Down to a trickle..

[miguynmkoi]

I've been busy that past couple of months and not able to enjoy my ponds as much as usual.  I noticed the lily pond had a slower than normal flow from the bio-filter outlet into the pond.  This probably happened over the past few weeks where the flow got weaker.

Picking up the prefilter box/tray of my submerged pump it was evident there was lots of shiz packed in there.  My fishies are growing big plus there were lots of new babies that didn't make it onto the cavier/sashimi menu for the big fish. 

After cleaning the prefilter and starting the pump up the water flow is soooo strong that the small bog of taro/elephant ears was flooding and the backsplash caused the water to overflow into the flower bed!  Lost quite a bit of water before I realized what was happening!  Chopped some giant taro leaves out of the way to direct the water flow properly and wow, the water has cleared up immeasurably! 

Fishies a lot happier (before cleaning prefilter I noticed many of them lined up against the measly waterfall flow) and swimming around a lot more.

This is my first time cleaning anything in the ponds after spring.  Does this happen to you too?

[Zoe]

It is a constant maintance chore for my hubby.  Not so much in the winter but during the summer yes.

[Esther]

I hadn't scooped the bottom of my pond since maybe early June until late August. I got two 5 gallon buckets full to put on the neighbor's garden.

[tweetybaby2005]

Annette, glad you water is flowing great and the pond cleared up fast.  It sure is a chore to have to keep cleaning the pump.  If it is not the pump, it is always something else.  But we love the pond so that's something we don't mind doing, at least not bad enough to call it quit.   

It is something I need to keep a constant eye on as well.  The upper tub where the waterfall starts has a lot of plants and their root balls of the plants are so huge that I thought the waterfall magnetic pump in the skimmer is plugged up until DH clears out a bunch of roots then the waterfall resumes the normal flow.

I'm not too keen on lifting up the skimmer lid to take the pump out because I found 2 snakes in there this year.  Thank goodness it was the roots in the waterfall and not the pump.   

Kuan

[miguynmkoi]

SNAKES!!!!! Yikes, Kuan, that would scare the heebie-jeebies out of me!  While away we had a good day of rain filling up my ponds and waterplant pots, yay!

For next Spring I'm gonna have to re-figure the waterplants in the bog and the pots so that there is less maintenance involved.  I don't like the balled up roots too as they prove to be difficult to trim.

Esther, I hope your neighbors know what a treat their garden is getting from your pond!

[Indiana Karen]

That's a purdy picture Annette.

I didn't keep up very well on maintenance this summer either.  Don't have a choice now that the leaves are falling.  I have two skimmer boxes and the nets are packed with leaves every time I go outside. 

[Julles]

After I reconfigured the pond this spring, to seperate the koi from the lily and other plants, I have virtually no problems with a clogged up pump.  Turns out they were destroying more plant material than I realized, and all that was floating down and getting sucked into the pump. 

[miguynmkoi]

Julles you basically did what I wish I could do.  I did take the lilies out of the Koi pond but put a variety of plants in  a small bog off to the side of the pond.  Well my cows, er, Koi keep pulling leaves or stems out and getting them to clog the pump too.

I think the Koi destroy plants just to get me to feed them more....

[tweetybaby2005]

Came back to this thread to report that my waterfall was down to a trickle yesterday.  My kids were home yesterday and today due to school in-service and non-teaching days.  So I was home with them.  I was in the kitchen on the computer talking to my staff and my son came running in saying that the waterfall was running reallyyyyy slow.  So I walked outside and sure enough, it was down to a trickle and the water level in the pond had dropped about 4"!!!!     I knew it was due to the humongous papyrus, water hyacinths, and other plant roots in the waterfall tub that caused the water to slow down that much!  Due to the snake scare (3 snakes this year), I decided not to reach my hand inside the tub to pull the massive rootballs up.  I called DH and he came home and cleared out almost all the water hyacinths and a whole bunch of Marsh Betony plus roots.  The muddy water came rushing out and down into the pond.  DH showed me where the water had overflowed out the back of the tub and that because it was so full, it had no where to go but out of the tub!

I was just glad that I was home when this happened.   It could have been a lot worse if I wasn't home.

Kuan

[miguynmkoi]

Love the big plants but they do cause havoc.  Good thing your son witnessed the slow flow otherwise it could have been a catastrophe!   What are plans to prevent this problem again?  Beside removing the plant altogether I need to figure out what to do to keep this all low maintenance.

At least you hubbie will help you with your pond.  Count your blessings.  If it were up to mine he'd throw all my plants in the dumpster!   

[tweetybaby2005]

Annette, I was just thinking the same thing.  How do I prevent this from happening again??  It is a must to have plants in the upper waterfall tub.  The plants will help filter the water and cover the ugly black tub.  If I don't put plants in there, then the filtration is not as good since I only have filter mats in the skimmer.  I cleaned out all the plants in the waterfall tub today.  Forecast said we will have frost next week.  It is that time of the year.  My tub looks so empty and bare now.     The pond is full of muddy water.  I have to wait till tomorrow hoping that the silt will settle for me to be vacuumed off.  Then I will put the net down.  I can't believe I'm typing this because it was just yesterday that the waterlily was showing the most pretty flower; probably the last for this year and it lasted late into the night, which was very unusual.  I did take a picture so I can look back when the snow is on the ground.  {Shock... Gasp...Gasp...}  .

I have a bunch of papyrus, marsh betony, lizard's tail, etc. to bring inside the house.  I hope the papyrus and marsh betony will overwinter just fine in the basement.  They are the new plants I added this year.

Kuan

[miguynmkoi]

Dang, Kuan!  I do not envy your end of the season work.  Honestly I do not think I would grow much if I had to lug everything indoors!  Maybe a greenhouse is in your plans!