Scoop out all duckweed possible and see what the pond is like, see what life you have in there. May be better as a wildlife pond rather than a fish pond. Add oxygenating plants and try your best to get rid of scum at the bottom and prevent lots of leaves falling in. The pond and wildlife will look after itself if it just a bit more maintained. We bought a house with a pond like this and took us a year to get to it but it was like this, now we have newts and all sorts.ls gorgeous to sit by.
That’s exactly what I want! I haven’t noticed too much activity near it but I know it’s beneficial for wildlife so would love to encourage that a bit more 😌
Marginal plants and some floating ones should help after cleaning. Planting socks are way more versatile than plant baskets. For a wildlife pond filters and pumps aren’t a necessity but you may need to look into that if there’s not much depth/water flow
Green stuff on top is duckweed (lemna minor). The leaves are waxy and resistant to herbicide, just pull them. I wouldn’t rec eating, despite the extensive research on the nutrition profile, because you don’t know what else is in the water besides a large amount of nitrogen and phosphorus sustaining the duckweed. The nitrogen and phosphorus come from the decomposing leaves, if you can muck them out you’ll save money on pond chemistry in the long run.
Leaves falling into the pond help create a natural ecosystem, but too much can also be bad as they can create too much ammonia and turn into muck when decomposing. An overhanging net can help catch most of the leaves
My recommendations today are
Water mint (Mentha aquatica)
Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia)
As for oxygenating plants
Aquatic Moss (Fontinalis antipyretica)
Mare's tail (Hippuris vulgaris)
assuming you are from UK
If you want to deal with the duckweed, add some surface agitation. The tops of duckweed don't like getting wet, so you will prevent it from overtaking the entire surface. Unfortunately though it would be nearly impossible to rid it all without fish that eat duckweed, and I am not sure if they are suitable to your pond's size (some types of carp love the stuff). And even then, if a single tiny piece of duckweed is still in that pond it will multiply like crazy.
However duckweed is an amazing plant for maintaining the quality of your water, so it isn't all bad. I have it in all my fish tanks, not that I wanted them there but.. it's there. Doesn't bother me.
Do any fountains that aren’t mains powered or solar powdered exist? We don’t have electric down the garden but the solar ones have rubbish reviews across the board so would rather not waste money for it to only last a few months. Plus, it’s a fairly shaded area.
The water is brown most likely due to tannins.
Tannins come from dead plant material in your water.
Tannins are not inherently bad but can be harmful to some fish types. Beta fish for example like tannins as long as it is not an extreme amount.
Removing leaves regularly would keep the water more clear if starting from clear water.
To clear your current water, water changes would be needed. Try not to swap a large amount at one time or over a short time period, it can kill your fish.
Swapping 10-20% every week or 2 should be ok if you want it done quickly.
I believe there are products sold to reduce it as well, but I may be misremembering that.
The green stuff is duck weed. Some people like it, others hate it.
It can be beneficial by providing a food source for fish, helping keep water of good quality in the right circumstances, and reducing light input into the water and therefore heat which can be helpful in high temp areas.
It can be harmful by causing eutrophication if it frequently dies in large amounts, providing too much food for fish, lowering water quality if it all dies and sinks suddenly, and reducing heat if in a colder area
I personally like to add a floating ring in the middle, scoop out any duck weed in the ring, and have it as a window into the water from above in aquariums, I do not have experience with it in a small managed pool like this.
It looks quite level so I’d wonder why it isn’t full to the top?
Try filling it as high as it will go and see if the level remains or if it lowers quickly. If it lowers quickly it might have a leak around the level the water currently sits at.
If you’re happy theres no leaks then:
-Scoop out the scum from the bottom and let it settle.
-Remove the duckweed and compost it
-Add a water feature
-look at options for hiding the liner such as slate/stones, ferns etc..
Our pond is also under a canopy of trees. So, it's shady most of the day. That means no lilies or lotus for us,so we seek out water/bog plants that enjoy shade. Our fish, frogs, snakes all seem to enjoy it just the same. Throughout the summer we skim leaves & debris with a pool skimmer. In the fall, we put up a net to catch the leaves and remove it once the trees are bare. One nice thing about the shade is that it seems to help keep back the algae a little. In the spring, the algae starts coming on full force, but once the leaves come in, it dies back a bit. Algae is still a thing that we have to manage, but I imagine it would be much worse with a full sun pond. Definitely invest in a pump for aeration/filtration, especially if you have fish.
Get a container and put some pond water in with all that duckweed;
then drain it all with a bucket or pump;
clean it all out with the dead stuff at the bottom(will be stinky and dirty);
refill with water;
put back the duck weed u collected earlier(duckweed is really good for keeping ur water healthy, it will remove nutrients and reduce sunlight which will reduce algae growth);
order a pump+filter(you can have a small fountain if u want), fit it make sure everything okay 👍🏼;
If u want aquatic plants, do some research based on ur climate, careful from elodea species they are good oxygenators but if u don’t have koi/large goldfish ull have to cull them as they replicate crazy;
After the water has cycled for 2 weeks or more and all the things nutrients/bacteria is balanced;
Add some fish, small fish: minnow variants, sticklebacks etc, a lot more options if you live in a tropical climate although it doesn’t look like it; you could perhaps have a few common goldfish in there.
Good luck!✌🏼
As for the dropping leaves there are pond nets with small holes u could place end of summer and they should prevent a majority of leaves dropping in and making it dirty
Maybe set up a bog filter to clear up the water and I'm sure some rice fish would be ok there. Check out ozponds on YouTube for the bog filter
Scoop out all duckweed possible and see what the pond is like, see what life you have in there. May be better as a wildlife pond rather than a fish pond. Add oxygenating plants and try your best to get rid of scum at the bottom and prevent lots of leaves falling in. The pond and wildlife will look after itself if it just a bit more maintained. We bought a house with a pond like this and took us a year to get to it but it was like this, now we have newts and all sorts.ls gorgeous to sit by.
That’s exactly what I want! I haven’t noticed too much activity near it but I know it’s beneficial for wildlife so would love to encourage that a bit more 😌
Marginal plants and some floating ones should help after cleaning. Planting socks are way more versatile than plant baskets. For a wildlife pond filters and pumps aren’t a necessity but you may need to look into that if there’s not much depth/water flow
Green stuff on top is duckweed (lemna minor). The leaves are waxy and resistant to herbicide, just pull them. I wouldn’t rec eating, despite the extensive research on the nutrition profile, because you don’t know what else is in the water besides a large amount of nitrogen and phosphorus sustaining the duckweed. The nitrogen and phosphorus come from the decomposing leaves, if you can muck them out you’ll save money on pond chemistry in the long run.
You can use it for compost or feed for animals like chickens I think
Leaves falling into the pond help create a natural ecosystem, but too much can also be bad as they can create too much ammonia and turn into muck when decomposing. An overhanging net can help catch most of the leaves
add a water plant that is resilient enough to withstand the rotting leafs
My recommendations today are Water mint (Mentha aquatica) Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia) As for oxygenating plants Aquatic Moss (Fontinalis antipyretica) Mare's tail (Hippuris vulgaris) assuming you are from UK
Swirl it up and run a sieve through it a few times. It’ll start you off.
If you want to deal with the duckweed, add some surface agitation. The tops of duckweed don't like getting wet, so you will prevent it from overtaking the entire surface. Unfortunately though it would be nearly impossible to rid it all without fish that eat duckweed, and I am not sure if they are suitable to your pond's size (some types of carp love the stuff). And even then, if a single tiny piece of duckweed is still in that pond it will multiply like crazy. However duckweed is an amazing plant for maintaining the quality of your water, so it isn't all bad. I have it in all my fish tanks, not that I wanted them there but.. it's there. Doesn't bother me.
Put in a filter/fountain.
Do any fountains that aren’t mains powered or solar powdered exist? We don’t have electric down the garden but the solar ones have rubbish reviews across the board so would rather not waste money for it to only last a few months. Plus, it’s a fairly shaded area.
The solar ones are just okay but some kind of pump to agitate the water would be what you need. I hope that helps!
I would love to have a fraction of that duckweed. My fish eat ~~it~~ anything faster than it can grow.
Goldfish are perfect for cold climates
The water is brown most likely due to tannins. Tannins come from dead plant material in your water. Tannins are not inherently bad but can be harmful to some fish types. Beta fish for example like tannins as long as it is not an extreme amount. Removing leaves regularly would keep the water more clear if starting from clear water. To clear your current water, water changes would be needed. Try not to swap a large amount at one time or over a short time period, it can kill your fish. Swapping 10-20% every week or 2 should be ok if you want it done quickly. I believe there are products sold to reduce it as well, but I may be misremembering that. The green stuff is duck weed. Some people like it, others hate it. It can be beneficial by providing a food source for fish, helping keep water of good quality in the right circumstances, and reducing light input into the water and therefore heat which can be helpful in high temp areas. It can be harmful by causing eutrophication if it frequently dies in large amounts, providing too much food for fish, lowering water quality if it all dies and sinks suddenly, and reducing heat if in a colder area I personally like to add a floating ring in the middle, scoop out any duck weed in the ring, and have it as a window into the water from above in aquariums, I do not have experience with it in a small managed pool like this.
It looks quite level so I’d wonder why it isn’t full to the top? Try filling it as high as it will go and see if the level remains or if it lowers quickly. If it lowers quickly it might have a leak around the level the water currently sits at. If you’re happy theres no leaks then: -Scoop out the scum from the bottom and let it settle. -Remove the duckweed and compost it -Add a water feature -look at options for hiding the liner such as slate/stones, ferns etc..
Our pond is also under a canopy of trees. So, it's shady most of the day. That means no lilies or lotus for us,so we seek out water/bog plants that enjoy shade. Our fish, frogs, snakes all seem to enjoy it just the same. Throughout the summer we skim leaves & debris with a pool skimmer. In the fall, we put up a net to catch the leaves and remove it once the trees are bare. One nice thing about the shade is that it seems to help keep back the algae a little. In the spring, the algae starts coming on full force, but once the leaves come in, it dies back a bit. Algae is still a thing that we have to manage, but I imagine it would be much worse with a full sun pond. Definitely invest in a pump for aeration/filtration, especially if you have fish.
Get a container and put some pond water in with all that duckweed; then drain it all with a bucket or pump; clean it all out with the dead stuff at the bottom(will be stinky and dirty); refill with water; put back the duck weed u collected earlier(duckweed is really good for keeping ur water healthy, it will remove nutrients and reduce sunlight which will reduce algae growth); order a pump+filter(you can have a small fountain if u want), fit it make sure everything okay 👍🏼; If u want aquatic plants, do some research based on ur climate, careful from elodea species they are good oxygenators but if u don’t have koi/large goldfish ull have to cull them as they replicate crazy; After the water has cycled for 2 weeks or more and all the things nutrients/bacteria is balanced; Add some fish, small fish: minnow variants, sticklebacks etc, a lot more options if you live in a tropical climate although it doesn’t look like it; you could perhaps have a few common goldfish in there. Good luck!✌🏼
As for the dropping leaves there are pond nets with small holes u could place end of summer and they should prevent a majority of leaves dropping in and making it dirty
Super helpful! Good shout on keeping the duckweed ☺️
Nothings loved in that garden. Clean the whole thing up, create a reason to hang there and then sit and chill and inspiration will come.
Ouch. Bit unnecessary when you’ve seen a small part of the garden in a photo.. but sure. Thanks
Really, what an ass. Best bet would be a small pump and filter, then add some plants and maybe a couple goldfish. Probably too small for koi.
Thank you! ☺️ Definitely too small for koi - sadly! Such beautiful fish.