Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? New Pond acquisition and restoration, what first!

Hello all! Newbie here. A little back story if I may...

My girlfriends sisters mother in law (whew!) passed away about 1 year ago. Since then they have had some trouble keeping up with the mortgage she had been living in. In addition, they cannot sell the house and get the price they want due to the market. The house was essentially empty for a year. In order to help them out, we decided to move in and help renovate and restore the home so the value of the house would increase, all the while helping us save a little $$$.

The backyard has two ponds, below are the photos. Being new to the pond community, I wanted to know where you would start in order to restore them. They seem so bad I don't know where to start. A few notes:

- The main pond has frogs living in it.
- The second pond has a little waterfall looking thing.
- I live in Florida, which means its real hot, humid, and rainy (all in the same day!)
- Cost is a factor. This is not our house, but we do want to make it look as best as possible.

Below are pictures of both ponds. Thanks everyone for reading and your advice!

****Pond #1****








****Pond #2****




[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/INRIsalvation/Pond/DSCF1647.jpg[/img]

Welcome to PB Clef!

It looks like both of them are lined with a plastic or rubber liner. First off I'd remove all the water and any dirt/muck in the ponds. Bucket brigade and maybe a milk jug with the bottom cut out so as to not damage the liner. Or use a sump pump or similar pump to get out the water. Then re-fill with clean water from the hose to see if they will hold water. If not, I may be wrong, but I think you have 2 options; 1) fill in the holes with dirt and forget about the ponds or 2) purchase new pond liners and start from scratch.

I believe small ponds like that need a pump/biological filter to keep them clean.

Thanks esshup, I figured I would have to get all the water out first. What should I do about the frog in the main pond? Also, as you saw, the second pond is overrun with lilipads...would I just tear those out one by one?

I'm new to the real pond deal but have had lawn ponds for 15 years. If you want to save the lilies then buy a kids pool to store the lilies and frogs if you like. If the membrane liner pond is dry around the edges then it's bad replace or fill in. The formed pond can be repaired w/ a patch kit. I repaired one for a friend 4 yrs ago and it still holds. I use a pump, filter and UV filter. The UV is the trick to keep out discoloration in the water. Lawn ponds are fun. MM

Pondnut,

Wouldn't of thought of the UV filter! That's a good idea. I actually have a "doggie" pool so I can use that to store the lilipads and the frog (if I can even catch him).

How easy is it to replace the liners?

The concrete pool could be re-sealed using aquarium silicone to fill all cracks and repainted with rubberized pool paint.....Do a search on eBay for "Pond Filyers" and you will find lots that include UV sterilizers to kill algae/and most organisms.

If you're handy with mortar, you could probably relin the entire concrete pool very inexpensively.