I just read an article about spring cleaning your pond. It said in a
nut shell: remove the fish drain the water, scrub it all down to
include the filter, replace the water (dechlorinated) and put the fish
back.

The article: http://pondscapeonline.com/maintenan...g_cleanout.htm

Does anyone drain thier pond ever year? Im not talking about the
smaller plastic insert ones, I'm asking about the larger 1500 gal +
size ones..

Also how do you go about cleaning your ponds?

Thanks

Our pond is now over 10 years old. Never drained. I haven't read the
article, but it seems a bit crazy to me. Our pump pushes the
droppings up to the berm ponds to drain and we net out the big stuff
from the lowest point each spring. That is all. The pond system is
about 4,000 gal.

Cleaning and scrubbing seems quite unnecessary. The algae coating of
the walls and time tend to help it stabilize. Scrubbing would start
the whole cycling again! I would have that.

Others may have a good rationale for pulling the pond down each year.
Personally, it seems unnecessary to me.

Jim

I just read the article. Fine ideas if you want to clean a pond.
It does not really explain why it is necessary, except by implication,
that you want to get all of the old muck and debris out annually.

If the pond is well designed, you can probably get most of the muck
and debris out with a wet vac and a net. 80-90% would surely be
fine. The cycle they recommend would mean recycling the pond with the
new water. OK, but a pain.

How is your pond laid out? Does it have good filtration? Has it a
deep spot where the muck and debris gathers? Do you care if there is
algae on the sides (It is good for the pond)?

Others may have some great ideas for you.

Jim

On Apr 28, 8:31 am, Phyllis and Jim wrote:
I just read the article. Fine ideas if you want to clean a pond.
It does not really explain why it is necessary, except by implication,
that you want to get all of the old muck and debris out annually.

If the pond is well designed, you can probably get most of the muck
and debris out with a wet vac and a net. 80-90% would surely be
fine. The cycle they recommend would mean recycling the pond with the
new water. OK, but a pain.

How is your pond laid out? Does it have good filtration? Has it a
deep spot where the muck and debris gathers? Do you care if there is
algae on the sides (It is good for the pond)?

Others may have some great ideas for you.

Jim

My pond is 40" in the center and although i had a net on it last fall,
I still managed to get debris at the bottom. Im using a pool net to
skim the debris out. My water is green now ( I know I need to replace
the UV bulb its 3 years old now) And I know I need a larger filtration
system.
A question I have about filtrations Most that I've seen for larger
ponds are Bio and not Mechanical I spoke with a Tetra Sales rep. what
he told me sounds a lot like Bovine fecal Matter. He said " larger
pond over 2000 gal do not require a mechanical filtration system they
need bio only" If that's true, then how do u clean the fine
particals in the water out?

can someone please set me straight on this and suggest a decent
filtration system my pond is roughly 3200 gal +

Thank you

Here are some thoughts for what they are worth.

If mechanical filtration means some sort of filter pad, there are
somewhat easier ways, although there are good 55 gal drum set ups that
have pads. We have tried to avoid them.

Veggie filters are wonderful (shallow ponds with lots of plants
through which pond water flows at a sloish rate. 10% or more the
surface area of the pond.). They provide lots of roots to do
mechanical filtration and they have lots of roots for bacterial
surface and they have lots of roots to grab nutrients and convert them
to plants that you can yank from the pond. We have 2" drains in the
bottom of the berm ponds, We drain them out onto the lawn annually.
Great fertilizer.

Our pond is shown on our bellsouth web page: home.bellsouth.net/
personalpages/pwp-jameshurley The berm ponds are the filters.

The berm filters do all the work. The pump takes water from the low
part of the pond and runs it into the veggie filters. As it slowly
passes through, the muck settles, the roots filter the particles and
the nutrients are grabbed for plant growth.

Annually, we too use a pool net to take out the stuff that does not go
out of the pond to the filter. The intake for the pump is in a 5 gal
bucket with loads of 1/2" holes. Anything over the 1/2" does not get
sucked in. We net it out from the low point. Easy to do.

The bottom of the pond is bare. Plants in the pond are in containers,
except for some escapee lilies. The bare bottom lets the koi 'sweep'
the pond when they swim by. The muck they stir up goes eventually to
the deepest part of the pond.

Others will have good ideas for you.

Jim

On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:10:16 EDT, Peter Pan wrote:

My pond is 40" in the center and although i had a net on it last fall,
...........snip..........
can someone please set me straight on this and suggest a decent
filtration system my pond is roughly 3200 gal +

Hi Peter,

Many of us have done DIYS filters. You can see mine at the website below.
You will need containers larger than mine (or more of them), since you have
twice the pond. The important thing? Put in a retrofit bottom drain... and
you might as well include a skimmer if you do not have one.

I never drain my ponds, I do use a shop vac for heavy stuff that doesn't
make its way into the prefilter (mechanical) spring & fall. I use window
screening to cover in winter as it keeps all but fine stuff out. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

On Sun, 2 May 2010 02:17:13 EDT, wrote:

The veggie filter, however,
is gunked up by fall. This year I left it until spring to clean when it had warmed up
rather than try to clean it in cold fall.
INgrid

Did that work out better? I know I have far more energy in spring so I'd go
for spring myself, cold or otherwise.

This year, seems spring started 1st of Feb... and summer is slow coming.
Who'd think I'd get tired of temps in the low 60sF? But I need warmth/heat
to get these T.lilies out of the house! ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Do you think I should reclean my pond in spring if I cleaned it in late autumn?

I like to clean mine before winter but if needed it can be cleaned in the ASpring to. If I get a huge build up of crude, I'll use my vacuum during the Summer too. I run 2 4800 gal/hr pumps with large Oasis filters which need the filters rinsed daily and the grills of the pumps removed and cleaned once a month. I also run a large air pump to aerate the pond during the Summer when the water is less able to hold as much oxygen as in the winter. Best to go by the quality of water by using a test kit to be sure Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites are kept in check, DON'T let the look of the water fool you. A crystal clear pond can be a death trap and you don't know it untill you test that water.

I have a 12,000 Gal pond and use 2 large pondmate Gravity filters with 25 Watt UV bulbs. They have foam which is the mechanical filter and that traps all the sediment, under that layer is the bio media (lava rocks) and they form a biological filter for the beneficial bacteria. I cannot imagine not having all 3 types of filtration that this filter offers. (There are many other brands that offer all 3 types of filtration). Without the UV the water soon goes pea green, without the mechanical filter much of the junk in the water sinks to the bottom and rots or sits in mid water and clouds it, without the biological filter the Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites are not kept in check and can change rapidly causing gill damage and loss of fish.
The fine foam filter clears out the smaller debris, the 2nd layer of foam in the mechanical is not as dense and clears the bigger pieces out.

I suspect a lot of 'helpful' articles in the media regarding hobbies

1) Are intended to further a writers career to make them 'sound' more expert
2) The content is pushing something that helps cost money
3) aka lobbying less than necessary choices to folk with money to burn
4) Help utility companies to rack up costs

Things that make very profitable work for landscapers off season, pumps that squelch water about, sell pharmaceutical products, sell stuff... come to mind as cluttering up hobby interest groups

Reducing accumulations of organic stuff that can cause water quality to deteriorate can be as easy as periodically using a sturdy net and a few buckets to gently reduce clutter and sediments where it settles in deeper waters on an ornamental pond, or doing occasional dredging with a rake on a natural pond when the weather is pleasant enough

Regards, andy
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