What do you do for your pond when spring rolls around?

[miguynmkoi]

I just cleaned the mess in the filter box.  Sludge bricks is what I found.  YUKKKKK!!!  This winter seemed rather mild temp-wise.  Water lettuce never died out, just shrank,melted and made a mess which got into the filter box.  Also someone's (Hi Honey!) been over feeding the fish this winter too.  My garden plants will bee happy with all this muck.  Luckily it didn't smell!

I see an improvement in the water clarity already!    The better to see my babes!

[Kat]

Trim back all dead leaves, pull out string algae, drain various ponds to catch the extra fish (sell or give them away) & to clean out the bottom muck (this is a continuous thing since I've got 12 waterlily ponds to do  ), pull out any extra plants that I don't want to keep, fill up any smaller temporary ponds to get the water ready for summer growing, plant annuals around the ponds, etc, etc, etc .... I'm tired just thinking about all that I need to get done 

Sounds like your filter definitely needed a cleaning 

[Double S]

Kat, you just listed most of my immediate to do list. But you forgot vacuum the bottom of ponds.  And divide and fertilize lilies.

[Kat]

I don't clean the bottom of all the lily ponds yearly (maybe 2-3 years apart) but I did start to think of all the dividing & repotting of lilies that I need to get done .... at least several hundred of them, LOL 

[miguynmkoi]

Except for the results I do not envy Kat's Spring job!  Love the blooms of all your beautiful lily blooms.  Can't wait to see all of them this year!

[landey1230]

Mosquitos arrived early and with a vengeance.  I bought some dunks.

[Julles]

What do I do to get ready for spring?  Well, not much. 

Here in Houston, ponding pretty much goes on all year long.  Plants stay alive, fish swim and eat (a little), and there's not too much mess to clean up.

So I just start feeding the guys a little more, and spend a lot of time sitting watching them.

[Loritx]

I try to get out there and do something every weekend.

Spring clean out is done - had to do it early.  2nd yr pond and didnt expect the leaves to be a problem - well until we had a good windstorm and it Filled up the pond with leaves.  So did a full clean out in early Feb.

Today put Barley pellets in and pulled a couple of pounds of String Algae out of the Stream and water fall!! Planted a couple of plants in the stream bed.

Oh and put a PVC Shelter in the pond so the Heron wont get the fish!

Biggest benifit from the pond is the Lawn in the back is Greener this year!!

[miguynmkoi]

Hi Lori,  you just gave me an idea for protecting my pond.  Exactly what is you PVC Shelter?  Do you have a photo?  THX.

[EagleEye]

Just remember, you asked:

Yesterday, (it's spring you know) I shoveled a couple feet of snow off of it, so the foot or so of ice will melt.
In another month or so, I'll clean it out.
Then the fish go back in.
Steve

[Loritx]

They are just PVC plumbing  BIG pieces you can get at Lowes.  It is a 6in WYE Plumbing Pipe. The openings are 6 in arround and Pipe is about 18 in long.

Kind of looks like this:
 
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/pvc.html#wye

You can find all kinds of them in all sizes at Lowes/Home Depot. In the Plumbing Dept. They come in Black and White.
I figure in the Texas sun the White would work best and in a few days it will be Green anyway and under Lily cover before too long.

My fish are proabaly happier now that they have more shelter. They were exposed all winter with just 4 lily pots to hide between and no plant cover.

[Philly Bill]

Today, I cleaned out my filter, which was able to run all winter, even in Pennsylvania, and I got the muck up off the bottom of my little 125 gallon pond. Amazing how much rot and poop such a small space with just a few fish can accumulate!

Details are on my small pond blog at phillyrover.wordpress.com, along with pics of my new 300 gallon stock tank setup.

[Philly Bill]

They are just PVC plumbing  BIG pieces you can get at Lowes.  It is a 6in WYE Plumbing Pipe. The openings are 6 in arround and Pipe is about 18 in long.

Kind of looks like this:
 
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/pvc.html#wye

You can find all kinds of them in all sizes at Lowes/Home Depot. In the Plumbing Dept. They come in Black and White.
I figure in the Texas sun the White would work best and in a few days it will be Green anyway and under Lily cover before too long.

My fish are proabaly happier now that they have more shelter. They were exposed all winter with just 4 lily pots to hide between and no plant cover.

If I am not mistaken, the black is ABS, not PVC, and is not UV resistant. ABS is also brittle and more likely to have sharp edges that can injure fish.

Whichever one you choose, make sure you get a grade suitable for potable water, not so called drain grade. Some jurisdictions do not allow PVC or ABS to be used for supply lines, so the safe grade may not be available in home supply stores in your town.

I don't know whether the contaminants in the drain grade pipe are harmful to fish, but better safe than sorry.

[marla]

Just remember, you asked:

Yesterday, (it's spring you know) I shoveled a couple feet of snow off of it, so the foot or so of ice will melt.
In another month or so, I'll clean it out.
Then the fish go back in.
Steve

  , I hear ya........although the main pond is clear of ice now, the lily pond still is 50% ice covered and the little pond I'll need the snow shovel to get the leaves out there are so many.
I'm starting to get some of the string algae, and leaves out, but it will be a month before cleanout time, to cold to stick my hands in yet.

[croft]

I am sort of in the same boat as Steve and Marla - still have ice and a bit of snow on top of the pond. As soon as the ice is gone I will get my hubby to put on his dry suit and get him in the pond to raise the plants so they will get a bit of a head start. I will supervise of course . Some leaves will have to be scooped out as well this year because the snow came before I could get them all raked up. The pump and filters will also be started - hopefully with no leaks!

[happyoutsidegirl]

My falls runs all winter but I have been pulling string and scooping leaves out. It's still to cold to do much. Today I cut back my mini cat tails cuz they are at the edge. I noticed tho that my Marsh Merriegold is ready to bloom soon, several buds.It turned cold and we had hail for two days then snow all day Fri. It was a bit cold today but I got a bit of racking and deadheading done.

[tinkster]

Dont really do much here to the pond.  when it warms a bit I will clean out the filters and vacuum the bottom.. most of my work is moving around plants that I dont like where I put them last year.

tinkster