Moving House - Moving Pond

[barry]

It has taken me an entire today (9 hours) to drain the pond. Every pump I tried would block because of floating debris. I had to resort to a bucket.

At the bottom there was 2 inches of sludge.

This is how the pond is as we speak.

 

[barry]

Wow! You did say overgrown!! It's hard to tell there's even a pond there!

It's nearly impossible to have a pond that's at ground level and filled to the top. Not saying impossible, but I think you will battle with runoff. And how is the liner held down? Is it buried under the ground?

Two people came to see the house and fell into it, they both thought it was solid ground. The liner is helled down under broken slabs which have been mortared together.

 

[barry]

I would not pressure wash the liner if it is older liner you may damage it worse if you use a high pressure nozzle .Hose should clean most of it .How did you even know there was a pond in that mess .You can get a pump sprayer and mix peroxide and water together and spray it with the mixture and the hose it off

Agreed, you could potentially bust liners with a power washer. It wasnt necessary, a garden hose and a bucket sorted it.

 

[barry]

A pressure washer will not damage a liner. Select the proper nozzle. If using a pressure washer with the appropriate tip damages the liner, it wasn't much of a liner to begin with and should be replaced anyway. Better to find out now than to go to all the trouble of rehabilitating it only to find that the liner is way past its prime and is needs to be replaced..

As an aside, most EPDM liners are good for 25 years, depending on thickness.

It looks to me that there's stone coping around the perimeter. As others have mentioned, run-off (particularly if you intend to fertilize the surrounding plants) will cause you a lot of problems (ie. algae blooms). If you are determined to keep it at ground level, I would suggest installing an overflow pipe (for heavy rain), and a drip irrigation system for the surrounding plantings (will eliminate run-off by watering with the hose). A siphon system will allow you to put fertilizer through the drip irrigation lines.

It sure looks like you've got your work cut out for you.

There already is an overflow pipe. I looked at the pond today and it appears to be perfectly level all round so I thought water could be filled right to the edge.

 

[sissy]

in pic liner does not look to bad you could put some water in it and see if it drops down .Just have to watch when fish spawn they have a habit of jumping .

 

[sissy]

looks like the plants are healthy but will need divided up and trimmed after soaked in water

 

[j.w]

Oh my they fell into your pond..................where was your video camera? Oh shame on me but I bet it was a sight to behold! You have done some mighty fine hard work there and the pond looks very nice now. I think you will enjoy it now that you've transformed it from the 'fall in pit trap from Hell' to the 'Heavenly little garden of Eden pool'

 

[Nepen]

Wow, it's actually a pretty nice looking pond when all cleaned up! Congrats for the hard work paid off!

 

[barry]

Plan of attack: (please feel free to advise on any of this)

- mortar in some of the bricks around the edge of the pond which have broken their base
- filll pond
- dechlorinate pond
- let pond sit for a couple of weeks for pond to establish
- add my fish
- add pump and filter

I only have one pump and filter and it is currently in my old pond at my old house, I dont want to remove it yet as it could hurt my fish

 

[dieselplower]

If you are going to let the pond sit a couple weeks before adding fish, you could probably skip the dechlorinator. What are you hoping will "establish" by letting the pond sit? Also, don't I see a pump in a recent picture? Does it work?

 

[j.w]

You could also bring some of your old pond water to your new pond to give it a kick start establishing or even a dirty piece of media from your filter would help. The more the pond water at you new place that is like the water from your old pond the easier on the fish it will be. But then the harder on your back it will be too

 

[addy1]

Very nice! what a lot of work you have done! It is going to be beautiful when you are done.

 

[Tula]

You sure have worked hard! It's a charming pond - I like the shape and you already have a plant shelf, or you could do as Collen suggested and place some rocks on it.

I'd bring some of your pond water over...even a little will help. It'll also be a big help to bring over your current filter.

 

[barry]

The problem for me at the moment is that I havn't moved in yet. The seller is letting me get some early work on the yard started whilst the whole deal is being finalised. I will be bringing my pump and filter from the old pond over which is why i'm going to dechlorinate the water.

 

[barry]

Well everything was going great, but that can never last can it?

Today I found a hole in the liner about 2 inches x 1 inch. Completely perfectly square, strangest tear iv ever seen. I have patched it now....hopefully it will take, hard to patch with water under the liner.