Pump for Draining the Pond

[ChloeandClara]

I'm cleaning out my pond this weekend for the first time by myself. We hired someone to do it last year, but I'd like to try it myself this year. I have the buckets, dechlorinator, chemicals to remove the extra sludge on the bottom, places for my fish, covers for the fish containers, water plants, etc.

My question is what kind of pump should I use to remove the water from my pone. It's a 5,000+/- gallon pond and I purchased a 1500 gph waterfall pump, but I'm not sure if I can use this because it doesn't specifically say it can be used for cleaning out the pond too. (I'm a newbie, obviously). Thanks!

 

[sissy]

never ever drain a pond and clean it stops the cycling of the pond and all you do is start from day 1 .Also stresses out the fish

 

[ChloeandClara]

Thanks, Sissy. The people that build ponds around here told me I should drain it every spring and clean it out. My pond is lake water green right now. I have not put any chemicals in all year yet. I just added water plants for the first time last weekend. I would love to not drain and clean it, so any advice is greatly appreciated! If those are pictures from your pond, you're obviously doing something right. What's your recipe for keeping your pond clear?

 

[HTH]

The question is how much gunk is there on the bottom. A large shop vac can be used to suck it out.

I know this is a bit on the late side but: What I like to do is build the a pond with two basins. The water and fish can be moved to one side and the other drained and cleaned.

I was watching a video about the Japanese Garden's koi pond in Portland and you can see koi crossing the submerged basin side. A neat system.

 

[dieselplower]

I would not drain and clean out the pond either. Does this pond have an actual filter or just a water fall? Green water is usually a sign of too many nutrients in the water. The algae thrive on this. I would net out what you can from the bottom, use more plants, and get a filter. I don't plan to ever drain more than 25% of the water from my pond. I've never even drained 10% so far.

 

[addy1]

I have never cleaned out my pond, no green water no algae, lots and lots and lots of plant filtration.

 

[HTH]

Not all ponds are created equal. Depending on what you have for filtration plants and fish one gets different results.

 

[sissy]

very true hth and it all depends on fish feeding ,waste ,amount of fish ,filters and most of all amount of fish and size of pond .I see a lot of those pond builders on you tube about emptying and cleaning and just think of it as a way to keep there money coming in .If they just built ponds what else would they do twiddle there thumbs .You kill of the good stuff in your pond and filter and stress out the fish .I use good old lava rock in my filters and activated charcoal and crushed oyster shells .Has worked for me with plenty of grasses and plants growing in my filters .It does not work for every one but it sure works for me .Never had a skimmer or UV and it is in full sun but made my own shade sail.Had to put up a temporary one for now since I rebuilt my waterfall and made it bigger I have to set new pipes for it .But waiting as there is a nursery here that I am looking at buying one of his half greenhouses for over my pond .It is made with metal pipes and is open at both ends and i would put the shade sail fabric over it .

 

[HTH]

If you really do need to empty the pond I would do a temporary setup to reroute the filter to some other water container and keep it running. Any bacteria lost in it should bounce back in a few days. The really big loss is all the bacteria on the liner.

I let my flat bottom pond go for 8 years. There was muck on the bottom up to 6 inches deep in places and none in others. I carted quite a bit of mulm off to the compost heap. I helps if you can let some of the water evaporate as the mulm is much like us. Mostly water.

 

[ChloeandClara]

I have a skimmer. I just put in a lily pad plant and some water lettuce last weekend after I read about plants. I didn't have any before that, and I am planning on adding some more this weekend. The water lettuce keeps moving over to the skimmer so I suppose I should weight it down somehow. I think I need to change the filters in the skimmer after looking at them today. I don't have lava rock or crushed oyster shells but will look into that. The water is green. I think this means it's algae, but I miss being able to see my fish. If I add more plants and lava rock, how long before it will clear up? A couple of weeks? Months? The sludge at the bottom is heavy, according to the people that clean it out last year. I don't know how to get to the sludge without cleaning the pond. It's at least 4-5 foot deep. I could invest in some waders, but I don't think my fish net is going to be enough to get it out. Won't it just stir it up and make it worse? Ideas?

 

[HTH]

As I was saying earlier a large shop vac (wet/dry) can be used to clean the bottom. It really is only lifting the water and muck from the surface of the pond to the top of the vac. You have to stop the vac when it gets full and unscrew its bottom drain to empty it.

Do not like the idea of returning the sucked up water to the pond.

 

[ChloeandClara]

Thank you, HTH! Really appreciate your advice!

 

[HTH]

I used to use a vac called the shopvac QSP20, I expect it has been replaced by a new version by now. Went through two of them. The first I manged to get a bit of gravel into the impeller. (my fault) The second died because the motor has seen too much water. They are not a great solution but work. In theory they have a ball that floats up and breaks the vacuum when the water is full but it does not always seem to work. Best to have a 2nd person manning the switch. It does not take too long to learn to hear when they are getting full.

I would look at the Home Depot Rigid brand too. Not sure but maybe they would be ok or work better or cost less. I like the poly rather then the metal version as it does not rust.

If you check youtube you might find vids of people doing this. As I said I have a dim view of returning the water to the pond.

 

[sissy]

What are your plants planted in .Most here replant in 100% clay kitty litter and I clean my plants and roots off real good so they do not bring anything bad into my pond

 

[ChloeandClara]

Sissy, the water lettuce is just free floating. The lily pads are in a pot with aquatic soil and pea gravel. I'd like to add some grasses to the stream part this weekend.

HTC, I have a shop wet/dry vac, not sure which brand. It'll due for now. Thanks for the tip. No intentions on adding that back into the pond. :cheerful: My original plan when I was going to drain the water was to put the water on my plants and garden and the holding container for the fish. I have some rain barrels to fill the pond a bit, and then I have a dechlorinator product for the tap water for the rest. Although now I'm thinking I won't drain it based on your input.