Hi everyone, I’m about to buy a house that has a small pond. I will get in probably around the beginning of December. All I know is that it has 3 goldfish and is probably 1 metre deep according to the current owners. What should I do/check as a matter of urgency upon taking the pond over to give the fish the best chance of surviving the (southern English) winter? I guess check the pump and work out how many litres it is? The current owners said they started with 9 fish but the others died over the last winter, they do not seem to know much about ponds. Neither do I to be honest but I have kept tropical freshwater fish before so I’m hoping most of the concepts are the same. I’m mostly concerned that ponds can get the same issue as tanks with ‘old tank syndrome’ and if I start messing with it at the start of winter I’ll do more harm than good. Thank you for any tips!

I dug a relativelyt small nature pond in my garden in autumn with the hopes of frogs and newts and other critters making their way there and setting up a nice habitat. So far i have sludge and loads of green algae. I'm filtering it as best i can with a home made filter and put some oxygenating plants in but these just get coated in algae. I did fill it with tap water and then tried to plant some plants with just normal soil in drained pots which was probably my downfall.

What can i do to kick start this pool of algae sludge into a natural oasis? Im thinking buying bugs, or something ? I scooped some water out into a white tray and there are some tiny tiny critters swimming about but it feels very lifeless in there. Any tips?

Im in the north east uk

Hello all! I have a heated (and inside a greenhouse) 450liter 120gallon pond. There are 4 frogs (native green frogs🤷🏼‍♀️) 2 dozen medaka, 50+ endler guppies, +-6 stickle back bass.

I added the endlers when they started to outgrow their tank indoors. Now they are threatening to overpopulate the pond.

What can I add to reduce the influx of babies? I was hoping the stickle back bass may snack on some but im starting to doubt it 🥲.

Thanks!

TLDR: I want to restore a local pond to it's former glory. Help please.

There is a local pond/lake in my neighborhood. It is in a park that is 12 acres and takes up a decent chunk of it. When I was a kid there were fish, frogs, turtles and all sorts of bugs etc. in the pond. You could also swim if you wanted to. Now 15 years later there are only ducks and other birds and no one swims anymore. The city is doing nothing about restoring/rewilding? the pond. So if I could be sneaky like and do some stuff to help the pond I totally would. I'd love to see it full of life again. I have no idea how I'd go about doing it though. Maybe start with some sort of water test. Help? Tips?

The sound of all the water, the cool air.. gorgeous. Zen.

I have a 50 gal. plastic bio-fall in my pond. I've drained it and plugged the pipes for the winter.
Is there any harm in leaving it uncovered for the winter?
It will get a few inches of water in it and can freeze.
Will that cause any damage to the plastic bio-fall? I'm thinking not since it's open on top and not trapping the ice.

My fountain tipped over last night. I know if I just open the hose the chlorine will hurt the goldfish. I have the liquid conditioner for chlorine. My question is, can I fill it up with tap water and add the conditioner and the fish be fine? The bottle says it takes a bit to work.

I am planning a small Pond for my Garden and found a Build kit with 42sqm and 45000l water. The deepest Part will be 1,8meters and there will be an area for cleaning plants and a dirt collector in the ground. My worries are that the water May become too Hot in the summer. We live in east germany and have around 35^C on some days. May it be better to Switch to the next bigger build kit with 100.000liters? Thanks for any advice

I’m looking at a new pump for my filter. The pump does 14,000 litres per hr, my pond is prob about 8,000 litres. Should I get this one? Would there be any issues having this stronger pump?

Stumbled on a post here about liners being a good idea even if your soil has heavy clay content. Okay, but what about a spring fed pond, or a pond that is near the water table? I'm new to this so my terms might be confused, but essentially: I live on a farm and hope to build a large (~1 acre) nature pond in a fallow field that is approx. 500ft from a small forest creek, and something like 20-40ft higher than the level of that creek. Needing a liner makes the whole project totally unaffordable. So:

• Is the creek equivalent to the "water table" and/or a "spring"?
• Does proximity to the creek mean anything in terms of whether a pond would hold water without a liner/clay?
• Who do I hire to tell me if my notional pond will hold water? My Google research brings up lots of "aquascape" contractors, but I'm not looking for fancy landscape designs with pumps, lights, rocks, etc. I'm really just hoping to dig a big hole, fill it with water (and maybe some fish), and add to the biodiversity.

Good day all, my partner and I have moved into a house with a lovely pond and many fish, and I'd appreciate some guidance on how to take care of it all.
Our goal is to have a healthy, natural ecosystem but hopefully with the water a bit more clear, and no pump unless its necessary (this is seeming to be the case though). We are living in northern Netherlands, as a reference for the climate and indigenous flora. I have some specific questions and more context below, as well as pictures.

We've not been here long, but what we've done so far is fishing out old/dead lilies and leaves that fall in, and we've been feeding the fish. The previous owner told us that the fish should be fed a handful of fish food per day, and itsa some generic cheap fish food that he left us. It seems like there are about 20-30 fish in here, but it's hard to say for certain with how murky the water is. In any case, there's never any food floating still in the morning, so if it's all eaten or sinks to the bottom isn't clear, but I believe it's all eaten. I understand that giving too much food will only contribute to the water being murky, but we've been conservative with the fishfood.
As for the plants, after some brief research I believe that clearing old/dead foliage is the right thing to do, but that introducing more lilies and other plants would compete with the algae or whatever is making the water so green and hopefully clear it up; I also believe the shade from more lilies would be beneficial.
I'm just not 100% sure when the best time for this would be, or if this is the correct course of action as I don't want to rush into it or skip any steps.
One of the previous owners had a pump but took it with them when they moved, that's the reasons for the pipes lying around. We haven't dug around to look at the space that was there, and haven't yet done the research to see which type of pump we should get, if even necessary.
Other things to note is we've been told it's about 1.5m / 5ft deep, there are frogs that we haven't seen but we'd love to have them, and we've found leeches in the pond too, but are happy to leave them be.

In sum, we've inherited a pond and are unsure how to take care of it.

https://preview.redd.it/reqpol675xxd1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e0344291c72f4df45de8096cb385c65f91cf9ee9

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This mass of moss (hah) with grass growing into it isn't connected to much, as trying to pull out old or dead leaves makes the whole thing rock. Should this be removed, or leave it? My instinct is to leave it as a filter and home for small fauna

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We have had ducks for the past year and so far have relied on cleaning and draining multiple pools daily. We are trying to figure out a more permanent and less intensive solution. More aesthetically pleasing would also be a plus. I understand that ducks are inherently dirty/messy and I know that whatever choice we make will have upkeep.

Are there low cost solutions, or is that a pipe dream? I’ve heard that bog filters are good? I just am feeling overwhelmed with all the information out there & would appreciate any and all advice.

I have a small semi-above ground pond. THis is the amalgamation of several small ponds that the fish were added into with new fancy goldfish. My intention was to have a fancy goldfish pond. I had one common goldfish survive and now all the babies are his. I am shocked at how many single tail goldfish I have in the pond now that are all tiny little babies. I can't catch them now, but would be able to over the winter when there are much fewer plants in the pond. I think if I set up a large-ish tote I can get them all out in the early early spring and then just give them away to someone who wants free pond fish? Am I ever going to get rid of them completely? Should I be pulling out what I can now and culling them? I probably have 50-100 that are under 1" long. My pond can't take this bioload coming.

I brought my lotus inside for the winter, put it in a livestock trough and am trying to get some aeration going…. Is this going to be sufficient? Is this even how aeration works? I feel so dumb…. I have no idea how these things work.

Anybody know what these are. Just built this water fall two weeks ago

I currently have a side business of installing and repairing ponds. I have a backyard pond myself, I love growing food, and have professional chef experience. I also enjoy open fire cooking.

I’m thinking about making a course and private community in the very niche niche for functional ecosystem backyards. Ecosystem ponds and water features, perrenial food gardens, cooking with home grown food, and entertaining the family and friends in this specific type of backyard environment.

The course(s) would cover DIY pond building and maintenance, water features, edible and water gardening, along with when it’s time to seek professional help. Culinary tips, recipes, demos. Planting demos, info on urban permaculture principles and things like that.

The community would host virtual events and activities, challenges and contests, q&a and expert guests and more. Possibly even in world meetups.

The group engagement would be gamified, earning points and rewards for reaching levels. Maybe Merch, journals, or personalized coaching or garden layouts for rewards.

What do you think? How much would you pay to be a member in a learning environment like that?

Quick question, in the EPDM has been laid, do I need to protect it and if so how? I’m using it to make a wild pond.

Also, what thickness should I use for longevity?

Thanks

Hello All,

My parents bought a large piece of property a couple weeks ago with a large pond that needs attention. The pond is roughly 1.5acres and is currently being taken over by algea. From what we have been told by the previous owners the pond takes care of it self, but from the looks of it things are off.

I am not sure where to look locally for help of if this is something we can maintain ourselves. This type of work is something I really enjoy doing so I don't mind spending the time on it to get it back into shape if it is something I can tackle.

In the little bit of research I have found this current aeration system (a single fountain type aerator) is severely underperforming which is likely the cause of the algea problem. This is likely due to not maintenance being done on the system in a while. You can see from the photo there is very little water coming out of the fountain. Not sure if this style system is effective for this size pond or if we should look into a diffusion type system. After we get the aeration system sorted out what are our next steps some something like this? Are there any good online resources that are recommended?

Pond Specs
- Roughly 1.5acres in size
- Pond is lined and roughly 9ft deep in the middle
- The pond does not have an external streams connected to it.
- The perimeter is very over grown, there are a couple spots you can stand on to fish from, but they are limited.
- There is a ton of Algea in it currently
- Single fountain style aerator currently
- There are currently Large Mouth (8-12" not sure on weight) and Koi (24+") in it that we know of so far.

Middle of the Pond

North side of the pond

South side of the pond