After spending last summer and most of the fall in FL I returned home to find
my pond full of leaves and quite a few fish missing. Seems my daughter
"forgot" the water was on (for 3 days) and I lost most of my older fish to I'm
sure chlorine. This spring I got out the net and scooped out as much leaf
debris as I could drained 50 percent of the water and refilled and turned the
woefully inadequate pumps on (leftover from much smaller pond in Houston). It
was very cool here until almost July so the plants got a slow start and another
trip to FL didn't help and the pond once again sat unattended. When I returned
home, I bot a 3600gph pump and altered the biofilter/falls/veggie filter to
accomodate the larger pump. While doing this we cleaned out the 110 gallon
stocktank - what a stink! Everything looked like it might be OK, when the
waterfall flow slowed way down and a check on the pump showed the impeller
broke loose and busted the cover. Under warranty I called and they were going
to send new parts ASAP. Well guess who's pump parts were 'somewhere' during
the power failure. Took over a week to receive my next day air package LOL.
Everythings up and running again, but the pond smells awful and is very green.
I want to drain and clean it, but being so late in the season, I'm not sure
that's such a good idea. The hose water is very very cold and although it
currently is a balmy 80 degrees, tomorrow it could be 50. The fish are all
healthy and eating well and looking good, plants are doing fine and blooming
and my only fish loss was due to a flower pod caught in the mouth/throat.
What do ya'll think, should I drain and clean it now or wait until spring?

gal = 4000
Ph = 8.4
ammonia = 0
nitrites = 0
KH 179.6
about 40 percent plant coverage in full sun
fish 30 or so golfish 2 koi (currently among the missing)

I've also updated my website with pictures of the relandscaping of the yard on
the page pond progress. Lots of pictures so it may be slow loading.
TIA
Karen
Zone 5
Ashland, OH
http://hometown.aol.com/kmam1/MyPond/MyPond.html
My Art Studio at
http://members.aol.com/kmmstudios/K....M.Studios.html
for email remove the extra extention