New house, New pond!

[JodieD]

We've been in our new house for around 6 months and have done nothing with the pond we inherited. It's been looked after by the prior owners but now we have no idea how to maintain it. There's no fish but the odd frog and a million tadpoles at the moment. There's no pump (as far as I'm aware!) and seems pretty naturally maintained. Can anyone help with what things we should do? Some sunny weather at the moment means the water level has gone down a bit, and I can see some sludge now....

 

[JamieB]

Well, what would you like to do? The first step would be to figure out what you’d like. Get dimensions, depth, put them into an online pond calculator to find your volume. You’ve already got lots of plants. I’m not sure what all of them are, others will pop in with that info. Get yourself a large kiddie pool to move the plants to, so you can remove muck from the bottom if you decide to clean it. If you want fish, you’ll need a pump that will move the water 2x an hour, so if you have say 200 gallons, you’d want a 400gph pump. And you’ll want a filter, so research filters, and diy ones here and online too. The pump and filter are a good idea even if you don’t get fish, they’ll keep water moving to reduce mosquitoes! You’ll need dechlorinator if you aren’t on well water, and a water test kit. The API pond test kit is what’s considered best here. Consider what you’d like to do with your pond, then if you are feeling lost, pop in here and we can advise you!

 

[JodieD]

Well, considering my partner wanted to fill it in and not keep the pond, I don't think we will bother with fish, or will want to add anything to it, plant wise, it'll just be what's there already! We just want to maintain it in its current state really. So, in that case probably no pump (or filter?) and we don't really suffer with mozzies either.....the last owner said she just scraped the 'muck' to the sides when necessary....but when is 'when necessary'!? My partner is threatening to fill it up with more water....is that ok? The bottom is full of entwined weedy stuff.

 

[j.w]

@JodieD The thing about no fish or circulation of the water would be that mosquito's will love to breed there. Are mozzies mosquito's? Fish eat them and moving water is something they don't like either so you would have to use the dunks (floating things that kill skeeters) if no fish or pump. I think the skeeters will eventually find you but heck I may be wrong. More water is fine.

 

[JodieD]

*embarrassed face* what's a skeeter?

 

[j.w]

Skeeter is our nickname for mosquito................... and is mozzie the same for you,lol?

 

[JodieD]

Ahh, makes sense now! I've never heard of a skeeter anywhere in the UK!

 

[j.w]

This was in the news way back in 2011 so perhaps they just haven't found your spot yet?
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14613140

You are quite lucky if you never get any!

 

[JodieD]

Oh, mosquitos we get occasionally but they aren't an issue generally. It's not like they don't exist over here, they do. But I've just never heard the term Skeeter before!

 

[JamieB]

Ok, as for cleaning, if you’re not going to do fish, I’d say drain it, scoop out all the muck, thin the plants a bit, fill it back up, and consider adding hardy water lillies. They are very pretty, smell great, and will do good. Here’s my white, yellow, and pink. I’d add a pump just for movement, just in case, just a small one, the sound of water moving is very tranquil.

 

[JodieD]

Oh pretty!. Is draining ok to do while we seem to have tonnes of tadpoles? There's a couple of frogs too I think, maybe some newts? I'm worried about upseting the current situation!

 

[j.w]

Also if you add water make sure if you have chlorine/chloromine in your water from the public water system then add liquid remover or it will kill your tadpoles. If you have a well you are prolly ok. I would wait to empty any water till the tadpoles are gone as it won't be good for them to have all new water.

 

[JodieD]

We've added some rain water (no mozzies but plenty of rain water!) So hopefully that's better than tap water? Crossed fingers!

 

[j.w]

Yes rain water would be better than treated tap water.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!
Getting good advice up there. Add some water. I would not drain until the tads etc are grown and gone. You might hurt a lot of things if you drain now.