What is the easiest way to clean out a pond? There will be no fish or plants. How often would this need to be done? It will be away from trees and out in the full sun for most of the day.
Cleaning out pond
With no fish or plants I dont know if I would really call it a pond :)
You will have to do something about mosquito control and algea. How often you clean will depend on what chemicals you put in the water and how large the "water feature" is.. :)
try a chlorine tablet from a swimming pool if you have no fish or plants
If you are planning on putting fish in after it is cleaned, make sure you add a chlorinator to the water. If it has a pump / fountain, make sure what you use to clean it won't harm the plastic hoses, etc.
Sheila
edited to say; Yes Aggie, you are right, it is de-chlor!
This message was edited Jan 25, 2006 11:41 PM
Sheila, I think you meant de-chlorinator.
The plants and fish both help control the growth of algae. You might be alright with a pump and filter going. Are you using it as more of a reflecting pond or just a water feature?
Badseed, just as a water feature. I do have some small water features and this would not be very large but with a waterfall. It's not even been built yet, I just wanted some thoughts from others as to the best way to keep it clean. I would have a pump and filter for sure.
Charlotteda, I guess pond may have been the wrong word. It will be about 4X4 or 5X5 in size.
Thanks to all for your suggestions.
I used to live in SanAnotnio and the only thing I had to do to my pond was to clean out the leaves after all the oaks stop falling. I went to WAter GEms, east of SAnAntonio off of 10, and got a biofilter attachment to link to to cheap Home Depot pump I purchased. They make them their and they reallly work! If you are at all handy you can probably figure out how to make it yourself, much cheaper.
impish...I was just kidding...you can certainly call that size a pond :)
Generally, most folks have "ponds" for waterplants or "ponds" for fish or a combo of the two. So we have problems getting the balance right as we cant use chlorine without endangering the plants or fish.
So for your water feature...I agree that some type of chlorine swimming pool tablet would be a wise thing to try. You could put one of those slowly dissolving tablets in your waterfall area and give that a try .
Good Luck.. we'll look forward to seeing a picture !
charlotte
Impish----
If you are building a pond - even with no plants or fish- scoop out the debris in the bottom first to look for Dragon Fly larvae-- You may be killing a generation of Dragon Flies that eat bad bugs in the yard. Their lives begin in water- Chlorine...baaaaaad.!!! I just had to clean out my pond for a crack...and I always check through the old leaves before tossing aside- I have a rain barrel that I relocate the dragonfly larvae to. I photographed a few of the dragoflies- Last summer I was rewarded by watching a dragon fly larvae crawl from the pond and hatch out just like a butterfly does.
Here is a picture- They aren/t the prettiest..but...they don/t bite or anything- They feed on mosquito larvae and other water critters that will take up residency. Of course if your maintaining a continously chlorinated water feature- then you shoudn/t have to worry about it.
Dragonflies lay their eggs in any kind of water area - including my rain barrell.
Rj
This message was edited Feb 2, 2006 8:40 PM
Yes, watch out for the critters when cleaning a pond. Here is a dragonfly that just crawled out of the pond and shed his outer coating and is alowing his wings to unfold and dry.
edited to say: You can avoid a lot of the clean out by putting a net across the top of your pond when the leaves are falling. Also a pump will keep your water flowing, but you must have a filter to keep the water clear. Adding regular treatments of powdered bacterial sets up a eco-system in your filter making it safe for fish by keeping nitrates down.
This message was edited Feb 2, 2006 11:30 PM
rj and Sheila, that's just awesome. I only saw a couple of dragonflies here last year so I will keep a lookout for these creepy crawlies. I had purple martins and I read they love dragonflies. Maybe that's why I didn't have many?
Could be, but they are part of nature's chain too.
I agree with Sheila-- could be. However since I usually don't clean my pond as the larvae continue to grow over the winter - I am on 7th generation of red dragonflies.. These particular ones seem to keep around the same territory.
Right, I don't clean out too early either. We have had the big reds since the second year we had a pond. They are beautiful.
When is a safe time to clean the pond then? Or can one keep the pond healthy without cleaning to preserve the little critters?
The first year we cleaned the pond in Spring and completely drained it. The next year we waited until late fall, and didn't see as many critters the next year. Since then I have been careful to net leaves more often and put a net over the pond when the wind and leaves are really bad. That cuts down on debris. Also we have decided as we do that, only the skimmer and biofalls need to be cleaned and filter media flushed. A wet vacuume works great for that, along with a pressure washer. That has worked fine the last couple years along with a 30% water change. We do that because of the critters like dragonflies and water skimmers, etc.
That's what I do- 30 percent water change. I scoop leaves out now and then, but always check through first. The net works great in the autumn.
Yes, we bought one online. It was something like 15' x30' and was enough to put over both ponds. They are also where we buy Koi food since it went up so much locally.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/Shop.cfm?N=62728
Here is the link if anyone is interested.