I'm pretty new at this myself, but your request is pretty broad....

How big is your pond? What depth? Rocks on the bottom? Fish? how many, what kind? Plants? How old is your pond? Any specific problems you've had in the past?

I'd be happy to share my maintenance routine, but it would be better to get it from someone who has expereince with a pond similar to your own.

Happy Ground Hog Day! (Spring soon!!) S

I vacuum the pond with a oase pond vac 3. At the same time I do a partial water change. If the weather is warm enough, I bring out my tropical pond plants to place in the pond.
I do not have rocks on the bottom so it makes vacuuming easier.
To get the deeper area, I have to put on a wet suit so I will do it around mid April. I am in zone 7.

I try to vac the pond once a year, but truthfully it usually happens every other year. Otherwise I think less is better. Scrubbing the liner is unnecessary and probably harmful. An occasional partial water change is good, but don't over do it.

Other than the above, I suggest responding to specific problems with specific things. Clean the filters when they clog up, but not more often. If your plants look bad, add some potash or iron. If your water tests show too little alkalinity, add some baking soda. If you need something to do, you can fuss with the plants. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy your pond.

I live on Long Island zone 7. We never clean our pond in early spring until the fish are on their feed for a couple of weeks.
The pond bottom is host to lots of nasties in early spring,
and the fish are at their most venerable state after their long winters nap.
After a couple of weeks when the fish are swimming around like crazy and eating us out of house and home, we clean our pond. Cliff always goes inside the pond to pick up all the fallen rocks in early spring, as well as picking up and leaves that accumulated in the corners :)
We have a bottom drain so we just hose the pond floor with a regular hose and sweep everything towards the bottom drain.
We fortunately do not have to add de-clor to our pond.
Then we clean the filter pads and we're on our way to
another pond season.

one more thing, don't use a power washer on the pond liner, our friend did that...we helped him patch the holes! :)
Joann

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I have 7 ponds and I've been doing this for 15 years . Heres what you do . First get a net and get as much leaves and other junk out of the bottom . I went to Sears and bought a large wet , dry vacuum . Just use it to suck up what you can . Let the water settle in the vac and then dump the water back in . Throw the muck and leaves out and repeat this . Never ever wash the algae off the liner , this is the good stuff that keeps your bateria level correct and your water clean . Your fish will eat it . Also do not drain your water . If you have to take out some and replace it with new water . In the spring with all the rains , it will wash itself out . Dont forget to add salt , 1lb per 100 gallons of water . Use koser salt if you dont want to spend a ton of money at the pond store. PS , I'm in NJ also , down the shore .

First of all, let me thank everyone who has come to my assistance in cleaning a pond.

Birdman, what is the reason for adding salt l lb. per 100 gallons of water to the pond and when do you do it? You must be so busy taking care of 7 ponds!

To Sheepco: My pond is approximately 8 feet x 10 feet and a little less than 1000 gallons; it does not have rocks on the bottom only those that abut the waterfall. I have 3 small waterlilies, 3 Iris, pickerel rush and a few marginals. All are small, of course, since I have only had the pond since late July. Fish: A few comets, shebunkins, a fantail koi and a white koi, tadpoles and a couple snails so far. They are in the 4" range. I would love to add more fish but do not want them to be crowded and hopefully, will grow to be larger this season.

Is there an advantage of buying a dry/wet vacuum as opposed to a pond vacuum? Remember I don't know anything about either one so help me here........Thanks.

I agree with what has been said. DO NOT power wash the pond. Tha algae on the sides is beneficial to the fish and to curing the pond. Besides it will regrow anyway. I don't drain my ponds yearly. I scoop out the muck with a net to get any leaves and large debris, clean my filters and let her rip. When the pond is balanced right, any other debris will breakdown naturally. Every third or fourth year, I may drain one and use a shop vac on the bottom and refill it. I use no chemicals. Just let nature take its course. As ponds age, they balance and will spring right back to clarity early. New ponds take more time.
Why a shop vac over a pond vac? Cost. I'm sure you've figured out that anything designed for a pond is overpriced! Good luck.

There are those who add salt and those who do not. Salt can benefit the skin's slime coat and the gills, but many people do not use it except for medicinal purposes.

I don't add any salt because I have plants, and plants tend to react negatively to salt. Snails also do not like salt. The fish are healthy, and I have the salt on hand in case of illness or injury, but I have never had to use it yet. If you do choose to add salt, remember that it doesn't evaporate. To dilute it, you'll have to do water changes.

I use an Oase Pond Vac, but I've heard of people who have had great results from the shop vac. I don't know that one is better than the other, just two different methods of achieving the same goal, but as Pat said, the shop vac costs less. I found a bargain on eBay, and that's why I got the Oase. ;-) For someone like me, who does not have a bottom drain, a vac is a good investment and I would recommend one, whether it be a pond vac or a shop vac.

Thanks for your good advice, Nancy. I didn't realize that some of these pond vacs are quite expensive but if they perform well and last a few years, it is always a good thing to have. Is your pond large and do you have many marginal plants, etc?

I believe that I will hold off on using salt to see whether it becomes necessary to use it.

I have a large shop vac with an extra long hose and many attachments. It is so easy to vac the bottom to get any leaves that may have settled in the corners or around the planters. I do a small water change and clean the filters. I only do this after the water is warm enough for me to get in the pond. Late April or May in Zone 7. I don't have a wet suit.

This year, early summer I am going to pull out my plants. I plan to do one per week, trim them up to discard older center growth and repot. If I do one a week I'll still have a back and be able to walk! Those pots are huge and heavy as they are filled with the native clay soil from when I dug my pond. I have 3 waterlily, one pot of pickeral weed, one thalia, yellow flag iris, and gratiola virginiana (don't know the common name for this one). The floating hearts just pop up here and there, same for the anacharis.

My one tropical plant (umbrella palm) will go in when the water is at 70 degrees. So part of your spring clean up might be to redo the plants (in future years in your case).

Hi Comettose,

Thanks for your advice re the pond; the shop vac which you are using--what brand is it? You mentioned water change, how much water do you discard when you backwash the pond? A few inches e.g. 3 or 4" or more in the Spring. What source do you use for your aquatic plants? I am unfamiliar with Thalia.

I bought a RIDGID 16 gallon capacity wet/dry a few months ago and it has been wonderful. It comes with a bunch of attachments. I use it to suck out the leaves on the bottom of the pond that the skimmer missed. It sucks water fast, so position it where you want to clean before starting it up. I used to have one of those water faucet-powered Python vacuum hoses and it never really did a good job for me. I threw it away after buying my RIDGID.

I probably clean my pond a little more than is necessary, but it seems to make my fish happy. I do it monthly. As for my cleaning routine, I vacuum the entire bottom (my pond is small - 8x10), including the stream. My pond holds about 1000 gallons. I syphon out approximately 100-200 gallons at each cleaning. I don't add any chemicals to the water although I use city water. My fish don't seem to be bothered since it's less than 20% of a water change. I dump out old leaves and other debris out of the skimmer basket weekly. I never take my fish out or drain the entire pond - I personally don't think it's necessary and think it would stress the fish too much.

"Hi Comettose,
Thanks for your advice re the pond; the shop vac which you are using--what brand is it? You mentioned water change, how much water do you discard when you backwash the pond? A few inches e.g. 3 or 4" or more in the Spring. What source do you use for your aquatic plants? I am unfamiliar with Thalia."

I just ran down the basement to see what brand and it says 'ShopVac'. 14 gallon capacity. It is red and black. My neighbors gave it to me. It is on wheels and sits in a partial container (can't explain that too well). 10.5 amp motor. It has a long hose and there are small wedge attachments, brush attachments, etc. It shuts off when the holding tank is full and I unscrew a cap and all the water and leaves/gravel shoots out around my pond plantings. You have to be careful with it - it will suck up fish or frogs (not that I've done that) but it does have powerful suction. If my fish or frogs get nosy and try to swim near the suction tip I move it away. It is easy to move around the pond as it has a handle on top and I can pull it along on the wheels.

My pond is approximately 8 x 10, about 19 to 21 inches deep. When I do a partial water change I take it down anywhere from 3 to 6 inches.

I bought my Thalia a few years ago at Lowe's. It needs a really big pot as the plant itself is 3/4 feet or taller and the bloom stalks shoot up six feet. The flowers are purple and smell and look something like lilac. The bees like them. The base of the stems are reddish and the leaves sort of blue/green. You can buy Thalia at Lilypons (online). It is a native plant. There are tropical versions too, but mine is hardy as I leave it in my Zone 7 pond all winter. I'll search around for a photo of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: ShopVac Link

A photo of Thalia in my pond.

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Here is a link that might be useful: Thalia at Lilypons

Nice photo of Thalia and also of the pink waterlily in the foreground!

I checked the Lily Pons site and notice that Thalia has purple flowers. It was a surprise to me that the first plants which were purchased--the water hyacinths and lettuce would brown and die the first season. They add so much movement to the pond and the fish love to hide under them. No one told me that they wouldn't last for another year........

Vicki

That was my first season with the pond and I had to fill in with water hyacinth which has great roots for filtering the water. I don't use it anymore.

You need to check what plants are tropical. Don't bother to overwinter water hyacinth. It is a cheap replacment plant, easily obtained each season, from the over abundance of it down south. The best place to buy it cheaply is Ebay. Pond and pet stores up here over charge for it. It is a noxious weed and not in short abundance, so don't pay more than a few bucks per plant (and you only need a couple of plants to start it). Look for big mother plants.

I'm a pond rookie and could use some maintenance guidance from the experts here on gardenweb. :)

I have a small, 45-50 gallon rock-lined pond entering its third year. It was actually built to be a dry rock bed (is that what you call it?) for a stacked stone fountain, but I pulled out some of the river rock to create a small "moat" around the fountain.

So now it's spring and I'm wondering if I should pull the river rock out to clean the muck. There are no fish or plants in this. It has a rubber (not the molded type) liner. There are no pump filters.

The installer told me to remove the pump each winter and keep it submerged in water, which I've done.

Can I just use my wet vac and water changes (which I've done previously) to clean it or should I do something more elaborate now that the pond has some age? If I can do this without removing the rocks, it would be a lot easier!

I can post pics if that would help. Thanks!!!

I just use a shop vac and a net to remove whatever leaves I missed in the fall. Other than that, I've never drained and cleaned any of my ponds except when raccoons dumped over all the pots and there was a mess of dirt and gravel in my barrel ponds. This approach has worked just fine for me for twelve years...