Best time of year to renovate a existing Pond with fish.

[rellascout]

I was not able to start the renovation of my inherited pond last summer. I limped it along and have developed a plan of attack. Mainly I need to renovate the bog cleaning unknown years worth of build up and overgrown plants. From there I am going to replumb the bog so I have a 6" distribution pipe into the bog ending in a 12" wide cleanout. I believe I have my plan pretty well mapped out.

My real question is what is the best time to start this renovation? In the past I have always "opened" by ponds in the Mid to late March timeframe so I am thinking that would be the time to start the renovation. I have a second filtration system already hooked up to sustain the fish in the pond while I renovate the bog.

Is there a better time than in the early spring? Thanks in advance.

 

[Gemma]

Early Spring would be my guess

 

[j.w]

Me too on the Spring thing, not too hot and not too cold.

 

[brokensword]

ah, no; don't start immediately this spring. Wait until your fish have moved into early summer and are through with the stress. Fish are weakest coming out of winter so any further disruption could cause fatalities. I know it's prob better for you but your fish are the ones you're doing this for, right? Once they're acclimated again and thriving, they'll be strongest and can withstand whatever else you put them through. If this is just the attached bog and you can keep the two systems separate, by all means go for it; just don't disturb the main pond.

JMHO


Michael

 

[Angel]

consistent temps above 65 preferable at least

 

[adavisus]

When you can see a couple of weeks of dull, mild weather over 55f on the forecast, fish safely past the stressof cold waters. Peck away at clearing mucky stuff out of the way up to that point

 

[Gemma]

I did the last renovation in the Summer time and I had a hard time keeping the water of the temporary pool from over heating, so for that reason if I had to remove the fish for any reason I would do it in Spring

 

[sissy]

Thing is he is in NC so temps are probably there now .I stared redoing my pond the end of March if that helps you not sure .I live 15 minutes from the NC border .You don't want your plants to start growing if you want to save any or divide them up .My spring bulbs are already sprouting and trees have leaf buds here .Get some quilt batting to filter the water .I use a pump and crate and rinse the quilt batting and reuse it .I have even started that part

 

[j.w]

With the way the crazy bi-polar weather has been going who knows it could freeze over in N.C and get 10" of snow

 

[sissy]

Also I did mine over in 2014 with a new liner and bigger with 2 small snow storms and last year in march again a new liner .All because of stray dogs liner was ruined .Last March just a rain storm .But i worked day and night and did it in a week .Getting to be an expert of rebuilding .I made sure I thought every thing out ahead of time and was ready for anything Hardest part was moving koi over 2 feet long into a tank with a heat and filter .No time for pics or at least many pics since it was only me doing it

 

[rellascout]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I will shoot for late March early April.

 

[sissy]

Best advice is always expect the worst and prepare for it and then hope you only get the best expectations .The you never know will get you in the end and preparing for everything that can go wrong will hopefully keep it from happening .

 

[GBBUDD]

Also I did mine over in 2014 with a new liner and bigger with 2 small snow storms and last year in march again a new liner .All because of stray dogs liner was ruined .Last March just a rain storm .But i worked day and night and did it in a week .Getting to be an expert of rebuilding .I made sure I thought every thing out ahead of time and was ready for anything Hardest part was moving koi over 2 feet long into a tank with a heat and filter .No time for pics or at least many pics since it was only me doing it

Did you have a underlayment ontop of the liner as well as under the liner when the dog tore it up?

 

[sissy]

I had 2 layers of underlayment under my liner this last time .The dogs claws sliced the liner .You really can't put it on top of the liner unless you rock your pond .I have koi and prefer the least amount of work ,so no rocks .Plus I have to do this all by myself .My pond has straight sides also .It makes it hard for dogs to get out .It is also just over 4 feet deep and a large liner is really heavy for 1 person to install .The time before I had roofing paper down and then underlayment on top of that .I had moles chew my liner a couple of years ago .Tried to solve that by putting down lots of milky spore to get rid of the slugs the moles were after and then had roofing tar paper left over from the house build so figured I would use that and then the underlayment on top of that .The pond is just over 4 feet deep and holds 5000 + gallons

 

[sissy]

Don't ind the dates on the pics as my camera will not hold the date anymore