Today we went to a nearby nursery that specializes in water features. The pump and filter for our fishpond leaks, and didn’t seem to be cleaning the water. It wasn’t a big leak, but over a week the pond would be down 10-15 gallons, so, enough to be a problem. Walking through the demo ponds filled with koi and goldfish, fountains, waterlilies was so relaxing, even with both girls.
purple lily
Bouncer
Mr. Toad doesn’t want to talk
Stu talked with one of the pond experts, who gave him some tips on how to clean out the pond and how to fix the filter. It’s probably not broken, but just needs a new part and gasket, so that’s nice. While I played and tried to distract the girls, Stu borrowed the baby pool to let the fish hang out in while he started emptying out the pond. Teagan was too interested to stay away for long, she kept going back to see.
Not a bad vacation
He got just about all the water out, then started vacuuming up the sludge and ick that was on the bottom, making the water murky. There was a lot of sludge, and it smelled horrible.
Empty pond
He even shoveled out a bunch of the sand and gravel so we can strain it and put the white stones back in. They do look nice on the bottom. There were a few round river stones keeping the lining down, but there were also some stray flagstone that may have fallen out of the wall. Those are in a pile to see if we can fit them back in the wall.
You can really see the difference in the water. I don’t think the pond has been this clean for years. It definitely wasn’t this clean and clear when we moved in. Stu did a fantastic job. We’ll be going back next weekend to get some new fish. We seem to have lost the three orange ones over the winter.
I want some waterlilies. Teagan wants a pink fish.
Whatever! 