Complete pond Cleaning?

[Jermz79]

I just bought a new house and in the back yard is a nice little pond setup! Only problem is that it is very nasty looking and dirty! I want to drain the whole thing and start from scratch.

Right now it has three small goldfish in there and one side of the pond (the overflow side) is not working! What would be the best way to accomplish this?

What are some options to brighten it up a little, the liner is black and you can barely see in the water! maybe white gravel in the bottom ... I don't know!

Thanks for any input!
Jermz

[boroughmal]

with a liner it is very hard to see to the bottom, but if the water is crystal clear then you can.
White gravell soon turns green with the algae growth.
Concentrate on putting the best filtration system you can afford and if you cant then add it gradually.
There will be no need for the gravell then..
Regards
www.fishkeepingsupplies.com
Aquarium and Fish Supply Tropical

What do you mean by the overflow side isnt working? Is this where the lowest point of the pond is that the water flows out of? Why isnt it working?

You can make a 50 gallon filter for $60-80 or so that will do for most ponds. Its a waterfall filter. How big is it?

As for brightening it up just plant some plants around the edges, put some lilies in, bog plants, etc etc etc and that will brighten it.

Dont put gravel in there, it will get covered with muck in a month and you wont be able to tell its color. Very hard to clean as well. So the whole point of the gravel (brightening it up) would last you 2 weeks or so then its brightness is gone.

[Jermz79]

Thanks guys! I haven't messed with anything yet ... gonna be a whole weekend project!

What I said about the overflow side not working is the pond I have is split into two pieces, one side sits a little higher than the other and flows into the other side. It seems as though the pump is not working properly on that side so the water is sitting stagnant.

I'm not going to put the gravel in, I decided the same thing you guys mentioned ... to much nastiness building up in there!

I will probably need a new pump as the one that's in there is definitely not enough flow for the pond and it keeps getting clogged!

I guess what I'll have to do is drain it down until I can catch the few fish in there and then return them to the [acronym:2fe17c3e1c="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:2fe17c3e1c] until I can get the pond back to working condition!
It works now, but I know if I was a fish I wouldn't want to live in there ... ewwwww!!!!



Thanks again
Jermz

[RogerMcAllen]

Don't you have something lying around that you could keep the fish in until you get the pond clean? Anything like a large bucket or rubbermade bin? I know that I'd much rather live in a bucket for a few days than go back to a [acronym:07e0ff20d9="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:07e0ff20d9].

[Jermz79]

Yeah I do, But on other hand my [acronym:821791a0b4="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:821791a0b4] is fantastic! I know the owner and he is awesome with keeping fish and making sure things are done correctly. I wouldn't doubt anything he tells me. I may just keep them though. Who knows?