to clean the bottom of the pond or not

[poconojoe]

That's amazing that the bottom is so clean. I wish ours would be like that. We have a lot of trees, so a lot of stuff gets into the pond, even in the summer. I dredge the bottom with a net in the spring, fall and maybe once in summer. Every time there's a good pile of junk removed. I carefully forage through it and sometimes have to rescue snails, plants and fry.

 

[Tula]

My pond looked good this year with minimal maintenance and no UV light ! We hung our net ( mesh material that catches small debris as well as leaves ) on tall poles over the pond....wild life could get in and out of the pond, but lots of leaves etc., didn't fall into the pond .

 

[JBtheExplorer]

So if you don't want to mess around with cleaning the bottom of your pond, have lots of plants sucking up the nutrients and snails munching on the plants.

I skipped cleaning the bottom of the pond last year and worried about the frogs and fish all winter, but they all made it, of course. I still have not cleaned the layer of muck at the bottom. Might try leaving it again until next year.

 

[420benz]

What are you guys using to clean the bottom of your ponds?

 

[Stephen T.]

My pair of ponds are fairly small, 5x9 with about 35' of stream and 9x12. Both are about 40" deep in places. I have lots of anacharis and several water lilies, along with a small bog. I've never cleaned the ponds, just add water to make up for evaporation and all the plants in the bog and along the stream. It stays crystal clear. There must be around 20 goldfish ranging from 3" to 9". There are also lots of native snails about 1" in size and I do mean lots!

In the 3 years and a couple months that it's been running, there must be about 1-2" of muck in the deep spots, although there is so much growth down there that it's hard to tell. Must must come from the fine volcanic soil here, which is super light and coats everything, inside and out. So whatever muck builds up is almost certainly from this. Yes, our house is dusty too, and I have to clean the computers at least every couple months, a cloud comes out.

Personally, I feel that unless the pond is way overstocked with fish and understocked with plant life, cleaning does more harm than good.

I also have a 55 gallon aquarium in the house with 2 6" or so goldfish (comet and shubunkin) and around 10 small bronze corydorus catfish. With lots of plants also, about all I do is feed them and change the filter once in a while if it clogs up. I haven't cleaned the aquarium, other than algae on the glass, in 3 years. Everything stays healthy, so why fiddle with what works! Oh, I do change about 1/3 of the water every month of so.

 

[Lisak1]

What are you guys using to clean the bottom of your ponds?

No pond bottom cleaning here- I scoop the any big stuff that blows in, but there's never anything else IN the bottom of my pond.

Your pond is brand new @420benz - are you just thinking ahead?

 

[Tula]

I use a pool net to scoop out leaves and twigs that blow in the pond. Some years I also have some clumps of algae that I scoop out, but not this year.

 

[addy1]

I don't even net the bottom any more, the few leaves that get in just disappear.

 

[Ronfire]

Last year I had 2" of mud in the bottom when I restarted the pond from winter shut down with 0 fish. This year I added a 70 gallon bog. The pond has been crystal clear except for string algea and noting on the bottom. Guess the 30 feeder fish and bog are doing well.
Will try to winter the fish this year with 18" of water?????

 

[Bluerooster]

Mine usually gets a bit of dead algae buildup on the bottom, but come spring it will be all gone. I will net the pine needles though, They won't leave until I do.

 

[420benz]

I was thinking of a wet shop vac.