Good Morning/Afternoon all,
I've been reading this forum for a few months now and appreciate all the expert (and non-expert
) advice everyone gives here! I recently moved to Virginia from Vermont, and am now the proud owner of two new ponds. I will preface this post that it may be a bit lengthy as I've been gathering information for weeks now on what I need to do.
[/b] About the first pond:[b]it is about 1/4 acre, maybe a bit longer and is in the shape of a C. In the middle, there is an old spring well that feeds the pond very slowly, maybe a gallon/minute or so. This pond at one time must have been a beautiful relaxing spot right next to the house but it has now turned into a mosquito breeding pool along with a healthy amount of weed world. There are multiple types of weeds/algae, filamentous, kind of a brown sludgy algae on the bottom, and duck weeds. The pond also has cat tails, lily pads, and a healthy amount of sediment. When I poke the bottom of the pond that I can reach with a pole, a large amount of bubbles come up leading me to believe this is just a decomposing pile of water with little to no movement.
[/b]My Goal:[b]I'm looking to try and clean this pond up, make it swim-able, and stock it with bass and perch (or something of this sort). I would just like a clean slice of water that isn't filled with sludge, branches, leaves and other crap as it currently is. I'd like to not spend a fortune but willing to put in enough money to take care of it.
[/b]Options I've come up with:[b]1. I have two gallons of cutrine plus and 10 lb of granular copper sulfate. My plan was to slowly apply the algaecide and copper sulfate and get rid of some of the algae. I then was planning on obtaining an air pump two large aerators to start agitating the pond and hopefully revitalizing it. Unfortunately, I'm worried the pond has reached a state where the decomposition has taken over and it's not as deep as it should be. My plan was to then try to rake as much junk out of the pond that I could.
2. Drain the pond with a water pump and re-direct water flow. Dry the pond out as much as possible and rake it out, potentially rent a small excavator to dig some of the nasty stuff out.
3. Pump out the water myself and dry the pond out and hire someone to dig it out and then let the rains and well fill the pond back up. I prefer to avoid this method as it is going to be insane expensive I presume.
[/b]In Conclusion:[b]My apologies for this being such a lengthy first post but I truly appreciate any and all advice on what I should do with this pond and how to bring it back to something that is enjoyable and productive. I'll try to attach some pictures here for you to see. Unfortunately I don't have any real good photos but when I get to the house this weekend I will upload more. Thank you for any and all advice!!!!
Note: I couldn't add a video, but I will add more pictures later when I get some.
