r/ponds

I'll preface by saying I love it and my son is all about the resident frog that moved in with his fish.

Notes: Added an overflow drain that kicks out the back under the waterfall. The pump is solar with a backup battery, so it runs at least 2/3rds of the day at 350gph (it flows more than the picture is showing...) and it's about 300 gallons all in. It's a bit over 2ft deep (freezing is unlikely here) and has a cool large flat rock bottom I built hiding spots into. I added some fish structure beneath the plants (horsetail, grasses, lily pads, watercress, sweet potato vine, and creeping jenny) as well. Only gets afternoon sun directly on the water. We've kept 11 out of 13 feeder goldfish (1 lost to a snake I removed the other day and 1 during establishment) and I started with 10ish white clouds they're impossible to count but doing well.

It unfortunately turned green when I swapped in the horsetail and had the corners empty for a day or two. I've got duckweed on the way to fill some gaps but any other recommendations?

It is about 600m2. There are cattails growing around the perimeter which we've started to tackle just by cutting them below the surface level of water to cut off oxygen and hopefully kill them. We will leave some at the back side of the pond for the redwing blackbirds to nest in.

After we get the cattails under control, I'd like to remove some of the Chara (Muskgrass). There is so much. In the summer when the water level drops, the underwater chara is exposed to the surface. Any suggestions for how best to remove it? I've tried raking out the stuff near the edges but it is heavy, and has the occasional tadpole that I have to pick out and toss back in.

About 20 years ago, when I was a kid, it used to have a sandy beach entry. Should we consider getting a dumping of sand for the one side so we can walk in? It also might prevent some cattail regrowth. Any issues with this I am not considering?

Anything else we should consider? Pond dye? Fountain for aeration?
I used to swim in this pond as a kid, but wouldn't consider it now. It would be cool to get it back to a swimmable state for my own kids, but maybe we're too far gone.

I have planted Limnophila sessiliflora, Hygrophila difformis, Ludwigia repens, and a lotus plant in my small pond. The weather here is extremely hot — today it was around 41°C, but it felt like 51°C. I am from India. Will these plants survive in such heat? For a short time, the pond was exposed to sunlight, and the water became very hot. So I covered the pond completely with cloth from above so that direct sunlight does not enter, but some light can still pass through. Also, I suddenly filled the pond with enough water so that the lotus leaves do not go underwater. I am planning to increase the water level slowly over time. Is this the correct way to do it? Since this is my first time planting in a pond, how should I take care of these plants for the next few days?

We built this wildlife pond last summer and it seems to be doing really well. Its about 2m x2m and around 1m deep, with no pump or filtration, just a lined hole in the ground. I use dechlorinator when i have to top it up and it seems to be fairly healthy, its full of tiny bugs at least. I'm wondering what i can do it improve it?

• Some small fish would be nice but will they eat all the insects? We have some (what look to be) dragonfly larvae and other interesting stuff in there and i dont want them all eaten, but we also have hundreds of snails that I think need controlling.
• Theres obviously a lot of weed growing, I think the aforementioned snails are eating this instead of the plants so what should i do here?
• So far no amphibians, I realise it might take time to attract them but can I do anything to improve the odds?

Want some rocks for a self sustaining fish pond, preferably flat, but I don’t know what rocks are safe, and where to get them. Also will definitely add more self sustaining plants soon. Can anyone help? Thanks! :)

Can boiling pond water make it safe to drink? 💧🔬

Quinten Geldhof, also known as Microhobbyist, explains that a single drop of pond water can harbor thousands of microorganisms, including bacteria, parasites and amoebas capable of making you seriously ill. Heat destroys the structures these organisms need to survive, wiping out almost all microscopic life. Boiling can kill the microbes but it doesn’t remove chemicals and toxins.

I’m losing 2 inches of water a day when the pump is on. I cannot find where the leak is though. I took out a ton of roots and growth around the filter box and rock stream - maybe the water was leaching up over the edge because of roots and dirt? That still a lot though..
any thoughts. I’m sure the water falling around the falls is all making it back into the pond. I’m at a loss.. of water

Water irises are an invasive pain-in-the "you know what," but they sure are pretty when they are blooming. #pondlife

Trying help my family with getting this algae control the instructions says we have to determine the pond volume not exactly how to measure the pond with this shape to put a safe amount of algae fix into it and not harm the fish also does anyone know if we should do something with tadpoles or is it okay to leave them in thanks

Hello - please can someone help identify these little black wiggly things in the tank attached to the waterfall/filter system in our pond? Reverse image search seems to think they are early tadpoles but I don’t think they are. We only inherited this fish pond when we moved house in February so still learning. Thanks!

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Moved house earlier in the year and the established garden was clearly very well loved by the previous owners however they were unable to maintain upkeep due to poor health, and the house was unoccupied for some time before we moved in.

Having a pond is new to me and I have no idea where to start. I can see some old filter equipment in the pond with some connections running to the greenhouse next to it, but unsure if it still works or how to go about replacing it if needed.

I have removed a lot of green stringy growth from the surface a few times, and can see a lot of slimy looking sediment at the bottom. Neighbours have frogs and springtime frogspawn in their ponds and I would love to be able to restore it to a condition suitable for wildlife. I would not be looking to have any fish in the pond.

Hoping for some tips on where to start, recommendations for equipment or plants to promote clearer water, and what I would need to do on a regular basis to make the most of it's potential. Thanks in advance!

Based in Midlands, UK

This was attached to my skimmer box. I can’t find anything else that looks quite like it. After looking closer it looks like the pump cage was removed to make a place for the white pipe that attaches to the actual skimmer box…

Thoughts?

Hello all! As the title suggests, I’m trying to figure out the cause and solution to a recent green string algae explosion in my pond. The pond was build October 2025, roughly 1300 gallons with a 30-32” deep end. All of the bottom is river rock and a few slate rocks I’ve used to make multiple cave systems. The pond has had multiple water changes throughout its time being roughly 300 gallons per change. I’ve only ever used API dechlorinator/ammonia remover at water changes. Only at one occurrence I used the API slime coat water conditioner during a WC. There have never been any other chemicals added. Not a chemical but I did add the Aquascape beneficial bacteria when starting up once a week and then leaving the UV off for 48 hours to let it all get settled and attached. This recent algae bloom started about a week or two ago and it’s the first time algae has been present in the pond. Never had any after creating the pond because we were going into fall with lower temps and changing sun patterns. I have listed every bit of information I could think of below along with pictures to help anyone deduce a potential problem causing this and what could be done to eradicate the algae. I’m not expecting full eradication, just don’t want it taking over like it is. I would appreciate any advice and help to get this resolved. I would like to note that I prefer to not use any chemicals because I’m not wanting to fix one problem and create another. All of the frog bit was just added 4 days ago to help shade and pull nitrates like the hogs they are! The lily pads are really getting going and starting to give good surface coverage for shade. I’m just wondering if all my specs and parameters align with proper levels that it’s just it got warm out and a lot more sun before I could get enough surface coverage to stop the sun enough from feeding the algae. I hope I added enough details below to aid in a solution and thank you all in advance!

Sunlight direct: ~4 hours in spring/summer

Gallons: 1300

Surface area: ~80sqft per my rough measurements

Water temp: 82.8 (at time of typing this 7pm)

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrite: 0ppm

Nitrate: 0ppm (very close to 5ppm, was for sure at 5ppm 4 days ago when I added all the frogbit)

Phosphate: 0.25-0.50 (very close in color on the chart where I couldn’t say for certain, just not quite light enough to call it 0, though in more direct sunlight it could be)

PH: 9.0 (could be higher that’s just the max on the test kit chart, it has never been below this since the pond was built and filled up, even after regular water changes of ~300 gallons)

Livestock:
(5) comets, medium sized between 5-6” (~25) rosy red minnows. At least half of them are 1” or smaller as one had babies not too long ago
(10) Japanese trapdoor snails
(~?) tadpoles from two toads that laid eggs about 2 weeks ago in here

Filtration and water movement:
(2) air stones, one of them being a 4” hygger micro bubble disk and one standard round stone slightly bigger than a golfball that produces medium sized bubbles. 1 is in the shallows and one in the deepest part that’s ~30-32” deep.

Standard pump for canister filter and waterfall rated 1000-1500 gallons with a 32 gallons per minute (1920gph) flow rate.

(1) pump/fountain rated at 3.5 gallons per minute (211gph)

Filter is 2642 gph, UV light, bio balls, with 6 layers of filter media padding

I have one of these ponds - just ornamental - some plants and third party pump to keep it clean. The pond has a liner. I've had the pond for 5 months and it's been brilliant. This morning, between 6 and 7.30 all but two inches of water drained out of the pond. I thought liner leak, so I refilled the pond to see if I could spot where the leak was coming from. The level hasn't dropped since I refilled it - nearly 2 hours ago!

No large animals nearby, not even dogs. The pump head is set just above the water so it just bubbles the surface, it couldn't have shot the water out of the pond.

Anyone got any ideas how losing that much water in such a short period is possible?

Hi everyone. The other day I created a little wildlife pond at my allotment but I want to add some little fish. And I mean really small and only 2 of them. But I want to make sure I don’t kill them… But I do also want this pond to attract frogs and newts and anything else that wants to visit. Can fish and wildlife go together?

So far in my pond it’s got some broken terracotta pot pieces, fish pond gravel at the bottom, some rocks up the side, I’ve ordered a Solar Pond Aerator Pond Air Pump and 4 plants:
Marsh marigold
Chinese ground orchid
Red stemmed p. Feather
Indian tooth up

I’d really appreciate any advice!