Hello fellow Water Gardeners!!!

Well, spring is quickly approaching and over the winter my water garden
became just horrible. The water garden is about 12'x8'x2'. It is oval
shaped and has two water falls. The pump has been not been running. The
water is very black, and I can imagine there is a lot of sludge on the
bottom. Does anyone have advice for really clearing up the water and
the sludge on the bottom of the pond that doesn't involve darining the
whole thing? I have used bacteria but haven't seen much difference. My
garden typically flourishes with plants and fish. However, I feel this
year was really bad and I don't know what to do.

If anyone has some advice for a semi-novice water gardener, please let
me know. I really take pride in my water garden.

Thanks for your help.

I'm sorry to hear your pond is in such a mess. I used to have the same
problem until I kept the pump running over winter. A pond hoover would
clean up the bottom and you could try replacing a third of the water
initially. I wonder if you have frogs in the pond because I have found
the water tends to get dirtier when the tadpoles emerge but clears up
later. Once you have the pump running again, and hopefully you have a
UVC, the pond should start to look a lot clearer.