Leaves

[clark kent]

I've only lived at this house that came with a goldfish pond for about seven months, and I'm a little new at taking care of the pond. The house is located literally in the woods with lots of mature hardwood trees all around. And so, with the change of season, there are oceans of leaves everywhere, and a lot of leaves have wound up in the bottom of the pond, and there are still lots of leaves on the trees yet to fall. The leaves haven't affected the water chemistry yet, and the fish are all currently fine. It's a thousand gallon pond with about 20 small common goldfish.

Yeah, I know, I need to get those leaves out before they start to rot, but vacuuming that pond is a bit of a job. Would it hurt to wait until most of the leaves are off of the trees before vacuuming it out?

 

[mrsclem]

How about getting a net and start scooping them out as they fall?

 

[Gemma]

That would be my suggestion as well

 

[Mmathis]

I agree about a net! Go to a pool supply place (or Lowe’s, HD, or Amazon) and look for a pool skimmer net — telescoping pole is good to have. Just don’t try to get them all out at one whack if there are a lot. They make great compost!

 

[clark kent]

I already have a net. Whenever possible, I skim the leaves before they sink, but a lot of leaves sink anyway before I can get to them. The bottom of the pond is very rocky and irregular. Anything short of a vacuum won't pick the leaves up.

So how long before they start to rot and adversely affect my water chemistry?

 

[Mmathis]

Might never adversely affect the water, depending on how many there are, water temp, etc.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

If you sort of 'swoop' the net across the area the leaves are settled in, it will cause water currents that make them rise up & float around - then you can scoop them out with the net. If you have so many tight spaces that the above process doesn't work, or is impractical, then using long handled 'grabbers' might be an option?

As far as adversely affecting the water quality? As long as you don't leave them in for the entire winter to rot away in the bottom, I'd think you'd be fine. Although, especially if they're oak leaves, you might see some dark tinting of the water due to the tannins leaching out. But, I haven't found a way to get oak leaves out fast enough to stop that, even if I live down by the pond & scoop every single one out as it hits the surface. (OK, that's a slight exaggeration, but... not far from the truth! lol)

 

[poconojoe]

You're using a bag type net, not the flat skimmer type...right?

Get as much of them scooped out, then cover the entire pond with a nylon net. They sell pond nets which are pretty much the same as those nets they use to cover fruit trees.

I erect a frame out of 3/4" pvc pipe which I drape a nylon pond/bird net over. This prevents the leaves from getting in the pond.
I hammer those fiberglass reflective driveway sticks into the ground and slip the ends of the PVC pipe over that. The PVC pipe that spands the width of the pond has an upward bow shape. I have a PVC pipe going the opposite way, down the center of the length of the pond. I use connectors where they cross.

 

[clark kent]

Well, I've been doing my best to get the leaves out with my bag net. The only problem is that my fish are really tame. Seems that I net one or two about every other time I scoop out leaves.

Seriously, I think next season, I'm going to put a net over the pond during leaf season.

 

[GBBUDD]

on smaller ponds your crazy not too I netted what ever i could it looked like hell for a couple weeks but saved a lot of work .

 

[Donna F]

My pond is surrounded with huge oak trees. There's no way I could scoop all the leaves and my attempts at nets have not worked so far.
I installed a skimmer filter and that helps a lot. It's not a miracle cure - I still scoop some and some still make it to the bottom of the pond, but it definitely makes a big difference.
The only problem I had was that I seriously underestimated the size of in-line pump I would need. I ran it for a while with 2 pumps running together. When one of them died, I replaced them with a 8000 gph I and it is working great.
This is not a great pic and you can't really see the skimmer - it's under the big rock in the foreground.

 

[Lisak1]

We have leaves that stay in the pond all winter... it's almost impossible not to have some blow in. They don't hurt anything. I mean, if they were a foot deep at the bottom of the pond I'd be concerned, but a small amount isn't a problem.

@clark kent I doubt your fish are tame - they're probably just slowing down for winter. Try and net them out next summer and then we'll see how tame they are!

 

[Bluerooster]

I have the same leaf problem on the pond by the house. I just waited 'till the majority had fallen, then went to work. This past Thursday, I managed to get just about all of them out. I scooped them out with the pool net, then sucked up the remainders with this:

It works very well, and is not expensive at all.

Now, the pond out to the barn, gets pine straw. I scoop it out all the time. But I have to pick through it, and return what critters (tadpoles, salamanders, etc.) that may have been inadvertently scooped up along with the detritus.

 

[clark kent]

What is it?

 

[Souper09]

I use a TetraPond Telescoping Pond Net, 14-Inch Diameter Ring