Looking for some advice..... Can't get to the library until the weekend and google not very forthcoming so far, looking for help with a pond I have inherited with the house we have just bought.

I don't know any of the terminology so its a bit tricky to describe what I have, but its a pond around 12' x 6' and I reckon maybe a couple of feet deep - the water is very murky (I think I have seen a fish around 8" or so long, but i only saw it once so could be mistaken, but there is a tub of fish food in the shed so presumably there has been some recently), there's plenty of frogspawn round the edges and a load of kit hooked up to it in the shed next to the pond. In the shed are a couple of pump type things, something that says UV on the plug and a tank thats around 4' long by about a foot wide thats split into 3 separate chambers each with what looks like a valve on them. Will be able to take a pic and upload soon.

So, I need to decide if I get shut of the pond and maybe stick all the gear on ebay (if its worth bothering) or try and clean the whole thing up and keep it as a feature in the garden.

Anybody know out about ponds please?

Thanks

Another week ain't going to kill the job, so I'd wait until you can get to the library.

I can't understand your difficulty in finding information from the internet though, there are loads of sites dedicated to pond building, maintenance etc.

If you have no problem putting the work in to get it all going again and there are no other issues, such as a hazard to children or pets, then I'd make the effort. A pond attracts more wildlife, is a pleasing garden feature and you'd be surprised just how relaxing it is to sit by the side of running water.

The equipment you found in the shed is obviously filtration equipment and from the sounds of it the guy who built it has an external pump with various bit & pieces for cleaning the water, the plug with UV on it is for an ultra violet water steriliser and although I'm assuming the multi-compartment tank is for filtration, it may be a holding/quarantine tank for koi

The multi compartment tank is most likely to be a filter and it sounds as though whoever owned it has gone a bit over the top with the equipment described as you don't really need all of that to keep a 12x6 pond clear, however you have it all now and the good news is that you shouldn't really need to do anything other than switch it all on and leave it running until the water clears (which it should do in anything from a few days to a few weeks), personally I'd leave it running constantly as your fish deserve clean and aerated water and you should always be wary of switching the pump(s) off and leaving the UV filter on as the lamp will overheat and blow (yes, my wife did this to my new uv filter last year and I now need to replace it).

Take some pics if you can but undoubtably you have a decent set up there and its worth preserving.


PS - don't overfeed the fish and enjoy the tadpoles when they hatch because they won't last for long with fish in the pond, however thats one reason not to overfeed the fish for a while, they only really need feeding towards the autumn.

If there's any cats close by, buy your-self a super blaster water gun if not something more powerful. Not only will dear, cuddly pussy kill most of the extra wild life you attract to the garden, it will also sit patiently dangling it's paw in the pond waiting for the expensive coy you will inevitably end up buying, to cruise near enough for it to scoop them out.

Or plant a whole shed load of catnip, which will interest them far more.

Or own a big dog

Because everyone knows they just don't get on at all

*Dr Who fans leave thread disappointed*

Didn’t ponds used to be all the rage back in the day?

There’s a place in Farsley called Mill Ponds and I‘ve always wondered why it’s remained closed to the public. It’s not like anyone fishes they anymore and Farsley could do with a water feature other than puddles that cars drive through to splash people with. Most of the people I speak to from round here aren’t even aware there’s a gigantic pond.

There's a place called Fishponds in Bristol but you try finding any fish or even a pond there.

If you saw a bus with DAZ on the side, would you take your washing there?

The Mill Ponds in Farsley definitely exist because I’ve seen it with my own eyes when I went trespassing around there when I was a kid. Plus if you Google earth Mill Ponds Farsley via satellite then you’ll see a body of water very clear.

I once saw a bus in ASDA carpark with some ice cream brand advertising on the side of it. Turns out it was a promotional bus and they had a couple of things inside plus free ice-cream. So on that note if I see DAZ on the side of a bus they might just be a washing machine inside. You never know!

OK thanks so far. Machines all running as I type - pics as follows:


[url=http://img685.imageshack.us/i/p1080788g.jpg/[/url

[url=http://img811.imageshack.us/i/p1080790i.jpg/[/url

[url=http://img826.imageshack.us/i/p1080792.jpg/[/url

[url=http://img96.imageshack.us/i/p1080793j.jpg/[/url

You could leave the filters off, buy a couple of bags of daphnia from your local tropical fish outlet, and once the daphnia start clearing the algae you can sell bags of them back to the shop.

My wild and unfiltered pond always turns green once frogspawn 'hatches', I believe this is a natural process, my daphnia soon clear it.

Looks like a nice set up. If its in full sun, you might want some surface covering plants, like water lilly etc to help keep the algae down and water clear.

Somebody has spent a few hundred pounds on that equipment and it will be more than adequate to clear your pond, mine is about the same size and gets by with a single filter box and a similar sized UV tube (or at least it did until SHE blew it up).

Don't ever be tempted to clean out the filters, they are supposed to look disgusting and covered in slime & bacteria, deep cleaning the foam mats or nylon brushes just sets you back two years worth of natural algae easting bacteria, mine is also full of the most disgusting worms that live under water, I don't even lift the lid off these days its like a scene from an Alien film.

Theres nothing much you can do about it now but measure the depth of the pond and hope that its at least two foot deep to give the fish a chance to hibernate without harm during the worst winters, the deeper the better, and as I mentioned earlier just feed them very sparingly during the summer, but start to stoke them up September/October ready for the winter, I have nine Golden Orfe and two Koi that are now all nine years old and I haven't lost a fish in five years (and that one was to a heron) with minimal attention but constant filtering and no over-feeding.

You might consider a net over it if you have local cats, that platform on the left looks ideal for fishing off - measure the depth there too as its a perfect heron perch.

PS - plants - don't buy anything until you've seen what fish you have, Koi will probably eat anything you plant in there and if you are tempted to plant it up then avoid "water chestnuts" or anything that sounds like them, you'll start with two or three in year one, they'll die and disappear during the winter but in year two you'll have five hundred of the buggers all rising from the depths in the first sun, impossible to get rid of.

As McLF said, the previous guy has spent some serious money on that set up and it would be a great shame to fill the pond in. If the filter media has dried out completely then it will take a couple of weeks for the bacteria to repopulate in the filters, so don't worry if it doesn't start clearing immediately. Get yourself a simple water test kit to check ph, ammonia & nitrate levels etc but don't be tempted into any commercial "quick fixes", most are designed to clear pond-keepers' bank accounts rather than ponds