My pond has been pretty clean for many a year - but this year the water quality is looking decidedly murky, and whilst in the past I have done partial water changes, I think this year I am going to clean out 90% of the water and debris. I plan to put my koi in a temporary pond whilst I sort it all out. Anyone done this - any tips/tricks or concerns I should consider before I start. I also plan to give the filtration system a good purge as well.

Your water has good microbes in it - I can understand wanting to clean out
the built up muck but I would not get rid of all the water. What is your
temporary pond? If you can fill this pond with the water from the one you
are cleaning out the fish will be happier. Use the same pond water to clean
out the filtration system. If you have chorine in your tap water it will
kill the microbes in your filter. One reason your pond may suddenly have
gone from clear to murky is that you have too much fish for the size of the
pond (fish grow, reproduce, etc.). Changing the water 90% isn't going to be
the solution.

I have put water and fish in very large trash cans - I do this because I
have raccoons who had a lovely feast the time I made the mistake of putting
fish in a kiddie pool while I worked on enlarging my pond. My fish were
then small though so a 50gal trash can was fine for them - If you don't have
raccoons you can get a cheap and fairly large kiddie pool that will serve as
a holding tank (if you can put this in the shade that is the best place for
it since it does not have the insulation of being below ground and can get
hot enough to kill your fish if in the sun - not from heat but from lack of
oxygen. That is all I can think of at the moment.

Donna

..
"wibble" wrote in message
...

My pond has been pretty clean for many a year - but this year the water
quality is looking decidedly murky, and whilst in the past I have done
partial water changes, I think this year I am going to clean out 90% of
the water and debris. I plan to put my koi in a temporary pond whilst I
sort it all out. Anyone done this - any tips/tricks or concerns I
should consider before I start. I also plan to give the filtration
system a good purge as well.




--
wibble

put a net over the container cause fish often jump under these conditions. also, it
is best to do these kind of water changes at a time that the new water is the same
temperature as the pond water. no temp shock to the fish. Ingrid

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:43:39 EDT, "D Kat" wrote:

Your water has good microbes in it - I can understand wanting to clean out
the built up muck but I would not get rid of all the water. What is your
temporary pond? If you can fill this pond with the water from the one you
are cleaning out the fish will be happier. Use the same pond water to clean
out the filtration system. If you have chorine in your tap water it will
kill the microbes in your filter. One reason your pond may suddenly have
gone from clear to murky is that you have too much fish for the size of the
pond (fish grow, reproduce, etc.). Changing the water 90% isn't going to be
the solution.

I have put water and fish in very large trash cans - I do this because I
have raccoons who had a lovely feast the time I made the mistake of putting
fish in a kiddie pool while I worked on enlarging my pond. My fish were
then small though so a 50gal trash can was fine for them - If you don't have
raccoons you can get a cheap and fairly large kiddie pool that will serve as
a holding tank (if you can put this in the shade that is the best place for
it since it does not have the insulation of being below ground and can get
hot enough to kill your fish if in the sun - not from heat but from lack of
oxygen. That is all I can think of at the moment.

Donna

.
"wibble" wrote in message
...

My pond has been pretty clean for many a year - but this year the water
quality is looking decidedly murky, and whilst in the past I have done
partial water changes, I think this year I am going to clean out 90% of
the water and debris. I plan to put my koi in a temporary pond whilst I
sort it all out. Anyone done this - any tips/tricks or concerns I
should consider before I start. I also plan to give the filtration
system a good purge as well.




--
wibble

And I'll add, compare the pH. ~ jan

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:38:00 EDT, wrote:

put a net over the container cause fish often jump under these conditions. also, it
is best to do these kind of water changes at a time that the new water is the same
temperature as the pond water. no temp shock to the fish. Ingrid

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:43:39 EDT, "D Kat" wrote:

Your water has good microbes in it - I can understand wanting to clean out
the built up muck but I would not get rid of all the water. What is your
temporary pond? If you can fill this pond with the water from the one you
are cleaning out the fish will be happier. Use the same pond water to clean
out the filtration system. If you have chorine in your tap water it will
kill the microbes in your filter. One reason your pond may suddenly have
gone from clear to murky is that you have too much fish for the size of the
pond (fish grow, reproduce, etc.). Changing the water 90% isn't going to be
the solution.

I have put water and fish in very large trash cans - I do this because I
have raccoons who had a lovely feast the time I made the mistake of putting
fish in a kiddie pool while I worked on enlarging my pond. My fish were
then small though so a 50gal trash can was fine for them - If you don't have
raccoons you can get a cheap and fairly large kiddie pool that will serve as
a holding tank (if you can put this in the shade that is the best place for
it since it does not have the insulation of being below ground and can get
hot enough to kill your fish if in the sun - not from heat but from lack of
oxygen. That is all I can think of at the moment.

Donna

.
"wibble" wrote in message
...

My pond has been pretty clean for many a year - but this year the water
quality is looking decidedly murky, and whilst in the past I have done
partial water changes, I think this year I am going to clean out 90% of
the water and debris. I plan to put my koi in a temporary pond whilst I
sort it all out. Anyone done this - any tips/tricks or concerns I
should consider before I start. I also plan to give the filtration
system a good purge as well.




--
wibble


------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

I have just got a 3ft deep paddling pool off of ebay and will transfer the pond water into it - luckily in the UK we dont have raccoons, but knowing my two collies they will have a go at jumping in the paddling pool. That will give the koi something to think about. I think the water quality is more down to the debris - once the pond floor gets agitated - all the muck rises up. I have had a go at water vacuums but they just dont get rid of enough. Good tip about using pond water to clean the filter - thanks. Silly question - when cleaning the filter how do you keep some of the microbes - do you basically only do a partial clean (never cleaned one before) so that you leave some of the filter pads, muck untouched.

"wibble" wrote in message
...

My pond has been pretty clean for many a year - but this year the water
quality is looking decidedly murky, and whilst in the past I have done
partial water changes, I think this year I am going to clean out 90% of
the water and debris. I plan to put my koi in a temporary pond whilst I
sort it all out. Anyone done this - any tips/tricks or concerns I
should consider before I start. I also plan to give the filtration
system a good purge as well.
=========================Every other year we do this. We put the fish in a large kiddy pool with p
ond
water and some plants to hide in and feel secure. We run an aerator in it
..
We then surround it with 24" hardware cloth and a net to keep the herons
out. We then drain the pond down 100%, hose the sides down, and vac out
all
the bottom muck. Refill and start the cleaned pump.... next morning the f
ish
are returned. Never a problem since 1995.

We do clean the filter with old pond water so as not to kill the bacteria
..
Never been an ammonia surge.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:52:39 EDT, wibble
wrote:


I have just got a 3ft deep paddling pool off of ebay and will transfer
the pond water into it - luckily in the UK we dont have raccoons, but
knowing my two collies they will have a go at jumping in the paddling
pool. That will give the koi something to think about. I think the
water quality is more down to the debris - once the pond floor gets
agitated - all the muck rises up. I have had a go at water vacuums but
they just dont get rid of enough. Good tip about using pond water to
clean the filter - thanks. Silly question - when cleaning the filter
how do you keep some of the microbes - do you basically only do a
partial clean (never cleaned one before) so that you leave some of the
filter pads, muck untouched.

Remove the muck, good bacteria is unseen, so what you clean off with pond
water will be dirt/muck that has suffocated good bacteria.

I have pads in two separate bio-chambers once/year I power wash one chamber
before winter, as I only use one chamber (the one I don't clean) in the
winter months w/slower flow. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Nice going! (I really like ebay - found badly needed items there that
existed nowhere else). If your filter has a filter pad just thoroughly
swish it around in a bucket of your pond water. You can do this as many
times as you like - just replace the dirty water with fresh pond water. I
use lava rock and those I just empty onto a tarp and pour pond water over
them to get the built up much off. I then put them into a bucket with pond
water that I stir and pour out. I rinse out the bucket the pump and rock go
into - replaced the now rinsed off pump, add rock and return to pond. I do
this once a year whether it wants it or not.

If your kiddie pond is the type that has collapsible sides and your dogs
have free run, I would place some kind of barrier around the sides
(chairs?). If you are gutsy... You can take a garden hose where one end is
on the top of the pond water and the other end is at a lower level in the
temp pond (fill hose with clean water first, close ends if you can -suck on
the end where you want the water to go to get the flow going -- I know how
to do this - describing it is another issue). This way you get the cleaner
top water and don't stir things up.

Donna

"wibble" wrote in message
...

I have just got a 3ft deep paddling pool off of ebay and will transfer
the pond water into it - luckily in the UK we dont have raccoons, but
knowing my two collies they will have a go at jumping in the paddling
pool. That will give the koi something to think about. I think the
water quality is more down to the debris - once the pond floor gets
agitated - all the muck rises up. I have had a go at water vacuums but
they just dont get rid of enough. Good tip about using pond water to
clean the filter - thanks. Silly question - when cleaning the filter
how do you keep some of the microbes - do you basically only do a
partial clean (never cleaned one before) so that you leave some of the
filter pads, muck untouched.




--
wibble

you need to find out what is causing the muck. in my 2 ponds out in the country
(dacha) it is all the leaves falling in. In the city I have netting over my pond
and no mulm/junk at the bottom since the pond was built, 9 years.

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:52:39 EDT, wibble wrote:
I think thewater quality is more down to the debris - once the pond floor gets
agitated - all the muck rises up. I have had a go at water vacuums but
they just dont get rid of enough.