How often to clean my filters?

[craigbomb]

Hey again!

First off, here are some updates pictures of our pond progress! Coming along! Just more landscaping and now sod plants etc outside of pond to blend in naturally with our backyard.

No to the question, how often do you clea our the filters in both the skimmer (both the courses betting and the finer pad) as well as the Fine pad and netting with bio balls in the waterfall?

I was aiming for weekly? Is t a good idea to have back ups for both areas so you don’t have to turn pump off and can just swap dirty ones for fresh clean ones quickly and then just take dirty ones in to wash off etc?

Forgive typos with fat fingers on small screen

 

[craigbomb]

One more!

 

[MitchM]

Hi craigbomb,
Trapped detritus starts to decay and release nitrates back into the pond after 48 hours, but many people only clean their filters every month or so.
It really depends on how diligent you want to be plus whether or not you have enough plants to take up the excess nitrates.
It really varies by pond setup.

 

[craigbomb]

Hi craigbomb,
Trapped detritus starts to decay and release nitrates back into the pond after 48 hours, but many people only clean their filters every month or so.
It really depends on how diligent you want to be plus whether or not you have enough plants to take up the excess nitrates.
It really varies by pond setup.

Thanks Mitch! We have quite a few plants now that we were hoping would help with some of that.

In terms of having “back up” filters for quick swaps and thorough cleanings without having to turn pump off, yay or nay?

 

[GBBUDD]

craig when mitch stated if you have enough plants from your photo it would appear you wouldn't be even remotely close enough to having enough plants to avoid algae blooms

 

[Somethin' Fishy]

You won't want the stuff that flows into the skimmer to get too built up, because it's the same as if that debris had fallen to the bottom of the pond to rot. Keep tabs on it, especially during the fall or after heavy rains that may have blown leaves into the pond.

Don't clean the bio balls. Leave that bacteria there to do it's thing. It may look yucky, but that's generally a good thing.

Since your pond is new, and you may have extra dirt in there from the build, adding rocks, etc. Rinse out the filter pads weekly until that clears up. Once things are running well, you may not have to bother with them more than once a month, of maybe even a few times a year, depending. I re-use the fine pads in my filter several times before they need to be replaced - I just give them a quick rinse to get the big stuff out, and they go right back in even if they look a little dirty. (There's good bacteria in them too.)

As far a trying to swap pads with the pumps still running, this may or may not work depending on the flow of water.... I turn my pump off when I remove the pads in my filter, because otherwise all that water flows directly onto the bio balls and all that stuff gets stirred up and blown back out into the pond.

Overall, don't worry about keeping stuff TOO CLEAN, otherwise you will never attain a natural balance in your pond.

 

[craigbomb]

craig when mitch stated if you have enough plants from your photo it would appear you wouldn't be even remotely close enough to having enough plants to avoid algae blooms

Old photo..

Here is updated

 

[craigbomb]

You won't want the stuff that flows into the skimmer to get too built up, because it's the same as if that debris had fallen to the bottom of the pond to rot. Keep tabs on it, especially during the fall or after heavy rains that may have blown leaves into the pond.

Don't clean the bio balls. Leave that bacteria there to do it's thing. It may look yucky, but that's generally a good thing.

Since your pond is new, and you may have extra dirt in there from the build, adding rocks, etc. Rinse out the filter pads weekly until that clears up. Once things are running well, you may not have to bother with them more than once a month, of maybe even a few times a year, depending. I re-use the fine pads in my filter several times before they need to be replaced - I just give them a quick rinse to get the big stuff out, and they go right back in even if they look a little dirty. (There's good bacteria in them too.)

As far a trying to swap pads with the pumps still running, this may or may not work depending on the flow of water.... I turn my pump off when I remove the pads in my filter, because otherwise all that water flows directly onto the bio balls and all that stuff gets stirred up and blown back out into the pond.

Overall, don't worry about keeping stuff TOO CLEAN, otherwise you will never attain a natural balance in your pond.

Thank you so much for such a thorough, thoughtful response! Super helpful for me and I’ll keep tabs on it for next few weeks and then let it do it’s thing!

 

[Jhn]

I don’t bother turning the pumps off when cleaning the debris net and pad in the skimmer. It blows a bit of junk in the pond, but it clears quickly. At this point, the pond is going on 9-10 years old, so I clean my debris nets maybe twice a week, as they catch a lot of plant debris from the pond plants (heavily planted pond)and magnolia tree that partially overhangs the pond.

My waterfall basin is empty at this point, took the pads and bio balls out, a few years back. There are plenty of surfaces in my pond for bacteria to grow on, so I decided it was unnecessary and one less thing I had to remember to clean.

 

[bagsmom]

I have a Helix skimmer with a blue matala pad filter on top of the pump. Floating debris gets stuck in the basket and slimy grunge gets caught in the blue pad. I clean that about once a week. I got a nifty little hose nozzle that turns my garden hose into a pressure washer! I blast the blue pad with that over a gravel area in my yard. It gets it very clean!!!!!!
As for the waterfall bio filter. I haven't done one thing with it. I suppose I should at some point! But the plants growing over the top of the waterfall look so pretty, I hate to disturb it. And the pond is looking and doing great, so maybe I will go with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy. It is a Savio F100 with a spool of spring-style media for good bacteria to grow on. Then there are two different pads on top that the water flows through before spilling out the waterfall. One of these days I will get brave and check it out. Maybe in the fall.

 

[EricV]

I clean my skimmer basket and brushes once or twice a week with a garden hose. The filter more like once a month or so. There I have a couple of pads near the intake which get hosed off and the bio media which gets rinsed in a tub of pond water so as not to kill off all the bacteria.

 

[Gemma]

I rinse my mechanical filter pads daily even though I could do it weekly, because it's faster when the pads have less debris on them and because I don't want things to sit in there for days and start to decompose.
I don't turn off the pump to switch pads! I simply place a clean pad behind the dirty one (keeping them from touching), before taking it out.

 

[carolinaguy]

There is no standard frequency for cleaning filtration. There also is no precise definition of the word clean. Your cleaning schedule depends on the total weight of your fish, how much you feed, type of food, and the crossectional size and type of your filtration. It also depends on the filter’s media and mechanical structure. You will know your frequency by water color, turbidity, and leavings coming out of the mechanical filtration. One pond maintenance guy I know looks at the nooks at the top of a waterfall where the filter outputs filtered water. If there are filtration leavings building up, he knows the filter is ready to be cleaned.

Others use a sundown schedule. They clean every week or two automatically. We clean our filters, pressurized ultima filters, and observe the color and transparency of the discharge as well as the time it takes to become clear.

Do no t swap out media and permit it to dry. Media is colonized with good bacteria that eat chemical waste. If you take the media out, you take away the food and degrade the colony.

 

[RobAmy]

Nice looking pond. I rinse my skimmer basket and filter pad out daily, I also check for frogs or fish that may have went into the basket. My filter pads I rinse once a month.

 

[Gemma]

I also check for frogs or fish that may have went into the basket. .

I lost my Yamabuki butterfly last year, because it when in the skimmer and I didn't know , and that's what got me started on the daily maintenance