Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Brown, sludgy, leaves, etc

Location is Western Washington. We inherited a pond recently and are trying to determine how to "fix it". There are no fish, but does support a large number of frogs (which we like).

Any suggestions would be appreciated. In particular I was thinking of purchasing an aeration system. Heavy equipment is not an option, digging it out by hand would be close to impossible

Description is below. Thank you for taking the time to read my rather lengthy post.
Bob

The pond is in a natural ravine which the previous owner built a 20+ foot high dam. The pond is roughly 100 feet long 25 feet wide, depth from zero feet on one end to 15 feet at the other end.

During the summer a small stream feeds it which trickles over the dam on the other end. In the winter it turns to a full on stream with white water over the damn. It was surrounded by large amount of bamboo (which we have removed), a bunch of bushes and quite a few maples and alders (which I am removing quite a few).

The water is a very brown, maybe 2 feet visibility, with no vegetation in or on it. If I take a stick and jam in into the pond (anywhere in any location), it hits "mud" after a few feet, which promptly release a large amount of gas. If I look at some of the "sludge" it is mostly black muck mixed with leaves (especially the bamboo leaves).

What's your goals with the pond? In Washington I would think it's Not quite deep enough to support fish over winter.. And the depth needed I'm not sure is reachable by aeration alone.. Some pics would be cool..

Proper aeration will get oxygen down to the bottom allowing beneficial aerobic bacteria to naturally eat up that bottom muck and the circulation will get rid of the gas build up. Since it is long and narrow I would recomend a two diffuser system. Once you get the water healthy, I don't see why you couldn't have a perfectly healthy fish population.

I stand corrected lol.. Sue I'm gonna be sending you a message sometime today, about my system..

A lot of the sediment could be brought in by the stream. Is there any way to dig a settlement pond further upstream to trap any dirt that would be washing into the pond?

You're doing good to remove the bamboo and thinning out the trees.

Regarding trees on the dam, remove any that are 4" DBH and under. Any larger than that, you'll have to leave there and hope they live for a long, long time. With that much water going thru the pond during the winter, any weak spots in teh dam would be quickly washed out (like a rotted tree root).

The bacteria will eata way at the muck, but they need O2 to do their work. That's the reason for the aeration system.

As was said before, what are your goals for the pond?

"What's your goals with the pond?"

Wow, I never really thought about a goal. I guess multiple goals would be wise:

*Eliminate the smell of the water (only smells if you get it on you).
*Make the water more clear.
*Add some fish of some sort?

I will upload some photos tonight which will probably make it more clear.

Thanks,
Bob

Lets try to define the goals a bit. In a year, what do you wan to be doing with the pond? Fishing (if so, what kind of fish), swimming, wildlife viewing, ??

The water that is entering the pond, where is it coming from (i.e. what is it running thru amd collecting before it gets to your pond)?

Welcome Osm! Tell me, what does your handle refer to? Silas by chance? If so, that's osm!

Ina year I would like to have a less smelly more clear pond. Possibly some fish. Mostly it is a nice feature of the landscape.

We are located at the bottom of an old river bed/valley. Apparently a mile away there is a small spring, but a lot of water collects from the surrounding valley. When it rains it increases the flow a lot!

Bob

I was planning on upload pics, but got home late. Will try to get some in the next day or two.

Bob

First time I have been asked that.

I got it from the element Osmium from my days as a nuclear chemist.

Bob

Then I'd definately look into a good aeration system to rid the pond of the smell. Maybe some bacteria as well, there's a thread that just started recently about one of the bacteria products. They won't work on their own, you will need the aeration system to take advantage of the bacteria.

Here are some photos. The white "spike" is a small pond pump I have put in the shallow end (furthest point away from the damn).

The "jungle photo" shows the spot that the creek "comes" from to get to the pond.

The large black pipe is an overflow pipe near the dam, which leads under the dam. Depth at the pipe is the deepest

The trees in the pond are going to be removed.

Hope this helps.
Bob

Is it appropriate to discuss vendors? I have my eye on a couple.

Thanks,
Bob

What kind of chickens?

I was wondering if someone would notice the chickens....not sure of the type.

Thanks
Bob

Looks like the one chicken is giving the other the "watch choo talkin bout Willis" look..

So I picked up a Gast 74R135-P101-H200X pump off of ebay. I rewired it, connected a 20 foot 3/8" hose and tied a heavy piece of metal to it. Been bubbling away for a couple days.

Next step is to get a submersible diffuser. I am looking at the dual vertex which is already attached to a plate.

Anyway, thanks to everyone I am moving forward.
Bob