Ceaning your pond????

[Lisak1]

We have a crabapple that overhangs the pond. It's infected with some kind of crabapple virus, so it blooms beautifully - SPECTACULAR spring show - leafs out perfectly, and then at the first sign of heat the leaves turn yellow and fall. Every year we say it's coming down, and then spring... And it's just the perfect size for the spot, so we deal with it. But the leaves are tiny and light so they just float right out of the pond into my rain exchange catch basin.

Other than that, it's my neighbor's pin oaks that he decided to plant 4 feet from his back property line. Do people not take into consideration how BIG mature trees are going to be? Those things will be mainly in OUR yard when they are fully grown. My husband keeps muttering about sneaking back there with a syringe full of RoundUp... but he's JUST KIDDING!! No one call the tree police!

 

[addy1]

You can cut it straight up from the fence line. I had a neighbor put in a huge pine type tree in arizona, that sucker dumped bucket loads of pine needles in my pool. I chopped it from the fence line up. Had to it was horrible.

Our entire back yard is trees, but again the prevailing winds send the leaves away, whew!

 

[MitchM]

The other question is, how is it aquariums manage to stay healthy without all that mulm and detritus and all that human intervention? After all a pond, with it's closed water system, has more similarities to an aquarium than to a natural lake or stream.

Although it's true people can sometimes over manage their ponds by doing things like yearly draining and pressure washing the liner, it is more true, at least from what I've seen, that an unhealthy pond is more often a result of neglect than over management. Same goes for aquariums.

The newly setup aquarium pictured will not remain "healthy" for long with that substrate setup.
Soon enough the organic matter buildup will overwhelm the filtration capacity.
No amount of water circulation or aeration will help.

.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

The newly setup aquarium pictured will not remain "healthy" for long with that substrate setup.
Soon enough the organic matter buildup will overwhelm the filtration capacity.
No amount of water circulation or aeration will help.

.

That was my point exactly Mitch, and it's generally true of all aquariums that for them to remain healthy and attractive some (maybe a lot of) ongoing human intervention is going to be necessary. Same goes for most planted and stocked ponds, especially smaller ponds. Just the opposite of what the original OP was trying to say.

I say that the "dirty" pond is much healthier and a much more attractive place to live...

Of course a lot depends on the size and how heavily planted and stocked the pond is and how much external debris the pond receives, and certainly the efficiency of the filter system. But I've seen enough ponds to know that neglect is not necessarily the key to success.

 

[MitchM]

Ah, sorry. I thought you were using the picture of the aquarium as an example of a healthy one.

 

[Tula]

Sadly, we just lost our gorgeous cedar tree over our pond, due to high winds I've a fine mesh net, to catch all it's debris and small berries...not needed now.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Ah, sorry. I thought you were using the picture of the aquarium as an example of a healthy one.

Well, it looks healthy enough in the picture, but as you say, if the owner fails to maintain it it won't stay looking like that. Which is the point I was trying to make.
And it might not be a newly set up aquarium as you indicated, it could be several years old, just well maintained.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

But the leaves are tiny and light so they just float right out of the pond into my rain exchange catch basin.

What is this "rain exchange basin"? Pictures?

 

[MitchM]

Well, it looks healthy enough in the picture, but as you say, if the owner fails to maintain it it won't stay looking like that. Which is the point I was trying to make.
And it might not be a newly set up aquarium as you indicated, it could be several years old, just well maintained.

There is zero algae growth and the substrate looks to be crushed coral, it's too coarse to be sand.
The light reflection lighting up the 1/2 inch or so of the substrate is a result of the light penetrating the glass thickness and reflecting back off the substrate.
There is no sign in the substrate of cyanobacteria or fungi that are part of a healthy substrate.
The plants in there could not be looking so healthy with such a barren substrate. They would be recent additions.

That's why I say it's a new setup.

To answer for Lisak,
A RainXchange basin is this:
http://www.rainxchange.com/

I looked at setting one up here, but the cost was prohibitive for us.

.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

And I agree wit @Meyer Jordan - not every container of water is a "pond". I have a patio "pond" - a 65 gallon container of water that I grow plants in every summer - but I know it's not the same as my 4000 gallon body of water and I have to deal with it differently.

Well I must admit I tend to lean a bit in that direction too.
The reason I got into ponding was because I wanted a bigger aquarium. At one point I had two 100 gallon aquariums set up in my home and still wanted more volume. Even had I graduated to a 500 gallon aquarium which would have been huge by aquarium standards, 500 gallons is still considered small by pond standards. So for me to go less then 1000 gallons for a pond seems like a waste of effort. However, I'm still betting that by and large the vast majority of backyard ponds out there are under 1000 gallons. And no mater how reluctant we might be to call them "ponds", for all intents and purposes that's what they are to the owners and to the commercial enterprises selling them or building them.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

There is zero algae growth and the substrate looks to be crushed coral, it's too coarse to be sand.
The light reflection lighting up the 1/2 inch or so of the substrate is a result of the light penetrating the glass thickness and reflecting back off the substrate.
There is no sign in the substrate of cyanobacteria or fungi that are part of a healthy substrate.
The plants in there could not be looking so healthy with such a barren substrate. They would be recent additions.

That's why I say it's a new setup.

To answer for Lisak,
A RainXchange basin is this:
http://www.rainxchange.com/

I looked at setting one up here, but the cost was prohibitive for us.

.

Thanks for the RainXchange link Mitch. Looks interesting, though a somewhat elaborate way to capture and use rain water. But I guess if water is in short supply in your area it might be well worth the set up.

As to that aquarium being a new or old, I do see some signs of algae growth. Look at the top of the rock in the right rear corner. As for the other rocks, if the owner doesn't want algae growing on them he could be removing them and cleaning them, or regularly replacing them. And I do see some signs of bacteria growth permeating up from the lower substrate at the front edge of the glass. However regular cleaning and maintaining of substrate can keep white substrate from discoloring.
Take a look at the aquarium below. Clearly it has been established for a good while as evidenced by the grass growing up through the substrate, and yet that substrate still maintains a fairly white appearance. Keep in mind it is much harder to clean the substrate with grassy vegetation growing through it.
Constant cleaning and removal of unwanted algae is part of a dedicated aquarist routine, especially planted aquariums since creating the same conditions that will grow those nice looking plants also will grow algae.
Of course the first area of algae removal in an aquarium is always the glass, something most of don't need to contend with in our ponds.

 

[barryian]

You really shoukd net out any debris from the bottom. Don't fool yiurself into thing yiur pond is a natural system that takes care of itself. Most garden ponds are anything but natural and being a closed loop it is very different to a natural pond that has a natural bottom with naturally occurring plants to absorb excess nutrients. Sure to yiur eye your fish are healthy but they could be a lot healthier if you kept there environment cleaner. No need for draining and scrubbing though,just net out anything that will come out.

OCD here! lol ....

 

[Meyer Jordan]

And no mater how reluctant we might be to call them "ponds", for all intents and purposes that's what they are to the owners and to the commercial enterprises selling them or building them.

Do you think they would sell if they were not called ponds?! More mis-information to make a buck.

 

[Smaug]

OCD here! lol ....

No,just a responsible pond owner aware of the reality of garden ponds.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Do you think they would sell if they were not called ponds?! More mis-information to make a buck.

Actually, I'm starting to see more and more of these very expensive small bodies of water (less then 1000 gallons) in higher end homes. However the don't like to call them "ponds" there because that reduces the value and kind of puts them into the trailer trash category, they prefer to call them water features. Usually they are very formal, above ground and look a lot like many formal dedicated koi ponds, although smaller. Regardless of their small size and lack of anything resembling a true filter system, they often get end up with fish in them.

"Water features" or Koi "ponds"?