Hi all,
My family and I bought a new house this past winter, and it has a decent-sized pond on the property. It is about 100' x 55'; max depth of about 12'. The previous owner used to take care of the pond - his kids would swim in it, but for the past 3-4 years, he has just let it sit. It was completely covered in green algae last fall when we first saw it.
We want to get it cleaned up and hopefully swimmable for our own kids, but we are first-time pond owners. I have done quite a bit of reading online, but am not sure we are doing everything we should or doing it correctly.
About a week ago, we sprayed algaecide on the algae that was floating on the surface. We also bought some of those "muck-eating" tablets and put them down in the area where we would like the swimming area to be. We got the fountain working again, although I understand this does a minimal amount as far as helping with the water quality. Yesterday, we went out with pool skimmers and cleared off a TON of the algae that was on the surface. Lastly, my husband fixed the motor for the aerator that the previous owner left (no idea what kind), and we ran that for a short time. The smell was horrible! And now the whole pond is cloudy.
If anyone can give us some advice as to what we are doing wrong or what else we should do, I would really appreciate it!
