Last fall I built a pond, not knowing what I was getting into. What I wanted was a pool of water that would reflect the sky and trees and that I could surround and fill with interesting plants, shrubs and flowers. I considered a manufactured pond liner but chose instead to use clay because I thought it would be simpler and more natural. Because my soil is on the sandy side, I had clay hauled in, placed and compacted with a bulldozer. It leaks and that's my first problem. The water level drops by about 1/2 to 3/4 inch per day. I'd like to know if the leakage problem is common to new clay ponds and is likely to improve naturally over time.

The size of my pond is 60 feet by 50 feet and is 3 feet deep at the center. I have no interest in having fish in it. Just water lilies and other aquatic plants.

I live in the country and woods surround my yard. Last fall, a lot of the leaves the trees dropped ended up in my pond, sunk to the bottom, and have been floating to the top this spring. Algae is attracted to them and the pond at times looks like soup. That's my second problem.

I've been looking for a skimmer but, though I've looked in a lot of books and on the web, I haven't been able to find information regarding the proper size of the pump and other equipment required for the size of my pond. I calculated the volume of my pond to be roughly 45,000 gallons. I would like to know specifically what kind of equipment I need to remove the floating leaves and algae I have.

From what I've read so far, I get the impression there might be other alternate solutions to the use of pond skimmers. I'd appreciate suggestions regarding that issue.

I'm 73 years old and in reasonably good shape but don't want to spend an inordinate amount of time in manually maintaining the pond. Forum members offering any suggestions or solutions should bear that in mind as well as the size of my pond - roughly 3000 square feet of surface. Thanks in advance for all replies.