Clean your pond in the spring

Clean your pond in the spring. You may also need to do it during the summer or in the fall but a spring cleaning for most ponds or fountains in the spring is a must. Spring time in your pond may be mucky and yucky- I know mine is. Even though I tried to protect the pond from the gazillion Oak leaves that fall, some of them still get in the pond. Once spring comes and the water warms up and the leaves start to decompose, the smell becomes overpowering and gross.

Put aside an afternoon to clean your ponds. A few things I use to clean my smaller pond:

$1 scrub brush
small container to remove the water at the bottom of the pond
tarp for you to lie down on while scrubbing the pond
extra tubing to use on existing pond pump to drain the pond
small towel to wipe out the pond after you clean it

It is not a fun job but when you are doing it with someone else it goes faster. If you have fish and plants, then you need to use a bucket or tote with pond water in it to put the fish and any floating plants in while you clean. Any potted pond plants can sit out in the shade while you clean the pond. Then you take the extra tubing (remove any attachments such as spitters or fountain heads) and slide it on the pond pump. You are now using the pond pump to drain the pond as much as you can until the pump can no longer suck up any water. You will need to reach in and take out any debris you find along with any rocks or decorations in the pond. We use a little Dawn dishwashing liquid to help clean the algae and scum off the sides and bottom of the pond (and even on the rocks that were in the bottom). You may fill the pond with water and drain a couple times to get the water clean. When you have the pond clean you will still may still have some sand or dirt in the bottom and that is when you use a small towel to wipe the dirt out.

If you have a larger pond that you can stand in, you will clean the pond a bit a differently. You will still need to take out any and all fish, plants, and rocks and drain the pond. I have a set of boots so I can step in the pond and pick up all the yucky decomposing leaves and twigs that fall in the pond during the winter. Clean the ponds really well and even the filters and pond pump too.

NOTE if you have fish: before you put the fish back in you will want the pond water to sit for a day for a couple different reasons-

any chemicals in your water will evaporate
the fish need to be acclimated to the new temp and cleanliness of the water

To get your fish ready to go back in the pond it will take all day and a process of removing a cup of old pond water and adding the same amount of clean water. Do this every couple hours and let the pond and the bucket of fish water reach about the same temperature to avoid shock. It is a slow process but it can be done because I have done it many times.

Cleaning your ponds in the spring gets you off to a fresh start for the season. If at any time you have a question, feel free to contact me and I will try to answer it (or find an answer). I love my ponds and even though I try to keep a balance of plants and fish, sometimes you need to clean them. Do not be afraid to add a pond or a fountain and click here to check out my antique hand pump fountain that has been running for years.