Pond in a barrel

Caron Maslen

We have built a pond in a barrel like Monty did however after 4 weeks it now smells rather boggy? The plants are thriving as are the 3 small goldfish. There are thousands of little black creatures swimming around which the fish eat. Do we need to put a filter in or something? Please can someone advise.

Dovefromabove

I suspectthe little black creatures are mosquito larvae - are they very wiggly?  Hope the goldfish get them all 

With the temperatures as they are at the moment I suspect it'll be hard to keep the water oxygenated in such a new pond  - is it in the sun or the shade?  When I had a small pool a bit like this I used an aquarium filter and pump to circulate the water and made a little sort of waterfall to try to  aerate the water a bit. 

Caron Maslen

Thank you for that. We have added a pump with small waterfall and it has helped. It is in the sun for the morning. I think the problem maybe the soil we initially put in at the bottom. It's gone a bit sludgy so may take that out and see??

Dovefromabove

Ah, soil willl contain nitrogen which will add to the greening of the water.  You can get special aquatic compost for potting water lilies etc, this might be better suited to the bottom of your pond if you want soil - however, I used gravel which seemed to serve the purpose.