Return to the Ponds & Aquatic Plants Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Change the water in the pond
| | |
Posted by
bumsi So.California (
My Page) on
Sat, Dec 5, 09 at 20:50
| I need opinion fron ponders. When is the good time to drain the pond, and change the water. My pond is 11x12 2.5 deep, I have koi different sizes,about 1 doz. tad poles and 1 turtle. Water is not dirty, but there is string algy, and since it is cold I can not go in the pond to scrub the rocks. Should I just ignore it and wait to Spring? What time of the year do you drain your pond? Do you change water every year? Thank you for your opinion.
Anna |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
| uuummm what do you call cold? LOL |
RE: Change the water in the pond(HELP)
| | |
| I live in the foothills of SC. I now have young bull frogs that matured in my pond. The pond needs to be drained and cleaned. It now has large amounts of fall leaves. How do I do this without harming my frogs? |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
| I call it cold, when my bones hurt, and I can not stand in the pond. But this is not the point of the post. I was hoping for serious ponders to give me advice, somebody like Horton. Thank you for your LOL.Anyway I wouldn't change water myself, but have my local pond specialist do it(they built the pond 2 1/2 years ago). I am 66 years old disabled grandmother, I cannot do it,I do take care of pond every day. |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
Ain't nobody here but me to clean my pond. If it is done I do it despite the cane and extra pills.
I clean the pond when it needs it.
Usually it requires cleaning in the early spring and early winter. That is a good time to get rid of parasites in the water.
Thanks to a landscaper's "leaf removal worker" who blew dirt and leaves into the pond and Skippy, I have to clean it and do a water change all over again. |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
I never drain my pond unless I have a leak.LOL
I use a pond vac twice a year in spring and fall to control leaves and debris.
I do regular water changes of around 10%.
Below is a GW link regarding cleaning ponds. HTH |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pond Cleaning FAQS
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
- Posted by kalevi 4 Ottawa, ON (My Page) on
Mon, Dec 7, 09 at 17:00
| I never drain my 1100 gallon pond. I have a prefilter made out of flower pot with nylon scrubbies in dryer bags in which the submersible pump sits and it feeds an upflow filter made out of 45 gallon pvc barrel. I use a fine mesh net to sweep out as much stuff as I can periodically. The really fine stuff ends up in my prefilter or the filter. The algae is controlled during the warm season by the active plant growth using up the nutrients the algae need. If the algae keeps growing, scrubbing will give you a 1 or 2 week break before it grows back. |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
- Posted by drh1 z4 VT (My Page) on
Mon, Dec 7, 09 at 22:13
I never drain our pond. I don't have to worry about water changes since we typically have sufficient rainfall that Mother Nature handles that. I do scoop out any leaves and trim lilies. In the fall I trim all lilies down to the base and move them to the deepest part of the pond. I'm not one for recommending draining the pond and cleaning it unless you have a real problem (leak, major infestation, etc.). When you take out all that water and refill it's essentially the same as starting in with a new pond... with all the problems of waiting for the water chemistry, biology and other factors to settle down. In some cases I've seen ponds take couple of years to finally settle down! Usually after a few months the changes are fairly subtle but I feel I'm avoiding that by not tearing it down. Or you can just chalk it up to me being lazy! LOL!
---David |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
| My water is OK, but rocks are full of algie.How do you get rid of algie on the rocks without scrubbing rocks with wire brush. What do you have in the pond on the sides, don't you have rocks, and if you do then you must have geen fuzz algie, and string algie that floats. |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
| I had rocks in the bottom my first year - removed them all when I realized what a pain they were to clean between. For the past 4 years I have had a nice greenish fuzz of algae on the sides and bottom that hides the black. I get string algae in the spring before the plants take off, I clean that out by hand or with a toilet brush. I haven't drained my pond in 5 years. I do lower the water by 50% in the spring to get any debris and winter "scummy stuff" scooped out, then fill it back up. I try to do this after the filters are up and running again for a couple weeks after they've been shut down for the winter. You're situation maybe different in CA, but I agree, draining a pond is like starting all over. S |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
- Posted by drh1 z4 VT (My Page) on
Tue, Dec 8, 09 at 23:02
The floating, string-type algae you can remove with a toilet brush tied on the end of a stick and twirling it like winding spaghetti on a fork. As to the "stuff" growing on the rocks? You can add hydrogen peroxide (use the 3% strength sold in any grocery or drugstore) at the rate of 1-3 pints per 1000 gallons. It won't harm your fish or plants or birds, etc. Or you can do nothing and the other things (fish, and critters such amphipods and daphnia) will work on the algae..it will reach equilibrium at some point. I am not aware of any pond that has zero algae in it. Or at least if it does nothing else is living in it either. If you don't think you have daphnia present in your pond you can order them from several places such as William Tricker. They don't do too much once the water temperature is below 55 or so. Our pond has some algae in it but the pond is about to disappear under ice this week and reappear next spring. Won't be much algae in the meantime. As sheepco stated, we'll also see a bloom (string and suspended) come spring which goes away within about two-three days of turning on our biofilters. But this is Vermont and not California.
---David |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
| I have never drained my pond. Like everybody suggested, toilet brush will get rid of string algae, you can put dried barley straw to the pond to control the algae. Decomposed barley straw release hydrogen peroxide(I think). If your water is green, you can install an UV light to the pump, filter. I read it somewhere the algae on the side of pond is good, I know fishes eat it. |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
| Thank you all for your input. I guess it is a little bit different in California, because of warmer weather algie is spreading all year. My water is clean, only this string algie on the sides, I guess I am going to have to use some kind of brush and start scrubbing. |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
| Sorry to be so dense, your questions are finally sinking into my frozen brain (it's minus 2F with a windchill of -26F at the moment, lol). The way I read this is you want to be able to enjoy the look of "natural" rocks on the bottom of your pond and we're not helping. Everyone wants something different in their pond and many of us don't mind some algae. It IS tough to get rid of, and I don't have any great answers, but maybe some of the forum folks from the south will pipe in here... IMHO, depending on your water temperature, you don't want to do a major cleaning (ie: drain and scrub) when the fish are stresed by cool temps or have a lowered metobolism. Tadpoles would also be at risk. (Turtles are way out of my league-don't know.) So I would do what you can to keep the algae under control (barley straw if it's warm enough, peroxide, UV light for suspended algae - which doesn't sound like your problem since your water is clear - are all options. Along with removing string algae by twirling a toilet brush in it to manually remove - not scrub - you'll just cloud up your water). And use a net to scoop out any leaves or debris that have settled to the bottom. As someone else suggested - cut back on the fish food to stop feeding the algae - the fish will be fine, and they'll eat some of the algae :) I think it would be better for your fish and other critters if you wait 'til early spring to do a big clean out, unless you have a major problem that's affecting their health. Maybe you could consult your local pond person for help? Or try a local water garden club? Happy ponding, S |
RE: Change the water in the pond
| | |
| Thank you all for your input, I will wait then for spring and do my big cleaning then. |
Post a Follow-Up
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in.
If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Ponds & Aquatic Plants Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
