Keep the mud pond. Pond doesn't have to be clear.

I had to get rid of my mud pond because my landlord and her friends did not like
it. My next project is to build 1 clear pond and 1 mud pond, 1 to satisfy my
landlord, 1 to satisfy me.

Benign Vanilla wrote:

Sunday we had no rain so went back to the pond to play. I was disgusted by
the still orange water, so I decided to clean it. I decide to empty some
water, and ended up doing about a 75% change. In the mean time, I scooped
out 5 inches of clay from the bottom of the pond. I then slowly refilled,
thinking a slow fill would be cool, with no treatment. I am an idiot. By
today three fish have died. Their "just" feeder minnows, but they were huge,
probably the most healthy fish I have ever owned based on the their size
increase over the past month.

Newbies take note: Putting untreated city water in your pond is truely
dangerous. It's not just paranoia about chloramine, and chlorine. *sigh*
Back to square one, and the pond is still orange.

I am ready to quit.

BV.