cleaning the pond

[solaria5505]

the water is still green and I was thinking of cleaning it out and maybe it will help. Any good ideas that won't hurt the fish? Should i take them out or leave them in? This was my first winter with a pond and the weather is getting nicer so I want to get my little pond in shape.

[j.w]

the water is still green and I was thinking of cleaning it out and maybe it will help. Any good ideas that won't hurt the fish? Should i take them out or leave them in? This was my first winter with a pond and the weather is getting nicer so I want to get my little pond in shape.

Not good to take fish out and scrub the pond. All that nice short carpet algae on the sides of your pond is good for it. You want to keep all that good bacteria in your pond. Your water is needed to stay pretty much the same all the time too. Depends also on what kind of filtration system you have on your needs for cleaning. If you have a bog that is the best. I don't have one, just have a filter pot on the top edge and a down under the water sponge type filter attached to my intake hose. I sometimes run slow water in and slow water out of my pond as my filters aren't that great. Had to do it more when I had too many fish but it wasn't the perfect solution as fish still died due to the water being too full of nutrients (fish poo). This mostly happens in the Spring when weather starts to warm up and fish start eating more.

[brokensword]

patience is a virtue, esp in PONDING!! Do as @j.w suggests--her pond has been successful for years now! Plants plants plants are your friend! That and lots of SSA for the bacteria to colonize and do their thing.

[darkmuse]

I get murky water in the spring too but it goes away after the plants start growing. Always an interesting but frustrating time when I want to see the fish like I usually see them. But I agree you need patience!

[solaria5505]

the water is still green and I was thinking of cleaning it out and maybe it will help. Any good ideas that won't hurt the fish? Should i take them out or leave them in? This was my first winter with a pond and the weather is getting nicer so I want to get my little pond in shape.

Not good to take fish out and scrub the pond. All that nice short carpet algae on the sides of your pond is good for it. You want to keep all that good bacteria in your pond. Your water is needed to stay pretty much the same all the time too. Depends also on what kind of filtration system you have on your needs for cleaning. If you have a bog that is the best. I don't have one, just have a filter pot on the top edge and a down under the water sponge type filter attached to my intake hose. I sometimes run slow water in and slow water out of my pond as my filters aren't that great. Had to do it more when I had too many fish but it wasn't the perfect solution as fish still died due to the water being too full of nutrients (fish poo). This mostly happens in the Spring when weather starts to warm up and fish start eating more.

Right now I have one ofthose filters that sits on the bottom and I have ot take it out and clean the sponge sometiems. The bottom is pretty muddy and it's hard to clena that with the fish swimming around my net but I get it doen . I've heard about bogs and looked already at the one here in builiding ponds. It lookes complicated but not too bad. I'll keep the alge then that is already there as Ilearned its a good thing! Thank you.

[j.w]

the water is still green and I was thinking of cleaning it out and maybe it will help. Any good ideas that won't hurt the fish? Should i take them out or leave them in? This was my first winter with a pond and the weather is getting nicer so I want to get my little pond in shape.

Not good to take fish out and scrub the pond. All that nice short carpet algae on the sides of your pond is good for it. You want to keep all that good bacteria in your pond. Your water is needed to stay pretty much the same all the time too. Depends also on what kind of filtration system you have on your needs for cleaning. If you have a bog that is the best. I don't have one, just have a filter pot on the top edge and a down under the water sponge type filter attached to my intake hose. I sometimes run slow water in and slow water out of my pond as my filters aren't that great. Had to do it more when I had too many fish but it wasn't the perfect solution as fish still died due to the water being too full of nutrients (fish poo). This mostly happens in the Spring when weather starts to warm up and fish start eating more.

Right now I have one ofthose filters that sits on the bottom and I have ot take it out and clean the sponge sometiems. The bottom is pretty muddy and it's hard to clena that with the fish swimming around my net but I get it doen . I've heard about bogs and looked already at the one here in builiding ponds. It lookes complicated but not too bad. I'll keep the alge then that is already there as Ilearned its a good thing! Thank you.

If you have the will and the strength most would tell you to build a bog. I sure would have way back when. Not now tho, too much for me to do and would not look right w/my set up. Good, yes keep that nice short carpet algae.
I will be cleaning sponges and media till I die

[solaria5505]

Not good to take fish out and scrub the pond. All that nice short carpet algae on the sides of your pond is good for it. You want to keep all that good bacteria in your pond. Your water is needed to stay pretty much the same all the time too. Depends also on what kind of filtration system you have on your needs for cleaning. If you have a bog that is the best. I don't have one, just have a filter pot on the top edge and a down under the water sponge type filter attached to my intake hose. I sometimes run slow water in and slow water out of my pond as my filters aren't that great. Had to do it more when I had too many fish but it wasn't the perfect solution as fish still died due to the water being too full of nutrients (fish poo). This mostly happens in the Spring when weather starts to warm up and fish start eating more.

Right now I have one ofthose filters that sits on the bottom and I have ot take it out and clean the sponge sometiems. The bottom is pretty muddy and it's hard to clena that with the fish swimming around my net but I get it doen . I've heard about bogs and looked already at the one here in builiding ponds. It lookes complicated but not too bad. I'll keep the alge then that is already there as Ilearned its a good thing! Thank you.

If you have the will and the strength most would tell you to build a bog. I sure would have way back when. Not now tho, too much for me to do and would not look right w/my set up. Good, yes keep that nice short carpet algae.
I will be cleaning sponges and media till I die

why is a bog so much better? Isn't a filter still a filter?

[j.w]

@solaria5505 This is a question for someone who has a bog. I am someone who wished I did but don't. They say bogs keep your water sparkling clear. Lots swear by them! A filter like w/media in it you have to work at keeping clean as they muck up fast sometimes and it can be a job and maybe not do a great job for your pond. Some filters are better than others tho and if you can't do a bog then choose a good recommended filter . Mine is just a pot that sits on the edge of my pond w/a hose going through the top down through the media and then water goes back into the pond slowly. I also have a pre-filter hooked to a pump that sucks up water through the Matala pad and then out through a hose back into the water. It does ok also but have to drag it up and hose it off, yada, yada, yada forever and ever Amen!

[brokensword]

@solaria5505 This is a question for someone who has a bog. I am someone who wished I did but don't. They say bogs keep your water sparkling clear. Lots swear by them! A filter like w/media in it you have to work at keeping clean as they muck up fast sometimes and it can be a job and maybe not do a great job for your pond. Some filters are better than others tho and if you can't do a bog then choose a good recommended filter . Mine is just a pot that sits on the edge of my pond w/a hose going through the top down through the media and then water goes back into the pond slowly. I also have a pre-filter hooked to a pump that sucks up water through the Matala pad and then out through a hose back into the water. It does ok also but have to drag it up and hose it off, yada, yada, yada forever and ever Amen!

comes to my mind to ask @j.w ; is your water clear to the bottom? Just wondering as if as you say the pads get mucky, how clear does your pot filter keep the water?

In answer to the question; a filter IS a filter, so yes. A bog filter has a tremendous amount of surface area compared to any canister type and combined with the plants growing in it, is a much better version. I asked j.w because usually if you don't clean canisters (and even then, they have to be adequately sized) the water can get cloudy. Not green, but cloudy from what the fish stir up. A system in balance usually doesn't have much of this as the mulm and organics will decay fast enough and be converted by the good bacteria. So a bog is a filter that rarely ever needs attention, other than to thin the plants out so the aggressive roots can do it all over again re taking out the final product, nitrates from the water. It's the ammonia an nitrite that can harm fish if concentrations get too high and with a bog and the immense surface area colonized, you have a lot of good bacteria! This is the secret sauce! My pond is 44" deep on one side and 60" on the other; I can see to the bottom. I DO use a bog prefilter if the fish are moving what IS on the bottom too much; it then gets filtered out as larger particles before the bog gets ahold of them but a bog should still handle some solids, even if that' not it's main application.

So short answer is; smaller filter, more cleaning more often. And in some cases, a smaller filter isn't enough in the first place to handle the bioload of a pond. You can't over filter a pond, imo!

Hope this helps!

[j.w]

@brokensword my water is clear right now but as Summer arrives it will get cloudy but it will clear up again and then get cloudy. It seems to be an off and on thing.

[poconojoe]

Everyone's water gets a bit cloudy in the Spring. The beneficial bacteria and plants need time to wake up.

@brokensword explained a bog very well.

Adding the bog was the best thing I did for my pond and me.
No cleaning of any filters or filter pads. Just crystal clear water. As I said, it will be a little cloudy in the early Spring, but the rest of the year it's crystal clear. It looks like you can drink it. It's literally amazing. For years I could not see the bottom and I was running two pressure filters and a UV light. After adding the bog I saw fish I didn't even know I had!
I sold the pressure filters and UV light. I no longer needed them.

[rubyduby]

Well, in my case I cannot have a bog:( but I must say that my water is still crystal clear. I do have a ton of plants in the pond though and hopefully that will help keep it clear....We will see what day in and day out 90 degree temps do to the clarity though..