patient77
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Apr 13, 2007, 1:30 PM
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bought a house with small pond, can anyone help a newbie pond owner?
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Here are the issues I am having. At the start of spring, I used Tetrapond algae control. Suddenly, my pond became cloudy and green. I'm not sure if it was the chemical I put in, or just the change in weather. My liner is very slimy and discolored....
I was hoping someone more experienced could help me with questions on cleaning my pond. What is the best way to clean my liner? The guy at the fish store said to empty the pond, and use a 90 pct water/10 pct bleach solution and scrub all the gunk off the liner. Does that sound right?
Next, after cleaning the liner, should I use completely fresh tap water to refill the pond? I bought the Tetrapond Water Treatment stuff that takes the chlorine and other stuff out to make the tap water okay for my koi and goldfish. OR, should i fill something like half my pond with new tap water and the other half with the old water that had some algae and junk in it. Tetrapond website says to only replace 30 pct of the water with new water, but I'd really like to get a clear pond... I'd hate to fill my new pond with new tap water and then have all my fish die because I didn't calculate the right amount of water treatment solution or forgot to do something else....
Is replacing some or all the pond water a frequent part of pond maintenance, or something that is done very rarely? And what would you recommend is the safest way to clean a dirty pond liner, as I'm pretty sure using soap and water could be dangerous to the fish.Any help appreciated. Thank you very much..
Edit to my original post with further details:
I live in Zone 7, Maryland. My pond is pretty small, my estimation is 6 feet by 6 feet and i guess 2.5 to 3 foot deep. I have 11 small golfish and 3 small koi fish, the smallest around 5 inches, the largest, 8 inches. No plants. I have a biological filter I'm told, which sucks water from the bottom, goes through a bag of pellets/stones in a filter, and pumps back into the pond. I'm looking for a very low maintenance pond that is basically clear. My wife just bought a couple of plants from the pet store that I assume we just throw on top of the water. They came prepackaged for ponds.
The algae isn't that bad, definitely not anything I can scoop. I moved into the house last October, and run the filter 24 hours a day. At the time I moved in, to up until a few weeks ago, I could see the bottom of my pond. However, after adding that Tetrapond algae control and the change in weather, its been cloudy and I can't see my fish unless they are on top. I cleaned the filter about once every two weeks in the fall and everything was great. Turned off the filter during the ice and winter, and restarted it in early March.
My wife really wants me to change the water and to clean the bottom of the liner, as it looks pretty gross.
Should cleaning the liner and replacing most of the water be avoided completely? It would seem like a logical way to "restart" fresh and clear.
I just read a bunch of articles online, and most say to avoid chemicals such as bleach, so i'll definitely avoid that. Most say to just power wash the liner with a garden hose and brush the gunk off with towels, etc....
(This post was edited by patient77 on Apr 13, 2007, 2:02 PM)
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