spring cleaning

[micaaronfl76]

does anyone recommend a pond vacuum in the spring?

i have had my pond running for 2 years and i have a layer of rocks at the bottom, most big pieces, slate etc with some smaller pebbles in between.

do i need to worry about toxic buildup?, there is a layer of muck on the rocks at this point but u can still see the different rock formation, so its not that that thick.

i was looking into renting a pond vacuum in the spring.

i have also seen chemicals online that state it will help break up pond muck.

500 gallons - philly - uv light - aquascape system

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Smaller ponds are going to be more susceptible to toxic buildup. Personally I don't use any chemicals. For the size of your pond, instead of renting a vacuum every year I can think of a couple options...

1) Use a garden hose to blast the bottom and loosen up the muck so its floating in the water, then do an immediate water change. The problem with this method is that all the muck will be suspended in the water for a bit, which can be hard on the fish. If you do this during the Summer (and if you have a filter to catch the fine stuff), the filter can trap everything and you won't need to do a water change.

2) I have seen pond vacuums (of a sort) that attach to your garden hose and use the water jet to suck stuff into a mesh bag. This will trap any larger particles, but the fine silt will still go through the bag and float in the water. You will still want to do a water change afterwards to clear out the silt that is still in the water, but you probably wouldn't have to replace as much water. I think I got my vacuum attachment for about $20.

You don't want to let the sludge keep building up, but it shouldn't take long to clear it out.

 

[HTH]

I would wait to deal with it till the water warms up and the fish are eating. Unless you already have summer?

Doing anything now would be hard on the fish because they are living with a much reduced metabolism. That includes the immune and nervous system. You could make them sick and scare the wits out of them.

Just be sure you keep some water moving with a pump or a bubbler to degas the water.

Howard

 

[Tula]

Have you considered placing the fish in a container and that's aerated and has dechlorinated water when it warms up and then cleaning your pond? If you like the look of rocks, consider placing the larger ones back in the pond and removing the pebbles. Kim

 

[sissy]

pool net and quilt batting in a basket running back into the pond to catch all the yucky stuff that gets mixed up .I did use a shop wet and dry vac .I just used a hose on the outlet part and put the hose that came out in a basket of quilt batting .Problem is you have to be real careful of fish .Someone on here built there own also .

 

[DrCase]

The sun felt good yesterday so i sucked out the bottom of my fry pond , It didnt seem to bother them at all

 

[sissy]

now wait a minute that does not sound right DrCase :cheerful:they do say greens are good for you ,but not sure about fish poo

 

[DrCase]

Lol with my pond vac ! Sissy

 

[koiguy1969]

spring?...4 more months atleast before it's of any issue for me!!

 

[micaaronfl76]

hey guys thanks for the reply, i am interested in this garden hose vacuum thing. i tried to google it but didnt find anything. do you have anymore information on it, i assume its a DIY thing.

I did see some youtube video of someone using it as a pond vac but it was confusing.

i am thinking of maybe doing the pind vacuum diy thing you guys are talking about then doing an immediate water change. do i have to do a complete water change or says 50 percent of the pond. i have alot of small fish and i killed one the year before after i removed the water. also when doing a water change i was going to use a fountain filter to suck the water up, but is it best to suck at the bottom or the top or does it make a difference?

btw what time of the year would you do this? i live near philly so it will stay cold until mid march unless we have another early spring.

Thanks

 

[micaaronfl76]

bump

 

[Shdwdrgn]

This is what I got. It's cheap, so the results won't be world-class, however for small ponds it works just fine...

http://www.amazon.com/Laguna-PT831-Cleaning-Pond-Vac/dp/B000O39K5E/

 

[sissy]

diy lift pond vacuume by dive daddy .I brought that up for you in the DIY section

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I try and stay away from adding chemicals to my fish tanks or pond. I feel that water changes are much more beneficial for the fish and are cheaper for me. I do use AquaSafe to remove chlorine, chloramine and other heavy metals from the water. http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Pond-General-Conditioners/I/Pond-AquaSafe.aspx

You will want to vacuum the bottom of the pond to remove the gunk and try not to stir it up too much as that can be dangerous to your fish. This is not the exact vacuum that I have but very similar http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Pond-Vacuums/I/Muck-Vac.aspx The water discharges out of a hose and I use it to water flower bed in my yard.

I don't feel it's unreasonable to do a 50% water change in a small pond/tank especially when keeping larger fish like goldfish. Try not to do 100% water changes as that can be stressful on your fish. Several smaller water changes are much better than one big one.

 

[Mmathis]

On a different line of thought, I would consider getting rid of the rocks on the bottom. It might not look like there is much "muck" there, but underneath and between the rocks are all kinds of crevices and places for the BAD stuff to get trapped and to build up. It will make it a lot easier when you do have to clean the pond, whether using a vac, or scooping with a net.