Pond Maintainence Problem

[col_hf]

After losing my last two Koi last year in the summer (12 year old ) I let my pond go into a sorry state, even tho' there was still a lot of goldfish in it, about 5 weeks ago a friend of mine asked if I could take her aged father's koi as he was no longer well enough to manage his pond. my first reaction was no I couldnt possibly the state my pond was in, so I got to thinking I'll spend some time and get it ship shape,unfortunately the UVlight gubbins were beyond repair so I invested in a 25watt clarifier with the two fillters in tandem. The UV clarifier anf fillters have been running for over a week now and although ive cleaned loads of sludge out of the fillers 3 times now the water is still green and murky, I have used a sludge treatment twice now, on thursday I filled a large plastic box with water straight from the fillter outlet and let it stand for 24 hours, and guess what the sediment had settled on the bottom and the water was clear! so everthing is working as it should, but as soon as i disturbed it, it went murky again, so it looks like the pump and outlet is aggitating the water and mixing the sludge at the bottom into the water, so yesterday evening I switched the pump off and when I went out this morning it was a lot more settled and visibility was improved !! so how do I solve this ? before I started all this I used a make shift solids pump to vac the bottom of the pond, and I am thinking maybe I have damaged the liner and mud and dirt are infiltrating !!! photo of set up and prior to starting the clean up

 

[col_hf]

sorry about the multiple photo please feel free to delete duplicates

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Quite a bit of sediment can accumulate in a pond that just 'sits' for a year.
I would recommend draining and cleaning. This is the quickest and most effective method of removing all of the sediment. A pump, as you used before, will work only if you continuously change the location of the pump or you can try a wet/dry vacuum.
Draining and cleaning is recommended. Overall quicker and more thorough.

 

[sissy]

I would just net the bottom since you are already filtering the water and you have good water already since goldfish were in there .Just get a swimming pool net .You are on your way to nice pond again already

 

[col_hf]

sorry about the multiple photo please feel free to delete duplicates

Quite a bit of sediment can accumulate in a pond that just 'sits' for a year.
I would recommend draining and cleaning. This is the quickest and most effective method of removing all of the sediment. A pump, as you used before, will work only if you continuously change the location of the pump or you can try a wet/dry vacuum.
Draining and cleaning is recommended. Overall quicker and more thorough.

Yes that is one of my options but the problem is removing the fish that I cant see, I would need to pump the water out and Im frightend I might cause damage to the fish,

 

[DutchMuch]

by pumping water out, with a guard, you wont.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Yes that is one of my options but the problem is removing the fish that I cant see, I would need to pump the water out and Im frightend I might cause damage to the fish,

A typical mag-drive submersible pump will not cause any harm to the fish. Stop pumping when you get to 6"-10" inches of water. You will be able to see all of the fish and they will be easier to catch.

 

[col_hf]

after turning the pump off again early evening and all night when I looked this morning the water was very settled (not clear by a long way) but the goldfish came to feed and I could see roughly 4 to 6 " into the water, I was amazed how many hard to count when theyare swimming about in a frenzie feeding but a guesstimate would be around 40 odd including a few 6 to 8 " that I hadnt seen since last year and the new born fry from this year, so I am going to leave the pump off for another 24 hours to see what its like .And take some pics

 

[col_hf]

I would just net the bottom since you are already filtering the water and you have good water already since goldfish were in there .Just get a swimming pool net .You are on your way to nice pond again already

A net wont gather whatever the problematic material is! its too fine it even passes thro' the fillters

 

[Faebinder]

Meyers suggestion is the fastest for sure.

 

[col_hf]

Meyers suggestion is the fastest for sure.

might have to resort to this, I'd like to empty as much water as I can thro' my UV and fillters into a container, might buy a small paddling pool for this, as the water comming from the fillters is pretty clean

 

[sissy]

quilt batting in a crate and hose from pump in it and all the fine stuff will get picked up

 

[col_hf]

after turning the pump off again early evening and all night when I looked this morning the water was very settled (not clear by a long way) but the goldfish came to feed and I could see roughly 4 to 6 " into the water, I was amazed how many hard to count when theyare swimming about in a frenzie feeding but a guesstimate would be around 40 odd including a few 6 to 8 " that I hadnt seen since last year and the new born fry from this year, so I am going to leave the pump off for another 24 hours to see what its like .And take some pics

with the pump now been off for 48 hrs its even clearer, mind you I did tape a piece of fairly close mesh netting on the end of a sump pump which I had lashed to a pole and sucked out roughly 50 gallons of muddy water from the deepest part of the pond,, then refilled with filltered rain water that I collect in a 50 gallon tank, A question why do people pay up to £300 for a pump when you can by a submersible continuous running pump for under £30 is it because of the wattage ??

 

[MitchM]

... A question why do people pay up to £300 for a pump when you can by a submersible continuous running pump for under £30 is it because of the wattage ?? View attachment 100322

Higher priced equipment will typically come with longer lasting components.
Metal gears vs plastic gears, higher quality control for electrical components, the shielding on the electrical cord will be designed to withstand UV light, be more flexible and withstand more temperature extremes.
That type of thing.

 

[Lisak1]

@MitchM beat me to the answer - those submersible sump pumps are great to have when you have a pond. I use mine to pump water out of the pond to water my plants, among other things. But they aren't designed to run continuously the way a pond pump needs to.