Mid Summer Maintenance
 

Hello all,

can anybody give us their ritual of mid summer maintenance to the pond.
I have a bio filter but I'm not sure if I should clean it since it is
established with good "bio".

Also does anybody have a good method of cleaning the inside of water
pump tubes that get coated with "guck" during these hot days.

Fish are happy and water is clear but there is more "sludge" at the
bottom and sides of the pond than there was in early summer.
Hottest summer on record here in southern Ontario !

Thanks !!

"CanadianCowboy©" wrote in message
...
Hello all,

can anybody give us their ritual of mid summer maintenance to the pond.
I have a bio filter but I'm not sure if I should clean it since it is
established with good "bio".

## I hose off the filter pads as needed.

Also does anybody have a good method of cleaning the inside of water
pump tubes that get coated with "guck" during these hot days.

## Try a baby-bottle cleaning brush with a long wire attached.

Fish are happy and water is clear but there is more "sludge" at the
bottom and sides of the pond than there was in early summer.

## Same here. Crystal clear water but mulm already on the bottom and
shelves.

Hottest summer on record here in southern Ontario !

Thanks !!
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
My Pond Page http://tinyurl.com/cuq5b
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

can anybody give us their ritual of mid summer maintenance to the pond.

Feed the fish, dead head the lilies, feed the fish, dead head the cannas,
feed the fish, trim old stems from iris and cattail and oh! Feed the fish.

No mulm on the bottom here, maybe a little lost sand and a river rock or
two that escape a basket. Been 3 weeks since I cleaned the pre-filter,
probably should do that again in another 2-3 weeks. Also need to clean one
of the bio-filters, hasn't been done for a year, probably do that in
August. ;-) ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

I would leave the bio-filter and just clean the prefilter every week. I use a long handled swimming pool leaf skimmer (about $10 at walmart) to remove debris from the bottom every week. Works like a charm and only takes minutes.

Since your pond is accumulating sludge on the sides and bottom you could dredge the bottom with a leaf skimmer or fine mesh net, take a garden hose to the shelves (not to strong of a flow- you want to keep the fuzzy algea on them), then do a partial water change, taking water from the bottom of the pond, and then clean your prefilter pads a couple times during the week. You will be stirring things up so that is why you will need to rinse the filter pads.

Happy ponding.

TEST

Reel Mckoi wrote:

"CanadianCowboy©" wrote in message
...

Hello all,

can anybody give us their ritual of mid summer maintenance to the pond.
I have a bio filter but I'm not sure if I should clean it since it is
established with good "bio".


## I hose off the filter pads as needed.


Also does anybody have a good method of cleaning the inside of water
pump tubes that get coated with "guck" during these hot days.


## Try a baby-bottle cleaning brush with a long wire attached.


Fish are happy and water is clear but there is more "sludge" at the
bottom and sides of the pond than there was in early summer.


## Same here. Crystal clear water but mulm already on the bottom and
shelves.


Hottest summer on record here in southern Ontario !

Thanks !!

Our main pond has a bottom drain that goes to the berm ponds (veggie
filters). As the fish swim (esp. the koi) they stir the bottom and the
muck gets moved and pulled into the filter. The result is that the berm
ponds have the muck and the main pond is clean on the bottom. The berm
ponds have lots of plants to take out nutrients and slow the flow so
that the muck falls in the berm ponds. The berm bottom drains we open
annually in the late winter to get rid of the muck (drains out onto the
lawn). Mid-summer maintenance is nothing in particular except to pull
out bushels of plants and the veggie filters grow.

Can you run bottom drains? Makes life easier.

Jim


Hello all,

can anybody give us their ritual of mid summer maintenance to the pond.
I have a bio filter but I'm not sure if I should clean it since it is
established with good "bio".

Also does anybody have a good method of cleaning the inside of water
pump tubes that get coated with "guck" during these hot days.

Fish are happy and water is clear but there is more "sludge" at the
bottom and sides of the pond than there was in early summer.
Hottest summer on record here in southern Ontario !

Thanks !!

"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in message
.. .

Can you run bottom drains? Makes life easier.
=======================
I would think they'd clog with spilt gravel from the plants, plant leaves
and stems that fall to the bottom, tree leaves in the fall. Also, would
think this trash would jam the impeller of the pump going through it.......
??? What about sucking up fry, small frogs and newts?
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
My Pond Page http://tinyurl.com/cuq5b
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

CanadianCowboy© wrote:

Hello all,

can anybody give us their ritual of mid summer maintenance to the pond.
I have a bio filter but I'm not sure if I should clean it since it is
established with good "bio".

Also does anybody have a good method of cleaning the inside of water
pump tubes that get coated with "guck" during these hot days.

Fish are happy and water is clear but there is more "sludge" at the
bottom and sides of the pond than there was in early summer.
Hottest summer on record here in southern Ontario !

Thanks !!

Mid summer ritual. Start to circle the pond, sip the ice tea a bit,
pause, look back over where you just traversed, sigh, look closely at
every thing and marvel at all the live and drama taking place, saunter
on, make a mental note of things to improve on, remind yourself that if
the water quality is good (check with your test kit) leave well enough
alone, look at fish some more, keep sipping and sauntering. Eventually
make it back to your lounge under the umbrella, relax and think about
what you might do during the evening stroll. :-) :-) .

Seriously, though ...
I agree with Jim. Bottom drains are nice. Even the retro fitted vacuum
drain (I have two 2" bottom vacuum drains in my pond). And since some
ponders use settling tanks, getting rocks, leaves, and such stuck in the
impellers of the pump is a non issue for the most part. I use a 500 cu.
in. priming pot and nothing seems to get through the basket into the
pump. I will probably add a 55 gallon settling tank in front of the
priming pot for even better trapping of stuff from the pond and a place
for the occasional critter to live instead of being beat up in the
priming pot. Installing either, bottom drain or vacuum drain is a
little bit of work and well worth it in terms of maintenance.

As far as the guck in tubes, run a large bottle brush or sponge on a
string (nylon twine) through the pump tubes. Yes, you will need to
disconnect them but that is just part of it all I guess. I have never
had to clean mine during the season. Usually wait till I am about to
shut everything down.
Hope this is helpful. Have a great weekend!
W. Dale