Pond help

Zebrano

Hi All

Looking for some help. Recently moved into a new house that has a pond (no previous experience with ponds). It is 16,000 litre and has lots of fish in it (maybe 40?), possibly gold fish. As the weather began to warm the water has turned green and on hot days it smells a little. There is a green box with a UV light and no pump at the side of the pond (used to filter the water?). I followed the wire coming out of the green box into the ground but it just ended, wasn't connected to anything so Im not sure when it last worked.

I know the long term solution is to buy a new filter pump, but with just moving funds are tight. Is there a shorter term solution to getting rid of the green colour?

Any help will be really appreciated. Thanks

Day Lewin

The following are short-term solutions, but none will work as well as installing a pump or filtering the water.

1. Install pond plants: especially Elodia: you can get this at any place that sells goldfish. Do not ever let this plant escape into open water! It spreads rapidly into clumps and is a great oxygenator. There are other water plants that also do this but they are harder to find. Even Cress and Brooklime from any stream or pond-edge will help.
2. Fill a bucket with tap water and leave it to stand overnight. (Do this every night for a week) Next day, - every day, for a week - remove a bucketful of the dirty pond water, pour it away, and trickle in the clean one that has aired overnight. I let the water trickle in by pouring it into a large water-container that has a tiny hole punched near the bottom; I stand this on a plank over the pond and the water trails out in a thin stream that makes a nice rippling noise; it also picks up more oxygen as it falls through the air.
3. Console yourself that goldfish don't need much oxygen, birds will bring in duckweed, and nature will restore balance eventually anyway.

Have fun, and don't quit too soon on your pond: there is nothing better for bringing wildlife into a garden.

Discodog

Plants will be choked by algae. You really have to install a pump, the UV lamp is pointless without it. The smell is worrying as it may be hydrogen sulphide (rotten eggs).

Changing one gallon in 4000 won't do anything. I would spray a garden hose on to the pond every night to agitate & oxygenate the water. As an emergency measure you could use a chemical treatment.

goz83

I appreciate that funds are tight, but you really, really need to get this sorted, or you will lose fish.

The smell is probably from fish spawning. This is their spawning season and it makes the water cloudy and smells fishy.

The green water is algae and it's there because of excess nutrients (fish food/waste, leaves, grass and anything decomposing in the pond.

16000 litres is a fair sized pond too. Can you upload a picture?

What you must do right away is get a pump and a new UV bulb. You could get a pump second hand on adverts or donedeal, but the UV needs to be new and should be replaced at least once per year.

You can also build a bigger filter using a couple of barrels (also for sale on adverts/donedeal etc). If you need advice, pm me and I will try help. I just finished a pond build and a DIY filter system which is in this forum.

blackbox

What plants are currently in the pond?

Ideally if you have established water lilies that cover two thirds of the surface your water shouldn't go too green, especially if there are oxygenating plants such as elodea canadensis. i.e. it should be perfectly safe for fish, but probably still quite cloudy

A pump and UV filter should take it to the next level of clarity, though you may still get blanket weed (filamentous algae) that looks like green hair.

You'll always get a swampy smell if you disturb the mud at the bottom, but if there is a bad smell I'd suspect that there is something dead in there. You should try to locate and remove this ASAP.

A photo would be a great help.

Zebrano

Thanks for all the replies
As much as id like to the money is just not there at the moment
And i reckon its been 4 or 5 years since the pump or uv worked

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Here is a picture of the pond
If i drain the pond and clean it out will this help

goz83

Zebrano wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies
As much as id like to the money is just not there at the moment
And i reckon its been 4 or 5 years since the pump or uv worked

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Here is a picture of the pond
If i drain the pond and clean it out will this help

You can't see what is in there (dead, or alive).

If you can't get a pump or UV, the next best option is to rehome the fish.

Water changes are not just helpful...they are essential. But you can't get rid of algae without dealing with the source as best you can (nutritents in the water and hours of sunlight per day) and also having adequate UV filtration. You should be changing 10-20% of the water at least weekly because the water quality is poor. Without a pump, this becomes more difficult, unless you happen to have a drain valve on the pond?

You will need to siphon the water out. I would do a 25% water change and then 20% changes every week throughout the summer. If you siphon with a regular hose, you are pretty much going to have the siphon action constantly, as you will maybe draw 1000 litres per day.

If you decide to revamp the pond, you are going to need a pump which will do a good 30k+ litres per hour and a 55w UV filter. The pond could be transformed into something you are proud of.


I also would not recommend fully draining the pond unless you have somewhere to home the fish. If you put them into chlorinated water, you will lose some or all of the fish. You need to wait a few days before the water is safe for the fish.....and ideally, 5 or 6 weeks for it to cycle.

However, without proper filtration, you will very soon have the issue again.

gillad

A water change is a the best action to take now.You can hire a pump from a hire shop and pump out 25/30% of the water and refill...maybe do it again after a week or so,cut down on feeding fish,they can survive without food for some time.
Direct sunlight is causing the rapid green growth so covering the pond will help and should be easy because of the metal frame.If you can cover it with something that will keep the heat off the pond will also help.
You can cover it it cheaply with cardbord boxes.