Spring Clean & Maintenance

Why Clean?

  • Organic build up can cause many problems
  • Leaf debris
  • Dead or dying plants from last year
  • Over abundance of fish
  • Overgrown Plants

Decide on cleaning or not

  • Some ponds have elements that create the need for cleaning every year, such as:
    • To many fish
    • Not enough plant life
    • Located in area were a lot of leaves, pollen, dust can collect
    • Using a UV System
    • Fish or water quality problems over last few months
    • Small Ponds
  • Others Pond setups can go two or more years without cleaning, such as:
    • Ponds with well established ecosystem
    • Ponds with high end bio filters/skimmers
    • Well maintained ponds
    • Larger ponds (2500 and up)

Steps of cleaning a Pond

  • First collect all needed materials for the job
    • Buckets
    • Net (two if possible)
    • Cooler
    • Power Washer
    • Brooms
    • Shop Vac
    • Beneficial Bacteria
    • Stress Reducer/De-Chlorinator
    • Pump & Hose
    • Fertilizer (tabs)
  • Drain the pond into a container to where the pond water level is around 2-4 inches deep, saving as much original water as possible.
  • Remove any potted plants you would like to repot or work with
  • Start catching fish and locate them in a safe place (e.g. the conatiner used for the pond water)
  • Put an air pump or water pump so they do not die
  • Start by washing down the pond with your garden hose, and remove excess dirt and silt
  • Once the majority of the scum and silt is removed, start spraying or brushing excess string algae.
  • You may find that a lot more silt will start to accumulate in the bottom which will need to be removed.
  • Don't not try to scrub the pond clean, this will cause more damage than not cleaning at all.
  • Once the excess silt, debris, rocks, and other unwanted stuff is remove you can start to fill the pond.
  • While filling the pond with water, start to add your bacteria's, stress reducers, de-chlorinators, etc.
  • While filling, if any potted plants were removed, you can put them back in the pond.
  • After about 1/2 the pond has been filled, you can then start to slowly put the fish back into the pond.
  • Once pond is almost full plug in pump and filter to circulate water.
  • For the first week or so, the pond may have slightly off colored water, this is because the pond is try to cycle itself back to its normal water conditions.