Bought a new house, and it has a pond - I'll post pics when I find my camera cable, but in the mean time, I'm trying to figure out what to do as the previous owner didn't leave any instructions, and I've never had a pond before.

Its a big pond - two pumps with two waterfalls, probably 6 feet by 8 feet, 2 feet deep, and filled with lily pads, some fern looking underwater plant, and cat tails. Supposedly there a goldfish in there, but I can't see them as the plant life pretty much covers the surface of 80% of the water, and green muck is now growing on the rest.

There are four bottles of chemicals and an empty UV light bulb box, but I don't even know how many gallons this thing is. My main concern now is not killing the plants and not letting the pumps burn out, so I plan on running a hose and filling it with water tomorrow - its low about 4" now and the second pump is barely moving water. There's some chemical to neutralize the chlorine in water that I plan to add when I do this...

So at any rate, for those with pond experience, what do I need to do? What's pond ownership 101?

Thanks,

 

Calculating pond volume http://www.pondliner.com/PondVolume.htm

If you don't like it or want to spend the time to keep it up, there is always well, a dumptruck full of dirt somewhere

Pictures too before that happens

 

Start gathering info here: http://www.gardenpondforum.com/

There was a time when I was really into ponds. This is a good resource. At least attempt to bring it back to life before tossing dirt into it

 

^^ good site

I was kidding about the dirt, I love ponds, but sometimes they are a headache and not as easy as people think. It's one thing to put a pond in, but to inherit one is another story.

 

Thanks, I put in a few chemicals, skimmed the scum, and cut out some pads, and discovered about a dozen goldfish and coy about 5-6" long. There's also toads and frogs, and some other wildlife. So far so good, but I've been buried in renovations, so I haven't had a real chance to post pics or get involved outside.

 

Here are some pics -