Hi, as u may/may not know i have just cleaned out the landlord's pond at my new house. It was totally overgrown, and hadn't been touched in years.
here's a pic old pond

so we pulled out the plants, and loads of horrible black goo (basically dirt and decomposed fish/frogs etc i think) and emptied out all the water.

halfway through pic

then we cleaned the lining and filled the pond back up (with dechlorinator). pic

We found 24 frogs, hundreds of tadpoles and baby frogs, and 3 newts, which we put back in the water
a few frogs

finished pond (with lots of frogs!)

we then put some plants in, waited a couple of weeks and put my fish 'goldie' in, and then another fish 'goldie Jnr' another week later.
the water turned very green (a result of no filter and lots of sunlight i presume) but i'm going to leave it green for a while til i can afford a filter, and at the moment all the pond inhabitants are enjoying it. I think it is also good as it means the birds cannot see the fish and frogs to catch them, so it is handy to have greenwater til i buy a few more plants.

current pic (the top of the fountain came off but the water still comes out well, i'll fix it soon!)

I am looking into getting a filter, if you have any advice on that subject i have started a thread here:
http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=48906

any comments or advice is welcome!
thanks
kat x

That looks nice. How big is that pond? From the pics it doesn't seem very big.

it's not very big. someone else worked out for me that it's about 135gal

I posted some in your other thread about the algae...

Have you thought about what kind of filter you want right now? For a 135 gl pond, there are nice relatively inexpensive options out there, and some even help along the green water some, if you ever think about having a clear pond again. I personally would leave it green, but I understand if you'd love to see your fish again every now and then...

i can't believe how many frogs you found!

must be very cool to watch....you did a really good job on the pond by the way...well done!

wow! all the froggies!!! can they get out? they look as if they are trying but its a bit too deep for them? you could add an extra brick there for them to climb up

I really like the square shape of the pond, its quite classy. will look really great when your plants grow. the frogs are huge

I also like the square shape! Those frogs are so adorable. Great job!

thanks guys.

the frogs can get out where the bricks are, and there are some creases around the sides of the lining where i have seen them jump in and out from.

I will update the filter thread when i know what i'm gonna do, still browsing at the mo. Til then greenwater is perfect til i get some more plants.

very nice great job cleaning it!!

OMG where is the beautiful lotus you had in there! I love the natural look, but the clean look is also nice. It just depends on the style of your garden area.

I plan on making everything look as natural as possible! my yard is going to be like walking in a rainforest.

Those looked like some big frogs.Did they all live through the big cleanout?
I too was wondering what happened to the beautiful plants that were originally in the pond?I know they were a bit overgrown,but they really looked healthy and vibrant.

Your pond looks fabulous Would love to see more pics of it now <hint, hint> It's a decent size also

thanks for the comments.
the pond is doing ok, still green and a few more plants.

the huge lillies had to go i'm afraid, shame i know but they had grown all over the pump and got hacked to bits trying to get it out. they were also totally covered in that black stinky goo from the decomposed stuff at the bottom of the pond. So i had to start afresh.

It's going ok though, im still saving for a filter and letting the fish enjoy greenwater til i get some more plants to make the pond more covered & safe from birds.

The fish have grown loads! i cant beleive how big they are, the combination of the space, the greenwater, and the natural food (larvae etc) is working miracles. My tiny little Goldie that used to live in my 10gal is now at least twice the size he was!!!!! so cool.

I will keep you updated when any new developments occur, and when the plants have grown some more and it's looking better.