Dusty's Pond Dilemma

I moved into Cookies old house the week of Thanksgiving 2008....We are Zone 6a/6b Ohio, just south of Dayton....Cookie built this pond, put in plants and fish, and did pretty good with it for a couple years...Till Bro decided he wanted the house next door, and they moved last Spring...Cookie busted her hinnie getting all of her plants moved over there into new gardens all last year into Dec...She had no clue I would be coming into this house then...She did not winterize the pond, didn't net it, and basically left it to fend for itself...No heater to break the ice, nothing...When I got here the end of Nov., I had no clue what to do with it...except don't feed the fish...
I have lived in Florida most of my life, gardened and ponded there on the balmy Gulf Coast...Please don't ask why I am here in OH...Suffice it to say it was NOT my choice of places to be, but now I am trying to deal with it...I have been up here nearly 4 years now...and am finally at home...I am in my 60's with a disabled hubby, and I just finally retired on SS...I can still do alot of things, but pay for it later on usually...
I now have a leak somewhere, most likely in the waterfall...I heaved out quite a few huge boulders, and it slowed considerably...As of this weekend, Cookie aquired a pond liner 25x36 feet, some massive rocks and a Savio filtration system...so she will have her new pond at her new house....In this existing pond at MY house, I have some Koi, and some Shubunkins...and some lil kids that are only about an inch long...Can't tell if they are Bunkies or baby Koi yet...
On Wednesday I put in the Fall/Winter treatment after calling Microbelift...Any water under 55* needs the Fall/Winter treatment....For my zone, it was suggested I use that one from September thru April, and May thru August to use the Spring summer one...He told me to wait 24 hours and dump in the Sludge remover which I did on Thursday and fired up the pump...I have done nothing yet other than surface skim the leaves, and clean out the waterfall and I put in the Sludge remover...The pond has cleared already by alot, but it is a pig wallow pit ...
There are rocks on the bottom, and many plant holding containers that will soon be divided and most gone....There is a ton of the green machine algae already into production...
With Sis taking alot of the plants (thankfully), and I offered all of the Koi to go and I keep the Bunkies...I can house them in my 250 gal preform pond for a holding spot until I completely refurbish everything...
I will get some better, close up shots tomorrow hopefully...

Cookie in the meanwhile is laying out the hose to shape her new pond diggings... Hopefully she will join me here soon...

This is a shot Cookie took last Spring...

This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 10:03 PM

Great pond and looks like spring has sprung:) Looking forward to more pics!

Thank you Evesta...That was taken last year....This one was taken today...

Here are some of the *Kids*

Those aren't just kids but teenagers! They look in good shape and are happily swimming about!

This is what I am attempting to accomplish with this waterfall once it is demo'ed and redone...With the current leak, I have a great excuse...
All rocks will be removed, and the liner checked and replaced if necessary, and the waterfall will be built up and a couple bog spots added....There are lilys, lotus, and iris in the pond at the moment...which will be cleaned up and divided, and I used the mesh pots in Florida and have ordered them for here too.....

I have noticed after reading all of the threads, that most of you say not to have rocks in the bottom of the pond, because it breeds nasties... This pond is currently full of rocks...and I am asking for advice on what to do about them...Northern ponds are far different than Florida ponds...

Okay, spring hasn't sprung:( Looks like my gloomy yard but I do love your hill. I dream of a hill (flat prarie land). You are probably having culture shock from the weather! LOL

I would personally pull the rocks off the bottom and leave them on the sides and shallows. You could set up a retro bottom drain then, which would be easier then installing a regular one now. If you leave the rocks you will need to basically drain and remove them yearly to get all the mulm (fish poo) off the bottom.

After 4 years up here, I am actually acclimated fairly well...I go out in my jammies in 15* to refill bird feeders... LOL

Thank you for the reinforcement on the rock bottom...After seeing all of your posts, I highly respect your opinions....I think the best thing I can do for this pond is to strip it to the bones and redo it...and with you alls help, I can hopefully get it right...
I plan on using some tall Viburnums at the back of the filter box to begin that woodsy look to the top of the waterfall...There will be a small sitting area up there to **Look down** and there will be an arbor enclosure at the bottom to the side of the pond that will hold my swing...and there will be a stone firepit between the pond and the arbor....I am a Veteran, and am planting a Veterans Memorial Garden on that slope to the left of the waterfall, and I want the pond to be incorporated into it, for a place of peace and reflection....I am also Native American, so the fire, water and earth have special meaning to me....

Evesta.. do you have any links for a retro drain, just in case I can't manage a built in in the liner??

Aquaart.com has some good ones and pics of how to install one.

I removed all of the rocks from the waterfall yesterday, including some rather large boulders since we got up to 59*...When I went out to start on it, I noticed that the area near the filterbox was still wet looking and again about midway down the slope on that same side was wetter looking than the rest of the dirt around the area...I kind of expected that since I had rinsed the filters there last week...Once I started pulling back rocks in those 2 areas, I found 2 leaks immediately, where rocks in the falls were causing water to back up, and over some liner folds....Then I noticed a large flat rock under the spill from the filter had a deep crack and was causing a splash sharp enough to splatter over the nearby boulder and behind it over the liner...Voila!! Leak # 3...
When I went into the falls to remove the big rocks that were diverting the water for Leaks 1 & 2, I discovered #4...So everything out of the falls...I topped off the pond and marked the water level, and it is still there today...so all I need to do now is rebuild the water fall instead of the whole pond...LOL That gives me the opportunity to get that slow natural creek look I am after in the pic above with the arbor...Once I got all of those rocks out, I found some nice deep well pockets there that I can use for planting...I am after a much simpler rock on the sides than most of those large boulders...I will keep a few to accent in the Vets Garden around the pond but most will go next door to Cookies new pond...I'm talking some HUGE boulders here... LOL
I have a dear friend that is a landscaper, and she has offered the suggestion of Viburnum bushes behind the filterbox and falls for the height and woodsy look I'm after...Some get 10-12 feet tall and would be perfect there...I am getting antsy to get started on cleaning out the pond, and I am looking into that bottom drain, and getting one put in...

Photo journal to follow soon...

Sounds like you've been working hard!!! Can't wait to see pics:)

I want to see them too!

Nothing much to see except the empty liner in the fall at the moment, but I will get some better closeup shots of the mess tomorrow... LOL