I have made a huge mistake - help with pond

[AmIAWeed]

Hi All,
So I need help! I have inherited a pond with our house which has always looked horrendous. It had a brick edge which weren't cemented in place so kept falling in. I bought a pump last year, a filter, pump and UV light in one which burnt out due to being covered in so much sludge....

So I had our gardener start cemented pebbles around the edge so it looked like a more natural edge. I put a stick in that went just over a foot deep. There were 3 fish that I could always see, but because they were close to the service, its a really murky manky pond. So this weekend I started clearing out the plants and it made a big difference, the pond seemed to double in size.
Tonight I fished the fish out, along with a water beetle and what I think were leaches. They got dropped in a neighbours pond. I pumped the water out into a paddling pool and started desludging the pond. Turns out, there is a 1ft shelf around the edge....then sludge. The first second shelf was about 2 foot...then as I pulled more out realised there was another dip revealing a drop to about 4ft. By this point I pretty much lost the will to live! The pond about 2ft down appears to have holes in the liner from roots, yet the water level in the 18 months weve been here has never dropped that low so im not sure if there is another liner underneath??

So in short, I thought I was going to desludge, relocate the wildlife and have a shallow pebble pond, all crystal clear and pinterest pretty....Now, well now I have no idea. I cant afford a fancy pump/filter/skimmer and all other weird things I've seen online. I think it would be a shame to fill it...but really I've no idea what an actual pond needs as opposed to a water feature.

I am thinking...I cement pebbles to the liner all around, refill, leave for however long it takes for tap water to loose its chemicals and then introduce a water lilly. I'm not keen on water plants - I know they oxygenate but personally don't like them....so I'm hoping something like a filter will do the same job??
I don't know if I want to add fish again but my husband does. Do fish need anything specific?
Sorry this is really long...but any advice is appreciated
Oh pond size is about 6ft by 4ft

Found a picture before we started the desludging!

I inherited a similar size, similarly disgusting pond... I scooped out the muck, pulled out and binned the liner, filled it in and covered it with turf!

In your position, if you really, really want to keep it, I think I'd pull out the liner, and start again with a new one/trickly fountain-water feature type thing of the size you actually want it to be.

yeah the size is a pickle - it isnt quite large enough for fish I dont think But also too large to be a water feature/shallow pebble pond :/

any idea of I can just fill the really deep bit?? Does it work like that?!

Just fill in in to the level you want with large gravel www.diy.com/departments/brown-pebbles-22-5kg/259216_BQ.prd or maybe a bit bigger. This will reduce the depth.

Oh - please don't fill it in! When you get it sorted, it'll reflect and look lovely I think the pebble idea sounds good. Also, you can get floating solar-powered fountains which are fairly cheap and don't need wiring in. A couple of those would be nice and the pond is a very manageable size. Have you seen any frogs in the garden? Great for dealing with slugs and snails! Please keep your pond.

Don’t make it too shallow if you want creatures to survive in there! Ponds can heat up quickly in the summer and fish/wildlife depend on access to the deeper, cooler water. This deeper water level also stays unfrozen in the winter and is vital for the survival of overwintering creatures too. There are loads of clear guidelines about minimum depths online and yours looks great as it is!!

If I were you I would dig out as much sludge as possible, re-line with a flexible liner, secure and disguise the edges with pebbles then refill and stock with whatever you choose.

I know you said you’re not keen on plants but any body of standing water in a garden will go murky and sludgy if left to its own devices. My understanding is that you only get a crystal clear pond by thoughtful stocking with a variety of plants or through heavy and regular use of chemicals.

If you just clear out and put fresh water in, it will look good for a few days, then go green and return to its’ murky state very quickly.

It would be good to decide what you want to achieve and research it a bit. A clear, plain pond with no plants will need to be heavily maintained with chemicals (a bit like a sterile swimming pool). A wildlife pond can be very low maintenance and can look stunning but does need plants and careful planning (and no fish I’m afraid, because they eat all the good things like tadpoles and beneficial insects). Or you could have a fish pond, which is higher maintenance and has different requirements again.

Sorry - no simple answer!

As an aside, if the ‘leeches’ are small and black, they are probably a harmless type of flatworm called Planaria. They are comon in garden ponds and are fascinating creatures that can regenerate their own body parts!

Good advice from Laurel543 .

I don't think there is an easy answer- keeping a pond can be complicated. You need a good balance of plants, otherwise algae will take over.
Bodies of the crystal clean water in nature are often part of a river system, with fresh water and some escape, so constantly refreshed.
Small natural ponds will not be crystal clear, often a boggy element to them, so yes I don't think you will be able to achieve what you want without a lot of maintenance.
Have you thought about another type of feature if you like the crystal clear/pinterest look?

There are some lovely fountains over gravel for instance, or stone - gives the advantage of a sound element too.

I would personally rip the whole thing out.

So....after reading the advice and being up most the night thinking this is the plan...
Couple of questions.
I have hay already I put in to help clear (haha) so if I make a shelf on the shallow ledge I can disguise it and easily reach to change. Will this work or should it be deeper?
I have a basic pump/ fountain that was in when we moved in. We unwired my fancy but burnt out one and added this. Should it be in the very deepest bit or is it ok in the 2ft bit? (2nd layer down)
I'm concerned about adding gravel/pebbles incase they tear the liner. Should I add a layer of sand or am I overthinking it?
Finally I've found 'clear water plants' if they all go in the deep end with the Lilly will it still help the shallow bit??
Thank you all for your suggestions so far

Hi Laurel453
What you've described is like my 'leeches' - Google suggests that whilst not harmful to fish, if they are there then the water levels themselves are probably toxic to fish :/ I know its the wrong time to clear a pond but if the wildlife in there is suffering then I guess I was right to go from a little, lets take some sludge out to a full empty! I still have the paddling pool of water so I can add that back in, although that probably wont fill it now I've taken all the sludge out...may cover the bottom!

I have all I need to achieve my drawn plan so figure I'd give that a go and buy a few clear water plants and a pond patch kit for the bit I think has holes but unsure if leaking. If that doesn't work and I can't maintain it then I'll probably go back to a water feature for the sound of water.

All I know is that I have thrown away my pinterest friendly mini water lilies that were doing well, because I realised I was basically breeding mosquitos and don’t want to invest in all the products required to keep the water moving or prevent them.