is it currently set up for the pump to move water to
where it cascades back down into the pond?

> but to our knowledge there is no water filter attached. The goldfish
> seem happy and active though, and it hosts a frog too. The water is very
> green and also looks like it contains solid particles. We have tried
> TetraPond AquaRem to make it clearer with only partial success. We've
> not had the house long so I don't know much of the pond's history, but I
> don't think there are any plants in it, apart from all the algae -
> though I can't be certain as it's too green to see the bottom. Just to
> make life harder, the water really needs topping up, but we have no good
> rainwater to put in.

Ahh, I live in NW USA, I've often poured tap water
into buckets, waited 24 hours, then put it into ponds
and had no bad effect on fish or plants.

> We have water butts, but the water in them is dark
> coloured and seems to have lots of insects swimming in it so I don't
> think we can use it.

Ahhh, odd thought first.
What do you think your 4 fish have been eating?
Have prior to you, then now you, fed them fish food regularly?
Or,,,, I'd tend to supect they have been eating the
'skuz' (yeah, very scientific word!) on the side of the
pond and the insect eggs & larve in the water.

So, maybe dump these into garden for watering it!
Or into pond for adding water & feeding fish.

> So the plan is this: We intend to remove the water and scrub the
> surfaces, removing the algae.

Well, I'm not a true & quallified "expert", but I'd keep the
existing water, but work on improving it.
And also "scrubing" just sounds like a lot of work
that I'm not confident is that productive & helpful.

> And we will add a couple of oxygenating plants.

Definitely do that.
Maybe buy some.
Or find neighbors who have ponds that would be happy
to give you some excess duckweed, etc. etc.

> Since we have no rainwater, and I've gathered from reading online that
> tap water is not ideal, I assume we somehow need to clean the existing
> water. I'm thinking of doing that by simply pouring it through an old
> chemistry style filter funnel and filter paper. Seems a bit
> unconventional but fitting a proper water filter system is beyond our
> budget and we can't think of a better idea.

I'm not positive a filter is required.

> We'll then top up with some
> tapwater, with Tetrapond Aquasafe added to remove the chorine. I suspect
> that means the new pond will be about 2/3 original water, 1/3 tapwater.
> Does this seem sensible or is anything we should be doing differently?

Ohh, OK that part sound ok.

> Thanks.
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
> |Filename: Pond1.jpg |
> |Download:
> http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=15681|
> |Filename: Pond2.jpg |
> |Download:
> http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=15682|
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
> abbeygardener