What a joy it is to see my fish through clear water once more . I had my pond professionally cleaned out and all the plants divided and repotted this week - also a new box filter was installed in place of the pressure filter. It took James all day to do the work - a great guy who didn't even stop for lunch!
It's four years since Gordon and I dug out and reconstructed my pond and for the last two years I haven't been able to see the fish except when they come up to feed because the water was so murky.
Gordon is 85 now and still helps a lot in the garden, but cleaning the pond on his own - I can't even walk properly or stand for long since my knee operation three months ago,( but that's another story!) - was simply no longer possible.
The pond was very overstocked so I offered about 30 goldfish on Freecycle along with quite a lot of plants. I had a great response and it was lovely to see the excitement of the lady's two children when they came to pick them up. They wanted to give each of them a name .
Today I offered the pressure filter on Freecycle, had seven responses within a very short time and a phone call within a minute of emailing the first lady who answered. Maybe I should have told her the filter is full of sludge and needs cleaning, but she seemed so happy to be offered it for her husband who is making a pond in their new home - that I'm sure she will get him to clean it without any problem. She said they were sad to have to leave their pond in their old home, but they are looking forward to making the new one.
My new filter box should be easier for me to keep clean - it's a Yamitsu with a UV alongside. I'm hoping it will function better than the pressure filter, which was always such a bother to keep clean.
James divided all my water lilies - which hasn't worried them one bit as one of the buds has opened today!