My fish are outgrowing their tank and we have a serious fine green algea bloom that no amount of chemicals, water changes, air pumps etc has cured. I want them to live in a friends pond but I’m worried they aren’t capable of fending for themselves against wild pond goldfish twice their size. Whats better, risking the pond so they can have healthy water or keeping them in this horrible green tank. They have been in this green water for nearly a year. I despise looking at it and I just can’t get rid of it. It seems to be an issue with the water in our area as others have had the same problem according to local pet shops. I’ve even restarted the tank with a new filter with no luck.

My pond is near Tampa Florida, 8 small goldfish, some plants anchored in pots underwater. 350gph pump. I’ve flushed the two filters in the pump with a hose to clean the algae off them, but leave the bio balls alone even though they have some algae on them too (but not too much). Algae is not too terrible in the pond. Why would the water remain a bit dark all the time? Thank you.

If you’re plotting to keep your goldfish in a garden pond and you’re also plotting to build the pond yourself, then there are a few things you will need to know first.
The tools you will need are a shovel, pond liner and underlayment, a long piece of rope, coping stones and decorations, plants, a pump (you will need a pump to run a filter, fountain, or waterfall in order to keep the water circulating and the plants healthy), a filter system and some cooperative friends or family members! Now you can get started –
Building Your Pond
There’s no reason why you couldn’t build a pond in one day, although that purely depends on the size of the pond you’d like to have in your yard. The first thing you will need to do is find an area of the garden that is most suitable for keeping a pond. Make sure it is –
- Close to the house as you will need power to supply your pump with, unless of course you have an external outdoor power socket.
- Don’t build your pond at the bottom of a slope, because when it rains, dirty water will runs down and into the pond, maybe containing chemicals from your garden.
- Try to place it in an area where it will have access to at least 4 hours of sunlight. Your pond plants will require sunlight to stay healthy.
- Don’t place it in an area directly under leaf dropping trees. The last thing you want to have to do is clean all the leaves out of your pond every day.
Finally once you have found a suitable position to build your pond, you can start digging! You’ll need to-
- Choose on the shape and size of the pond. Use the rope to outline the shape you want and then start digging. That’s why you need a couple of helping hands so that the work gets done quicker!
- Do not go for a small pond for goldfish because they need space. Also try and keep different levels of depth, as in a swimming pool. Mark out the shallow areas and the deeper areas. This would give the pool a natural variety.
- Usually ponds in moderate climates should be at least 2 feet deep while in colder climates, you would need to make sure that the pond is deep enough to allow for at least 12″ to 16″ of water below the freeze zone.
- Dig according to the shape you want and dig a shelf-like level around the perimeter of the pond, which is about one foot deep and one foot wide. Also make provisions for a waterfall by digging a slight slope to one end.
- Time now to position the external pond filters. If you have pond skimmers as well, then you would need to place and level these in the proper places. Also dig a ditch to the external pond pump from the skimmer and from the pump to the external pond filter or waterfall.
Next you will need to line your tank with a pond underlayment that you can pick up at any hardware or landscaping wholesaler.
- Now you have to line the pond with what is called as Pond Underlayment. This is a lining that can be cut according to the shape needed and can be taped together. This underlayment will help the pond lining to stay in place.
- You can now place the rubber pond liner into pond and spread it out.
- Make sure you smoothen the folds and position it evenly. Some folds will still be there but the water will take care of that.
So that’s the building process of a garden pond, from there you will need to add in a pump that is correctly matched to the size of your pond as well as purchasing plants and other accessories to add to the pond.