Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? What to do with this pond!

I have a 1/3 acre pond on my property in SE Texas that my ex-husband always took care of. Now it's mine to take care of. I have two issues with it. The first and main one being that the land stays wet around the top outside perimeter about 2-3 feet wide, making it hard to mow. Could it be pond leakage? I don't think the pond is overflowing but, maybe it is. I am guessing I need to build up the sides to contain it more? Second, since the pond has been the least of my worries the past 3 years it is now full of scum. I have tried a few chemicals from Tractor Supply but nothing has worked so far. I know the pond isn't very deep and I would like to have it dug deeper at some point. I know the pond isn't very deep and I would like to have it dug deeper at some point. Honestly, I don't really even know where to start!

Junkie,
What do you eventually want to do with the pond? Fish, swim, just look at it? I would start with that, your ultimate goal for your pond. How big is it?

The "scum" looks like a type of algae from the pics. Make sure of what it is, then use a chemical designed to combat it. You can find web sites to compare what you have, or one of the experts here on the site may ask for closer or better pictures to help you decide how to treat the "scum".

OH, and WELCOME. We have a whole bunch of Texans bumming around on this site. Sometimes the rest of us feel outnumbered.

I think you could have a big improvement if you go out on a windy day and go to the down wind side with a rake and rake the algae out. Or have a kid do it. You could treat with chemical after that.

Firstoff, Welcome from deep east Texas. I too am a baseball junkie. Coached little league for about 15 years,Even went to the little league world series in Williamsport Pa. a couple of years ago. What part of Texas are you in? These nice and SMART people on the forum have helped me with my pond since digging in 2014. Ask lots of questions and good luck!! Subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine. You will love it!!

What you want to do with the pond will help determine the route you take. Most of that floating scum appears to be filamentous algae. It is very common if you see "FA" on this stie, that is what we are referring to. You can treat it with types of fish that eat it, chemicals, hand removal, and water dye to keep from getting it into your pond.

If you treat it chemical, and have fish in there, as FA dies it will remove oxygen from the water and could cause the fish to die. You can kill FA off in parts, but a one time treatment may cause fish to die. Even if you don't care about fish, it can be a smelly problem for several weeks.

If you use tilapia fish, they will eat it, but die in the winter. That's good and bad.

Dye will keep it from growing, but won't do much for what is there. It need to be put out in winter before it starts to grow.

Soft edges are normal, and always a challenge to mow. Weed eater, push mower, or a quality pole hedge triimer will work.

As mentioned, goals are important. Regardless of the path that you take, I would recommend confirming the size of the pond so that you can be sure you are applying chemicals, fish, etc...at the proper rate. If the pond is visible on google satellite imagery, you can use the following tool to draw a perimeter around the pond for an estimate.
Planimeter

I mention this b/c the pond looks a bit smaller than 1/3 acre to me, although pictures can be very deceiving.

For the marshy banks, it looks like the surrounding banks are at nearly the same elevation as the water line. If you have the ability drop the water level a few inches it may make a big difference. If the pond is just an excavated hole in the ground, you may not have that luxury.

CMM, I eventually would like to fish it with my now one year old grandson. I think it is smaller than 1/3 acre but I used the google satellite Planimeter and it said it was .03333 acres. Thanks for the welcome!

Coldsprings, does 0.3333 translate to 1/3 acre? Unfortunately, it is just an excavated hole in the ground.

That is a 1/32 surface acre pond, but acre feet will be more and is that depends on average depth..

Thanks!

I have the same size pond and have am wondering what to do the clear up the pond. It has about 2' of "muck" in the bottom that I would like to get rid of. I have learned that the pond was clean and clear around 15 years ago. I know that our trees drop a lot of leaves in the pond in the fall, along with pond lily's and a bunch of algae. The pond was stocked with Trout around 15 years ago as well, but the trout are no bigger than 3" long now; at least the ones that I have only been able to catch over the last five years. The pond is fed my two small creeks, and has a spillway.

I want to be able to wade out into the pond, without having my feet sink into the muck. I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I am wondering if you think any pond treatments would work on this small pond; or any fish that I could put into the pond that would help clean it up. I could put Plecostomus in the pond, but they would probably die during the winter.

Please, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

ok just to clarify baseballjunkie6, you have 2 different numbers in here. The .333 is 1/3 but as BrianL says the .0333 is 1/32. Big difference.

Judging from the pictures and size relationships, this is a 1/32--.0333 acre pond....a large Koi pond