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How often does a pond need to be cleaned? Does the filter always have to be cleaned together with the pond? :100:
pond cleaning
- Thread starter Julius Leonid Maestral
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That is a relative question. What type of pond do you have, where is it located (what debris will fall or get blown into it), how big is your filter, how much of a work load are you putting on it, how many fish, do you overfeed (most of us do). All these things help determine the answer.
I have a rock-bottom pond. I do not vacuum but remove any debris that I can with a net, keeping the mulm to what falls between the rocks, never over them. I clean the large debris bucket, or leaf basket, when it needs it (different times of the year require more or less), same with the brush filter. I do a 10% water change every week to ten days, and rinse (do not clean thoroughly) the filter pad at the same time. I put in a few tablespoons of ECOFIX, and I am done. If you mean by “cleaned”, draining and power washing, NEVER.
I have a rock-bottom pond. I do not vacuum but remove any debris that I can with a net, keeping the mulm to what falls between the rocks, never over them. I clean the large debris bucket, or leaf basket, when it needs it (different times of the year require more or less), same with the brush filter. I do a 10% water change every week to ten days, and rinse (do not clean thoroughly) the filter pad at the same time. I put in a few tablespoons of ECOFIX, and I am done. If you mean by “cleaned”, draining and power washing, NEVER.
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I'm in the Philippines, and I am indeed one of the "overfeeders" in this forum, lol. I have more than enough koi in my pond right now = around 40 in I guess a 600 gallon pond. They increased in number because I transferred some of my koi's from the other pond as I am planning to expand the size of the other pond. Anyway, I queried about cleaning because although the water is clear and I can see the bottom, everytime I skim the pond bottom for leaves and uneaten sinking pellets, objects which looks like shredded, transparent plastic and other dirt or decaying matter clouds the water. I think a 10% water change will do. 
Julius Leonid Maestral said:I'm in the Philippines, and I am indeed one of the "overfeeders" in this forum, lol. I have more than enough koi in my pond right now = around 40 in I guess a 600 gallon pond. They increased in number because I transferred some of my koi's from the other pond as I am planning to expand the size of the other pond. Anyway, I queried about cleaning because although the water is clear and I can see the bottom, everytime I skim the pond bottom for leaves and uneaten sinking pellets, objects which looks like shredded, transparent plastic and other dirt or decaying matter clouds the water. I think a 10% water change will do.
I too do a 10% water change about once every 10 - 14 days. During that time I usually take the filter pad out of my biological filter and rinse out all the muck and garbage but I leave the volcano rock in the filter so I don't disturb the beneficial bacteria. When I refill the pond I use Stress Coat and I also check the salt levels to make sure they are ok.
Every once in a while I'll tool around with a pool net and try and get floating debris and debris along the bottom.
When the sun was blazing a few weeks ago the string algae in the pond got pretty bad and was clogging up the pump, I'd have to shut it off and clear it out every other day. I ended up getting a bunch of water hyacinths and that seemed to keep the algae at bay so it is less of an issue.
Your eyes are the best judge there.
Do you have a pond vac? They work fantastic! I bought one and use it to suck up all the crap, leaves, and un-eaten food off the bottom every week.
BKK
What brand vac and model did you get?
What brand vac and model did you get?