Just a little off topic... Ponds!

Untamedrose · Jul 9, 2016

We bought this house a few months back, mostly cause I well fell in love with the "studio" and it came with this killer back yard got an acre of land 95% is in the back yard( no front yard whole like 15 feet of road side lol). Roughly a quarter of it is...a rose garden little paths arches and a koi pond. House was and in someways still is fixer upper..but it was 40k under budget in a good neighborhood we couldnt pass.

Kio pond is the issue I'd like to ask yall about...sure some of you have one.(Yes I know there are pond forums but already kinda here)
It came with two pumps, that move water up to a top pond and an altered table fountain.
No filters, no UV's nothing.
The water chem is perfect least everything I can test for.
The fish are happy(all goldfish 3 came with it are over 8 inches and we added ten more which have at least doubled in size in a month)
Mad froggy love going on too.(which I believe is a great sign to water quality)

BUT it looks horrible!
There is a pine tree, that dumps all kinds of pine needles in it...plus cones...and OMG spring when it was just solid yellow.
Cant see more then an inch down into the water.
Massive amount of black tarp visible.
Totally unnatural look.

I've spent the past few months...working on the home and the studio, my little sis got married it's been a mess.....ready to start on the pond/garden. which as you can see is also a mess from months of neglect...

Ignore the bucket...one of the pumps stopped working got it soaking in vinegar bath but pretty sure it's dead.

So pretend this is your mess for a moment....how would you fix it?

My hubby wants to drain it all, rip out plastic pour in concrete, mash rocks in the edging to seem more natural.. I am hesitant...for everything horribly wrong something is working. Yet to Fill this pond..yet to drag hose over to it... levels havnt dropped, yes there has been rain BUT kinda wondering if previous owns tapped a spring here.

Also how do I figure out how much water is here? seems to vary from 3 and half feet deep to a foot in the main bit.

Untamedrose · Jul 9, 2016

Been looking at the tetra water fountain filter, and a new 1000 gph pump. Which realistically...is another layer of plastic tubs, the filters through media filter, though " lava rocks in a bag" ..least I can clean that out.
and toss out the rotting wood/vase thing...

Diesel · Jul 9, 2016

Re do the complete pond.
It,s in the wrong location for a koi/fish pond with all the pine needles.
But that's not the worst, you have no biological filtration set up for the size of the pond.
Water need to be skimmed off in order to get rid off the the debris that will fall in and it will have no time to collect and sink to the bottom of the pond.
Not sure what the pond is made from but it ain't look like a pond liner to me.
Water flow is important too and you need at least turn the pond volume around 5 times in a hour time or more.

Untamedrose · Jul 9, 2016

Re do/move isnt going to happen.... if I redo..it's to fill in plant more roses and not move eastern NC it's all pine trees here.
Plus again chem wise it's fine, fish are doing fine.... it's a looks thing.

No idea what the pond liner is ...does appear to be several layer of it FBOW.

Water flow yes i seriously need to up that. will fix that.

Diesel · Jul 9, 2016

Ok fair, but at least ask a second opinion from a pond builder in your area.
Can't go wrong with that, I have been building ponds for 35+ years, first in Europe and now here in Texas.

kschweer · Jul 9, 2016

I install ponds and water features for a living. My suggestion would be the same as the others, tear it out and start from scratch. I would go with a liner pond with a skimmer (to skim debris) and a waterfall with biological media in it. Take a look at the aquascape products. They sell different size kits or you can order everything separate to customize what you want. Just to throw it out there a correct full rebuild for a pond that size won't come cheap. Best of luck. Any other questions feel free to ask.

Untamedrose · Jul 9, 2016

There are least 15 30-40 foot pines in the back another 4 in the front. Most of it is shaded all day long.. where the pond is 50% shaded.

Found a pond expert company about an hour away but sent them an email. Im not paying anyone to come fix it but will hear them out.

Yall know that ponds been there like a decade at least...

erinmegan85 · Jul 10, 2016

I live in Eastern NC too, and I hear you on the pine tree thing. We live in the middle of the Croatan National Forest, so we have plenty around. As for the pond, I know nothing about them, but I would think that something has to be working right if your fish are thriving and growing. Maybe there's some kind of plant or something that you could put to cover the liner on the rounded side. (Some kind of moss or something) Maybe even add more rock to cover it up? I'm not sure about the one side in the rectangular part though. That's a tough one.

DanConnor · Jul 15, 2016

It would make a nice planted boggy pond. The problem is the bare ground around it that looks like a chicken yard. I would plant the heavily with big leaved plants like hostas or Petasites japonica, and put a lot of emergent plants in the pond. And I would take out the bridge; that is just silly.

I'm no expert though, I just have half a plastic water tank in my back yard with a flowering lotus. :-)

Untamedrose · Jul 15, 2016

Rose garden has been weeded....

Took out the vintage vase thing...added a filter waterfall and a MUCH larger pump in a plastic tote wrapped in quilting batting that seems to be helping a lot with clarity.

Bridge ...ok likely a little silly...also not sure I'd ever clean it get to the pumps without it.... I gotta lay on that to get the pine straw out.

Kinda looks smaller in the photos.. but talkin a good 6 x8 pond plus the bump and top layers.