Inherited a Pond and I don't know what to do. Help!

[Fishycoast]

Good morning all,

We just bought a house and it has a beautiful pond with a waterfall. No filter but it has a pump. I am not sure if the water is clean enough, maybe it is but recently the number of algae coming to the surface has increased and it is now covering probably 80% of the pond, way more than necessary! I also learned from reading this forum that duckweed has started appearing. From what I can see, I don't think that the main floating algae is string algae but overgrown underwater algae. I am attaching pictures to help understand the situation.

I would be most grateful if someone could please guide me as per what I should do to keep this pond in good shape. Ideally we would love to have some fish or turtles in it. We are in the Uk in case that it makes any difference.

My main questions are:

- What should I do with all the algae that has come to the surface and is now covering the majority of the pond? if remove is the answer, how?
- Do I need to worry about the duckweed?
- Do I have too many iris plants on the left of the pond? I have read somewhere that you need to keep them under control.
- Would it help if I add some pebbles to the waterfall area in terms of filtering?
- Do I need an aerator?
- Do I need a filter? the water seems pretty clean but I have been thinking about building a bog filter, specially if I add fish.
- Anything specific I need to do now that winter is coming? prune iris?

In other words, what would you do if this was your pond?

Thank you so so much for helping,

Silvia

 

[NiftyFifty]

That is a really beautiful set up!
And how exciting to find someone else who inherited a pond with a house as well.

I only got serious about cleaning out my pond this year. Prior to that, I just sort of tried to scoop out the duckweed, dead leaves, and fallen wood with a net. That was obviously not enough to keep the water clean, so I set about rebuilding the waterfall over the summer. It’s taken a lot longer than I anticipated! At this point, and until I can get my waterfall, filter, and bog up and running, I can only offer a little advice.
• You probably want to clear out the dead leaves and fallen wood. I tried using a net for several years, but that was not enough. I eventually had to drain the pond and shovel it out. All of that accumulation turning to a very smelly gunk is one of the reasons I’m creating a filter for my pond. I don’t know if placing a net in the fall would help for the month or so when the trees are losing their leaves?
• Plants with roots in the water will help control algae as the algae will have to compete with plants for nutrients in the water. So I think keeping the iris is a good idea, but clean out the dead leaves and other bits
• Circulating water helps maintain water quality

I am hoping to refill my pond this week. Fingers crossed. Any suggestions you get will likely benefit me too.
Thanks for your post

 

[Tula]

Beautiful pond and setting. I always noticed a healthy "grove" of string algae under and near our waterfall, thinking it loves the O2. It looks like you have an abundance of hornwort, which is a wonderful pond plant.......you could just thin it out manually....same with the string algae.

My best advice would be to get to know the pond before you do anything other than manually removing obvious debris and plants. Consider going through each season and observe its condition.....also do not add any fish / turtles etc. during this time.

Once you've gotten familiar with the pond you'll be better equipped to make some decisions about fish and filtration. Again, it's a lovely pond

 

[GBBUDD]

FILL IT IN AND NEVER THINK OF IT AGAIN !!!!!!

 

[j.w]

and welcome @Fishycoast

 

[GBBUDD]

ponds are not only addicting they are life changing. keep the fish load extremely light and enjoy your pond more.
from what i can see your pond area looks amazing.

what ever you do i suggest you do it one step at a time, i believe i can see rocks on the bottom of the pond in the 1st 2d and 3rd photos so the water is doing well without any filtering. but add fish and feeding and that will change very quickly if you choose the wrong fish , such as koi they grow fast , eat a lot and poop even more.

duck weed will help choke down light into the pond thus stopping or limiting photosynthesis. thus stunting algaes growth.

adding a bog will not hurt your ecosystem in anyway. where you go with filtration really is determined by where you go with your fish, as a general rule if a fish is double the size of another it will produce 3 times the waste.

aeration is always a good thing in battling a pond with algae and giving your bacteria o2 for it to thrive.

stone /gravel is surface area for bacteria but it can also trap sediment creating bacterial and fungal issues, i have both 3/4 to 2 inch rock in the bottom of the main pond and it gets loaded with sediment at times yet my other area with pea stone as its base seems to stay far cleaner. and the koi when rooting in the gravel they don't seem to carry it for long distances like they do with 3/4 .

welcome and i told you to run the hook is set!

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[km52]

It does depend on where you live. I've had many ponds starting at the smallest to the one I have today. I enjoy having a waterfall and an Aquascape system which gives me a skimmer. I did pay for it but it's totally worth it. You don't want that expense I would at least recommend getting a filtration system. I would remove all algae on the surface duckweed Etc drain it a quarter of the way down try and clean out as much stuff as you can you can use a pressure washer. Not easy to hear but what I would recommend is draining it completely removing everything so you can get rid of the algae and then when you get the water back in I use a good bacteria powder that's concentrate and an algaecide weekly. If you can find a local pond store I would talk with them. You really will be blessed with so much Beauty I absolutely love my pond and it brings me many hours of tranquility and peace

 

[Fishycoast]

thank you so so much for taking the time to answer all my questions. I think the general consensus is that I should wait and manually clean some of the seaweed. I will also get an aerator as I believe it will help to circulate the water in the pond area.

I will do some research on how to empty a little bit the pond as I have no clue. Guess it doesn't has a plug like a bath!?
If I can't, would a product like Pure Pond Bomb help?

Did the water look clean to you?

Once again thank you for your advice!