Do I drain my pond???

[wags]

It's spring and my fish all made it through the winter but now owr pond is a mess leaves and all kind of junk in it!!  what the best way to clean it??? Should we take the fish out and drain it and start all over again???     I'm just scared about removing the fish I don't want anything to happen to them.. Thanks for the info. wags

[jw]

Mine was also a mess and I just drained the water and as I was draining I also ran the hose into the pond and just left the fish in there. We have good well water w/ no additives in it so I don't have to add anything to it. When the pond became clear enough for me to see I used my skimmer net to scoop the yuck out of the bottom as I don't have a vacuum. Everything came out fine. I also cleaned the filter. I didn't run the filter until all the yuck was cleaned out. Now the fish are swimming around happily and they can breath. I don't clean the good algae off the sides of the pond as the fish like it to nibble on and it doesn't hurt anything. It's that darn long hairy algae that I had to scoop out in masses. It floats around freely and sticks on your plants and seems too smother everything. That is the bad stuff! The stuff on the sides is very good for your pond and looks nice and natural. Have fun and I think Spring has sprung at least in our neck o' the woods!
                                                                       Janice

[livetogarden]

If possible do NOT empty your pond. Scoop the leaves, sticks, etc. out with a skimmer net (can buy them at discount stores by the swimming supplies if you don't have 1). By emptying the pond you often bring on more problems than you got rid of. If your water is green or murky you can add Microbelift PL. I know some people don't like using any type of 'chemical' in their pond but we have had times where our water needed something desperately. Mirobelift is safe for plants and fish. It will clear your water up pretty quickly. Many ponds are messy in the spring so you are not alone, do your best to clean out the mucky stuff, be patient and I think you will be surprised.
Good luck!
Cath

[PondmaninAL]

My water is green but it's that time of year. I'll just wait to see if it clears. My wife's pond is also green. I want to see if she gained any patience since last year.

[Kat]

I drained & cleaned all of my lily ponds but I needed to to catch all of the fish to make room for watonai goldfish eggs that I'll be raising in them.  I saved all of the water to put right back in.  The one pond were I'm holding all the hardy divisions promptly turned a deep dark green for several weeks because I was messing with it so much but it is crystal clear now. 

If I had an inground pond & all the bells/whistles, I'd not be draining & cleaning.  My watonai pond with my Skippy filter I did not drain.  Just scooped out the leaves & flushed the Skippy.  Water stayed clear & fish stayed happy.

[Julles]

Our local pond store recommends that you completely break down and clean your pond once each year.  I've always done that (mainly because usually I am also expanding the pond once each year  ).  But I've come to think that is too much stress on the fish.  I agree with not emptying it if you don't have to.

I did completely drain and clean my pond this year, because I thought I had a turtle in there, attacking my fish, as well as one large koi who died inside a milk crate and needed to be removed. 

It was a big deal - had to set up temporary storage containers with aeration, to hold the fish during the change, and work as fast as I could.  Even with air and moving water, they suffered greatly.  Being chased and netted is hard on them.  Then there's the shock of temperature changes when you dump them back into the clean pond.  The stress of changes of water quality from what they're used to compared to the clean water is an issue, too.  Plus, your pond will have to rebuild its microbial community / ecosystem all over again.

After all this, my fish often spawn the next day, I supposed the shock and stress causes that reaction. 

[tweetybaby2005]

My pond is just a year old so I'm still some what new to ponding.  I have heard that draining the pond completely is stressful to the fish especially with water temperature difference.  Plus the fish are "weak" because they just got over the harsh winter.  My pond was a mess too but I just drained about 10% of the water then vacuum the pond as much as possible.  I also use a hand net to net out what I was able to.  I refill the pond and added dechlor since we use city water.  Any time you do water changes, please monitor the pond water to make sure ammonia, chlorine, nitrite, nitrate, ph levels are stable.  I also added beneficial bacteria after cleaning the pond and waterfall is up and running.  My pond is now fairly clean and water is crystal clear.  HTH.


Kuan

[Joyce]

Of course your local pond storm will recommend completely cleaning out your pond once a year.   
It creates the most amount of work, demands the most amount of purchases from the same local pond store,
creates more problems that will need to be corrected by products sold by your 'dearest' local pond store, and on and on... 
It's crystal clear:  By telling you to drain your pond once a year, they're creating more business. 

A pond should NEVER need to be emptied and cleaned out. (not unless you're planning to add to it)
Just like when your house gets dirty, you need to pick up the big dirt, and vacuum up the rest.
(By the way, this is another GREAT reason for a bottom drain. All you'd have to do is net out the leaves and then turn on the bottom drain for a few moments)

By the way, when you empty and clean your pond, you will removed 99.99% of the good 'beneficial' bacteria.
So after filling the pond and starting the pump, you will have to wait for about a month for the beneficial bacteria
and the natural equilibirum of the bacterial processes in your pond to get back to normal and 'healthy'.
During this time, your fish will be stressed, and may get sick. Huge algae blooms will most likely occur.
Then most newbies start tinkering, adding chemicals, effing up the balancing process that was already effed up by draining and cleaning.
So the pond takes even longer to become balanced. For some people it will NEVER balance because they will not stop effing with their pond.

Mother Nature takes care of her own...and if you'd just allow her to help and do HER job, she'd take most of the work out of your hands.
Right now, all you need to do is a half day of vaccuming, and netting out leaves.
Not days and days of the work needed to empty and drain a pond, move the fish and plants, then clean it, then fill it,
then watch all hell break loose while it tries to balance itself again.
(and then we all get to say we told you so...    )

So I totally agree with what Cath said. 

By the way, Microbelift is not a chemical. It's all the benefical bacteria that the pond needs to balance itself.
That's how it works. Basically: Mother Nature in a bottle. 
http://www.microbeliftstore.com/home/ml1/page_5_7/microbelift_pl_16oz.html

[LeeAnne151]

I've drained and cleaned out my pond once in twelve years. We were working on it and had to drain it. Otherwise, nope not going to drain and clean....Might have to this year due to so much debris from storms but hoping not to.

[jw]

So is it not good to slowly drain some water out while running the hose water in at the same time until the water looks cleaner? I don't empty it completely just enough to give them some fresh water. I would think that that would be a gradual change in the water chemistry and not a shock to the fish. What say ye?
           

[Joyce]

jw, i heard it's good to syphon it from the bottom, a couple inches, then top it off with fresh well water.
I wouldn't do it at the same time because you can not measure how much you are removing.

[Kittyzee]

I agree with Joyce and Cath...I've never drained my pond.  I add water when I need to, I clean out muck and leaves when I need to. 

I've never understood the "need" some people have to constantly "mess" around with fish, removing beneficial algae from the sides of their ponds, clean the rocks so they look like they were just placed there, and on and on.  Of course, my preference is no going to keep people from doing just that.  If I felt that I had to do that to my pond for it to be successful, I'd fill it in.

When I'm feeling the need to do something, I go to the fire dept. and volunteer my time fighting fires and EMS. 

[LeeAnne151]

Replacing pond water will often cause algae blooms.

IF you already have an algae bloom, draining and starting over just prolongs the agony. Over and over and over.

It is a pond, not drinking water. Some algae is normal and desirable.

[tinkster]

I agree.  Never drain mine except for changes. and contrary to what most do I never clean out my biological filters.  This will be the 5th year on one.  I had a biological filter on a indoor aquarium and never changed water in 4 years, never lost a fish.. basically did nothing but top it off and feed them, joined a fish group on the internet who said I had to change water and top it off once a week or fish would die and stupid me did just what they told me and my fish were all dead within a month.  So I really believe in the dont mess with the biological filters.

 In the spring I get in and scoop out all leaves from the bottom, vaccum which usually brings my level of the pond down not quiet 1/3 or so.  I readd to fill it up with chlorine remover/stress coat and heavily add koi clay and my water is clear.  I have never had to go through the green stage alot do in the spring to stabilize, not sure if that cause I run my waterfall 24/24 year round or if I have just been fortunate so far.  The lilly pond goes through the dark green algae in the spring but soon as the plants comes to life it gets clear.