Adding a pond pump to a pond

[MotherOfDragonflies]

Is this difficult?

we have s large pond. It’s about 1.2m deep at its deepest point and is about 8m wide by about 1 across. It’s s wildlife pond and so it doesn’t have ornamental fish but it does have sticklebacks, newts, frogs, toads etc. We have lilies and various other plants but it’s becoming overrun with duck weed and algae.

I didn’t put in a pump or fountain or anything of that nature because I didn’t want to affect the wildlife but I think I need a pump and maybe a fountain to oxygenate the water more.

Im getting blinded by science on pond websites. They all seem to assume a significant level of pond knowledge.. can anyone assist?

Hiya I have a wildlife pond and I understand your pain! I found the best was barley straw which decomposes slowly and helps with algae. You can buy it in plastic socks but I bought a lidded pond planter which I stuff the barley straw (bought from a pet shop) and weight it with a bit of gravel. You can buy a liquid extract too that may give a quick boost. I’ve tied string on the lid of the barley straw box so I can haul it back up- I check it every 6 weeks or so and chuck the decomposed straw in the compost. I also found coverage from the plants in the pond as they’ve grown, has helped. I bought a solar pump (very small) but not sure it’s done anything. My pond is in a sunny spot so I think that was the problem- planting around it has also helped. I did also try some weird white powder early on- a neighbour gave it me (!) and it looked awful and not sure it did anything. Anyway I found the barley straw didn’t eradicate the issue but it’s under control and more importantly the wildlife is thriving!

Another vote for barley straw! It's great stuff, we have it in a little net that we weigh down with a big rock. We also have a solar pond oxygenator that has helped a lot and really cleared the water (despite our garden being north-facing and not getting sun all the time): https://www.primrose.co.uk/120lph-2-stone-solar-oxygenator-pond-aerator-by-solaray

Unfortunately batley straw won’t cut it. We used to use it in our small pond but this one is 8m x 12m and over a metre deep. I’ve just realised there was a typo on the size in my initial Post!

We've added a pump to our pond using an old whiskey barrel creating a waterfall. So the water is pumped from the pond into the bottom of the barrel. Inside the barrel there is an exit pipe near the top. The barrel itself is filled with rocks and gravel to act as a filter. As the water is pumped in it eventually reaches the exit pipe and flows out back into the pond. Made a huge difference to our pond. We've connected it to a solar panel and battery for power.

The local lake uses barley straw. This is a lake large enough to have its own yachting club. They just use a lot more barley straw.

The algae and duckweed are there because of the combination of high nutrient levels and sunlight. You’ve done the right thing by covering part of the surface by water lilies. Eventually nutrient levels will drop and the algae will cease to be a problem. Duck weed (little round leaves on top of the water) can be scooped up easily, but it will be full of tadpoles.

Lilies don’t like water disurbance; they won’t thank you for a pump and fountain.