Spring Tips for Successful Pond Clean-outs

 

1.  Hire a reputable pond company to clean your pond for you, ask for references. (If that is not an option got to #2).

 

2. Start draining the pond using an inexpensive pump or sump pump. (Our crew uses the Cal Pump PW 5500gph, it pumps water out fast and has the lowest intake point on pumps we could find.)

 

3. Disconnect the circulation system.  Drain the pond down to a low level in order to catch your fish quickly and safely.  Make sure to use a shallow fish net and not the big deep fishing net out of your boat.  We want to protect the back bone of the fish.  The absolute best fish net to use is called a koi sock net.

 

4.  Place fish in holding tank, make sure there is a screen/lid for the top. If possible place the tank in a shaded area.  Use an air pump in the tank to provide oxygen for the fish if they will be there for hours.

 

5.  Manually remove any large debris ie: leaves, twigs etc.  Then using a high pressure washer(1500 psi) or high-pressure nozzle on your garden hose,  wash down the insides of the pond from top to bottom, continuing to pump out the dirty water as you are rinsing.  Be very careful when using the pressure washer on the water fall rocks.  The rocks may shift, causing you to reconstruct your waterfall.

 

6. Rinse off any filter mats and other filtration materials and rinse down the inside of the filter unit.

 

7. Trim back all water plants and fertilize all pots and water lilies.  Plant any new plants you want to introduce to the pond.

 

8. Pull the clean-out pump out and begin to refill the pond with fresh water.  Add dechlorinator if you are using city water to remove all chlorines etc.

 

9. Lay barley straw (bales, pellets) on top of the filter mat, followed by Phos-X bags.   Both products are great to prevent string algae from growing on the rocks of your pond.

 

10. While new water is filling, turn back on pump when appropriate.  This is a great time to add Microbe Lift PL  (beneficial bacteria) or Green Clean Extreme Bacteria into pond.

 

11. Acclimate fish back into pond.  Add some fresh water (which has been dechlorinated) from the pond into the holding tank and then after approximately 15 minutes, add the fish gently back into the pond.  Spring cleanouts can be stressful to fish, so we suggest also adding a water conditioner to the fresh water to ease this transition.  A water conditioner will instanly 'age' the water, giving the fish a more gentle environment to inhabit.