dirty pond

We are new to this pond stuff. So any and all help greatly appreciated.
I just went into the pond to bring up the plants we sunk for the winter and
found most of my kitty litter that we used in pots is on the bottom of the
pond. Guess fish somehow got in and moved it out of pots. Any way to keep
them from doing this?
So I am trying to scoop it out, and also finding lots of guck. Think algae
and waste. Water is now so stirred up and bad can't even see 1/2" into it.
What can I do to get it cleaned up now?? We have 4 pumps that we put
filter material around and we just set in the pond and they pump the water
up to a water fall. I am running one now to keep fish alive ( I hope).
Should I run or them or let every thing settle out.
Thanks for the help.


--
Greg &/or Kellie Meyer

ok.. here is what the pros did to clean my 2 big UNNETTED ponds at my mothers.
1. they had a couple really large metal troughs. they filled this with pond water.
(suggestion for doityourselfers, get a cheap kiddie pool holds 600-800 gallons.)
2. they got 2 huge pumps with large diameter hose on them and started sucking the
water out. (get large diameter hoses and learn how to get the siphon going)
3. when the fish were nearly flopping on the bottom they netted everything
(including the tadpoles) out and into the big troughs and then put styro over the top
to shade and quiet the fish.
4. they "washed" the plants down with the pond water and removed them from the pond.

5. When the pumps were getting gunked up too fast the have these smooth plastic snow
shovels and they shoveled the muck into buckets .. 1 up to take the buckets and dump
them, the other in the hole to fill em. they use a broom to move the gunk to the low
point. they broomed the sides but didnt scrape them. At the end they used very
little fresh water to wash the sides of the pond down.
6. they start filling the pond and then put the fish in and pump the water from the
troughs back into the pond and they were done.
Ingrid


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Hi, One thing that I do is after the plant is potted, I put a layer(about an
inch) poly/Fiberfill materialover the soil then cover with a layer of
gravel. It has always worked for me. Thanks Mike
"G & K Meyer" wrote in message
...
We are new to this pond stuff. So any and all help greatly appreciated.
I just went into the pond to bring up the plants we sunk for the winter
and
found most of my kitty litter that we used in pots is on the bottom of the
pond. Guess fish somehow got in and moved it out of pots. Any way to keep
them from doing this?
So I am trying to scoop it out, and also finding lots of guck. Think
algae
and waste. Water is now so stirred up and bad can't even see 1/2" into
it.
What can I do to get it cleaned up now?? We have 4 pumps that we put
filter material around and we just set in the pond and they pump the
water
up to a water fall. I am running one now to keep fish alive ( I hope).
Should I run or them or let every thing settle out.
Thanks for the help.


--
Greg &/or Kellie Meyer

"G & K Meyer" wrote in message
...
We are new to this pond stuff. So any and all help greatly appreciated.
I just went into the pond to bring up the plants we sunk for the winter
and
found most of my kitty litter that we used in pots is on the bottom of the
pond. Guess fish somehow got in and moved it out of pots. Any way to keep
them from doing this?
==============================
When my husband and I clean the gunk from our ponds we remove and hose off
all the plants, then pump the water out after filling a few $10 kiddy pools
(holds 150 gallons of water each). When there is little water left the fish
are easily netted, sorted, culled and put in the small pools which all
contain an aerator but no filters. We place the plants from the ponds in
these pools to give the fish cover and provide some bacteria to help control
ammonia. We hose down the sides of the ponds, then suck that sludge out
with a wet/dry vac. We hose it down a second time, suck out the gunk - then
start to refill the ponds. As soon as the "cleaned" pumps are covered with
water we turn them on to help aerate the water and get rid of the chlorine.
The kiddy pools have hardware cloth around them and a net over them to keep
herons out until the fish are returned to the ponds. Excess fish go to a
local fish store in exchange for fishfood or whatever.....
--
Carol....
"Nostalgia isn't what it used to be."
http://www.heartoftn.net/users/windsong/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Use river rocks on top of litter they can't move them. I have koi and it
works for me.



http://community.webtv.net/rebeljoe/POND