Help with a Pond

Hi there, me and my partner are moving house in 5 weeks. The house is rented so we don't want to spend a huge amount on the garden but i would like it to be my style and look nice. I very much want a wildlife/cottage garden. The garden is very large and there is a big pond, i would say approx 12ft x 7ft and i have no idea how deep it is.
The person who had the cottage before had dogs and obviously no idea about gardening as it's all over the place, no sturcture and they let the dogs do as they pleased. Before they moved in there were apparently fish in the pond but no more. The pond is brown and stagnent and has no form of life left! What i need to know is how on earth can i clean the pond up so it will be habitable for plants and animals?? I would like to do it without emptying it, but if this is the only option then it will have to be done.
Many Thanks In Advance Phillipa XX

 

Hi Phill,

If it`s been neglected for a long time chances are it`ll be half full of leaves and debris.

You may have to get your waders on and clean as much debris out of the bottom as possible..it won`t smell great as it`ll be anaerobic

You need to get the water moving to increase the oxygen levels, this will make the water a lot healthier.
A small fountain would be sufficient.

If you plan on having fish then you will also need a biofilter that will convert the ammonia from the fish into nitrates (via the nitrogen cycle)

In short:
If you aim for well aerated, flowing water with plenty of plants (which compete against the algae for nutrients) you should end up with a healthy pond full of fish that doesn`t need chemicals or uv`s or the like

 

Oh thats Brilliant! Thank you so much! At least i wont need to empty the pond just the muck! I don't mind that one bit. It should be great once done, now i just need to search for some bog loving plants! The garden itself is southfacing with not much shade but the ground is very boggy indeed.

 

Just to add leave some silt in the bottom for the creatures who live there and in turn become food for others or hatch out and fly away. I have all sorts of things in my pond and when I have to remove weed overgrowth, I hang it over the pond in netting so as the pond snails and lots of things, I have no idea what they are, can return to their home. If you have goldfish you will have little else.

 

Thank you for that! I would have just removed everything! Some wildlife pond it would be then eh! lol

 

Don't throw that lovely pond muck away either - it's full of goodies and roses especially love it when it's drained a bit then forked in.

 

OOh Really!! Thats great! I've never grown roses before but was planning on having a rambler somewhere in the garden!