Hi Jane,

Welcome to the wonderful world of ponding! That horrible smell usually occurs when leaves, plant matter and other debris start rotting at the bottom of the pond. Is your pond an earthen pond or a liner pond?

If it's a liner pond, I'd tell you to get a crappy shop vac and go at it. I have a very shallow basin built between the two levels of a stream/waterfall. I just cleaned it out two days ago and manure would be a nice way to describe the smell. I would say it was more like the smell of a very ripe port-a-potty or hole-in-the-ground type toilets found at waysides in the middle of nowhere.

Got out my 22 gallon shop vac and just sucked everything up water, muck, leaves, gunk and all. Once it was emptied, just refill with water. Sparkly clean and ready to go.

If you have a lot of water to empty, instead of stopping to dump the vac out every 2 minutes, you can remove the plug near the bottom of the vac and hook up a hose and direct the draining water to anywhere in your yard you like. It's smelly but good fertilizer.

Sounds like someone let some plants grow unchecked for years. Not sure what you have. Maybe some water lilies? Others who know more than me about aquatic plants probably can help here. It's a bear to get out. I helped my neighbor remove a water lily is step-father had thrown in his liner pond 5 years ago. We ended up needing two people to get it out - one to lift up the root ball while the other used an axe!! to chop up the root ball very carefully. Once it's out, most people find that planting aquatic plants in holeless pots helps keep them from taking over the pond.

Good luck. Once you get the first cleanout done, it will get easier if you stay on top of the maintenance.

Jenny

PS Congratulations on your new home.

Thank You, Jenny!

Hmmm, I'll have to see if hubby is willing to let his shop vac get used for such a task.... he is easily put off by smelly things, and his "shop vac" is kept uncannily clean.

Yes, it is a liner pond. I can see the liner, under the large rocks surrounding the pond.

Wow, it sounds like I should find out just what the large mystery plant IS! I think the previous owners started out with lots of gardening ideas, but they had three boys, and it seems like a lot of the yard has been reclaimed by the woods. I found some groups of rhododendron in an overgrown area. As the snow melted, we also have been accumulating a growing pile of "dead" basket balls, soccer balls, tennis balls, volleyballs, many footballs, archery arrows, a hockey (?) backer board, a single basketball shoe and even a cap gun hung on a broken branch.

And I TOTALLY agree with you about staying on top of maintenance!

Aha... now I understand why folks keep pond plants in pots! I never "got" that one, when I'd see them that way. Hmmm, given your story of the massive water lily, it makes sense now! Good advice, indeed!

Thanks again!
-Jane

If the shop vac is a no-no, try a large small-weave basket type net. It will be heavy, but just use it like a shovel with holes. If you have garden beds, toss what you get out of the pond into them. Great mulch/fertilizer. When alot of the bulky stuff has been removed, you might be able to use a sump pump or some type of solids handling pump to remove the water from the pond.
Also, it sounds like the pool skimmer can't do the massive job of cleaning. It can handle small day to day 'chores' but what you have is too big a job for it. That said:
1.) Scoop out all the leaves and gunk you can.
2.) Pump out the water.
3.) Spray everything down inside the pond.
4.) Carefully pull out any plants. Some you may have to cut out, lift out, or attack. There isn't much telling unless you are able to figure out what it is. If you can, post pictures. There is likely someone who can identify it

I think once you are able to get it cleaned out, you will be able to see what you have. Good luck and welcome to the fun and wild ponding world. You will love it.

Hi Jane:

Welcome to the wonderful world of ponding where no two ponding seasons are ever the same. I am very "anal" when cleaning out the sludge in my settlement pond. I net it out, dump it in my flower bed, then go through it with my hands to rescue any dragonfly larvae or tadpoles. It takes me about a day to go through the sludge and I have black hands and nails for about a week. I can't use gloves because I need to feel for the little critters. I have even found small goldfish and koi fry living in the sludge. Once all the sludge is removed and the little critters safely housed in a pail of pond water, I use my shop vac to vaccuum what is left on the bottom. Then I use my hose to clean the sides, then, once again, vaccuum with the shop vac. After this is completed I open my gate valve connecting my big pond (via retro bottom drain) and watch all the sludge (accumulated over the winter) from the big pond refill the settlement pond. I try to repeat this procedure two to three times to insure the bottom of my big pond is clean before I start everything up in the Spring. After the last time I pour all the little critters back into the settlement pond to continue their lives. I am an old softee where any critter is concerned.

I too did what Jenny's stepfather did the first year my pond was completed. I bought a few water lilies from Lowes and placed them in my top pond. Five years later I couldn't lift the clump of them out to divide them. I had to get into my top pond and use a hacksaw to saw through the clump. That took me nearly a day to do and I ended up trading the divided clumps (100 or more) to the nursery for perennials. I got a lot of my ornamental grasses to put around the pond this way. If you have water lilies the clump will resemble what looks like a pineapple but it will be long and dark brown. I haven't had any luck with lotus so I don't know that the tuber will look like. Whatever plants you have, it will be like Christmas all over again when you see what it is. I have been ponding for 10 years now, and you are in for a real treat this Spring. My pond still amazes me and I learn something new every ponding season. Good Luck and Happy Ponding?

Jenny

Thank you Hardin, and Thank You Jenny-KoiJoyii!

Wow, sounds like a big task... I should have started clearing muck on the odd warm day over the winter. It started snowing just days after the closing, so we never really got a chance to see what's here.

I love your comment that it will be like Christmas all over again! My planted aquariums are like that, too!

So far, it doesn't look like there are any critters in the pond. There is a large wetlands & swampy area nearby and down the hill, and the cacophony of Wood Frogs has been giving way to the din of Peepers. But, it seems like there is a solitary peeper at our pond; the one voice is very clear and nearby. Thanks for the heads-up, though - I'll keep an eye out for anyone when I clear the muck.

And thank you so much for the warm welcomes! I've always been interested in ponds, but would have liked to research it first, and be a pond-keeper with some knowledge. But, instead, I guess the head-first approach will have to do, LOL!

I have an over-abundance of water lettuce from a 30g tank I've been "breaking down" for nearly a year now. So, I put a few clumps of that out on the surface, to let it adjust while we had a few overcast days.

I'm really curious about what the mystery plant is. I'll make a point to get pictures. And thank you for the description of what it will look like - I can picture it very well, as some of my aquarium plants create rhizomes and tubers, just on a smaller scale.

Whew! Time to get crackin' on this! Thanks so much for the encouragement!

-Jane

I'm totally a newbie, too--dug the pond last spring/summer, liner in in the fall. I'm in Eastern MA, so I totally know what you mean about the snowfall. Cleanup: I *have* used a plastic rake to pull out leaves from the bottom, and they stink. Um, the nasty surprise I got early on was a very dead squirrel, so I would advise against entering the water before it is reasonably clear (muck I don't mind, but the squirrel? Let's say I didn't realize that's what it would look like with Rigor Mortis or whatever, and when it came up with the leaves it was very unexpected!). Anyhow, I was using the rake to try to bring up stuff since it was clearly too cold to mess around with completely emptying it, in early Mar.

Last weekend, I put my pump in its case & put in in the bottom of the pond, it successfully removed most of the water--my wet/dry vac's only 8 gallons, and while the pond is small by this site's standards, 8 gallons at a time would be forever!

Luck!

Welcome to such a great forum, I have lurked for about 3 yrs before I even built my pond! I know that a pond store in my area rents pond vacs, it costs a pretty penny but they are heavy duty and would make quick work of pond scum!ha! You are gonna LOVE having a pond!!!

Since you have a waterfall located above the pond you must have a pump in there that can pump water out of the pond. Can you disconnect its hose and let it run water into your yard? That way you can empty out most of the water, get in to dig out the leaves, and then see if you want to use just a bucket to get the last of the nasty water or run both the pump and a hose to flush it out.

I hate spending money when I don't have to so I look to reuse things I already have to do the job. I'm lucky as I have a small pump for a UV filter and a spitter that I can use to quick drain the pond. I can even siphon out a lot of the water as my pond is at a high spot in my yard. I run the end of the hose to a spot below the level of the pond bottom and can get all but the last half inch of water.

That probably is leaf tannins making your water a tea color... esp. if it is clear except for the tinged water.

I would resort to the extension pole net (avail. at about any store, Home Depot included, that sells pond supplies).

After I bring the mess to the surface and discard it with the net, my pond is usually mud black for a day or two. But no later than four days after with regular filter cleaning (only skimmer and bio-filtering) things clear up, including the tea-coloring.

Good Luck!

Using a rake in a liner pond is chancy. If you must, put a heavy canvas cover over the tines to avoid holing the liner and don't let it drop to the bottom. Just place it very slowly and gently. I use an angled garage broom with only a few bristles across it. There are pool brushes that work and a brush that looks like a windshield wiper for pools. Look around.

I should have added some more to my post. Sorry, I was stressed out from the rain and ground water sump coming loose and spraying several inches of water all over the basement in the middle of the night. The brushes I mentioned direct the debris into a net for easier removal. While you can use just a net it isn't all that efficient.

If you have aquariums you have used Activated Charcoal, Activated Carbon or AC. It works the same way for the pond. It collects odor and tannins from rotting debris. That water needs to circulate so look into pumps soon. You can put a sock or muslin bag of the AC in the basket of the skimmer to start. Run the skimmer for the circulation until you decide on a waterfall pump. You might want to use some Zeolite too. That helps neutralize organic material, nitrates and nitrites in the water.

I understand about the manure odor. I think it has become nasty smelling because of the feed the animals get instead of grazing on grass and hay.

There may be something dead in the water making the smell worse and hazardous to work with. I wouldn't stand in the pond until it was a lot cleaner and it is likely very, very slick.

If there are no fish you may want to drain the pond. It would certainly make the cleanup easier. Starting the waterfall would help since that tub you mention is probably the biological filter. It may have filter material in it already but if it has been turned off all winter I hate to think of the condition of the filter material. Take a look at it and tell us what you find. Poly quilt batting is a good and inexpensive replacement material. You probably need to clean it up before you start pumping water through it. If there is water in it there will be anaerobic bacteria which will smell to high heaven.

A handful of Bicarbonate of soda can raise the PH. I like to use a slug made from Plaster of Paris since it keeps the PH steady and only works when the PH is acidic. Once the PH reaches 8. or thereabouts, it stops reacting. Since there are important details about POP, you can do a search to learn about it. You will find plenty of info. If you are going to add fish or you have plants you would hate to kill, you really need to buy a good quality test kit. It will run around $25. Don't waste your money on dip stick tests. they are rarely accurate.

The advice from the other posters is good. You will find lots of help here.