Jammer,

It would be a good idea to get something like a couple of trash cans to put
the water that you are going to pump out, and save as much of the pond water
as possible. The fish can swim in that water while you do the cleaning.
Then put the pond water back into the pond. One the temperature won't
change much, as you would have with a complete water change, and the water
from the pond has already been through the cycle and has a lot of good
bacteria that will help get the pond through the cycle faster.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"jammer" wrote in message
...
Howdy...

I have the 70gallon monster...

I plan to pretty much empty the pondlet, mess with the plants, vacuum
the sludge off of the bottom, not clean the sides, and refill using
tap water and declor and return the goldfish and plants. Then in a
couple of months i will sink the WH, and bring in the taro. I may
throw out the small iris'. They have been nothing but a headache and
dont want to grow . I'll put the fish in a covered bucket of pond
water.