Help! Our pond is disgusting. How do we 'revive' it?

Question

We have a pond that's about 20 square feet and it's disgusting!!! My parents and I worked really hard putting in the pond lining (that stuff that keeps the water in), setting and aligning stones all over the bottom and sides (so it's a rock pond), and filling it, but it's all gross now. The water level is always down no matter how much we fill it. There are literally millions of bugs, swarming around including wasps and biting flies. The rocks are covered in algae and slippery. We live in a place where deer and moose come to drink out of and lie down in the pond, so its not good that it's so slippery. How to we 'revive' our pond? Should we just hang a lot of fly and hornet traps? Drain the pond and scrub it out? We have a stone fountain, that runs down the rocks, down a rock path, and into the pond. Should we turn it on a lot to keep the bugs out? We live in northern Utah, so it freezes over every month - do we have to clean it every spring? How do we keep it looking good? Please help!! Thanks so much!!!

Answer 1

It may still require a little "pre-cleaning", but the Green Gardenista also recommends Barley Bales as a cheap, safe, relatively low maintenance way to keep algae and scum out of ponds.  Here's a link for further info:

http://www.greengardenista.com/blog/revi...

You can probably ask her for more information if you need to, it sounds like she has quite a bit of professional experience with pond upkeep!

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Chris

Answer 2

If you are not keeping fish in it you will have to chlorinate it.  You might try to rig up a filter for the pump that pumps the water up to the fountain and clean it often until the water clears.  The chlorine isn't the greatest for the deer and moose but you might put out a watering trough for them.

Answer 3

It either has a hole in the liner or the animals are drinking a lot out of it.  Fence it off so the animals cannot get to it.  You need to do this or the pond is a loss so fill it in.  After the animals are locked out fill it and watch if it goes down in a day.  If it does tgo down more than in inch or two then there is a leak where the water level stops going down (make sence?).  After you find the hole(s) you will have to patch that with tire patch.  The animals could have easily poked holes in it.  Repeat process until all is fixed.  Once this is taken care of I would consider partially draining it and cleaning it out from the crud that is obviously in it from the animals.  You do not have to get it sparkle clean but do the best you can.  Then fill it, turn on the fountain, maybe add a few water spout fountains to circulate the water, add plants and fish, either minnows or goldfish for cold weather.  All this will help keep it clean and keep the bugs down.  Hardy pond lillies and underwater plants will also help keep the water clean.  Search ebay or google for these and you can easily order them on line.  A healthy pond will also attract frogs, dragonflies, birds and toads that will also help keep bugs down.  Good luck.

Answer 4

If the animals are taking a dip in the pool then they might have put a small leak in it as well.  Check to see where the water line drop to and then look for a small puncture at that level all around the pond.   Pond liner patches can give you a temporary fix. If you want to keep mosquitos away

#1.  they don't like running water

#2. Use mosquito dunks.

Completely Safe

This biological pest control product kills mosquito larvae but is completely non-toxic to animals such as fish, birds, wildlife and pets. Each individual dunk will last up to 30 days in standing water and will cover 100 square feet of surface.  Safe to use in pet watering bowls, horse troughs, lakes, bird baths, fish ponds, flower pots, aquatic gardens, flood control basins, unused swimming pools and other areas where standing water is a possible breeding ground for mosquitoes.  Can be used with Mosquito Bits.

http://www.pestproducts.com/mosquito_dun...

#3. As for the rest of the bugs get a good zapper.

#4. The algae, it depends on what kind of algae you have before you know how to get rid of it.