Mini Pond Revamp

My mini pond was a bit of a disaster.
Over the winter algae seems to have proliferated. Could hardly see the fish etc.

On the weekend gave the barrel a complete clean out.

So I took the goldfish out.
Took out the baskets of plants.
Kept the best looking 2 - an Iris and a water lily. Repotted both in some fresh soil. (loam based capped with gravel)
Rinsed out the barrel. But the 2 baskets back in, filled up, and returned the fish.

 

I'm guessing it will be green again in two weeks.

 

Probably will go green again.
But irrespective, the barrel did need a good clean out

 

Rather than marginals I'd go for oxygenators, the kind of stuff that has no soil to root into and takes all its nutrients from the water, admittedly it will probably get crowded, but every time you thin it out during the summer you will be removing nutrient from the actual water.

Adding marginals IMO means adding soil which in turn adds nutrients to the water.

Not suggesting you do this, but have you ever had duckweed growing in a bucket of water?
If so the water will always be crystal clear underneath, a combination of blocking sunlight and taking up nutrient.

So until the lilly gets going a bit of elodea might be an idea.

 

A small pump and filter will stop all that.

Incidentally, it's best to plant submerged plants in poor, yellow clay instead of loam. Loam contributes to make water green.

 

Pete, kindred spirit

Thanks for the ideas.
I used loam as that was all I had at the time.

The barrel itself is in a shady spot, and only gets sun from lunch time.

I think most of the initial problem is mainly due to a bit of neglect on my part. I should do a clean out more than once every 2 years.

 

A pump and filter will only stop green water if there's a UV in the filter. Surface cover and vigorous plant growth is the best solution without that but I recommend getting a filter regardless - goldfish get big and are messy, and you'll struggle to keep the water healthy and stable with those fish in such a small setup.

Doing a full cleanout is absolutely not recommended unless you do get a filter, as you'll be impacting the denitrofying bacteria every time as they live on every surface. So every time you do a full cleanout, you'll be taking a chunk of them away and bringing the water quality down which will affect the fish.

You may want to consider swapping the goldfish for rosy red minnows - they are yellow/gold and only get to about 3" whereas a goldfish will easily hit 6-8" plus and produce a ton more waste. But either way, I would get a filter on there.