What the Muck?!?

[PondJunkie]

Greetings All-

Well it's been over 2 years since my last post, and I've been enjoying my pond immensely. Nothing beats sitting in our swing seat and staring at the pond with a cold beer at the end of the day.

I have been somewhat hands off in the ecology of my pond. I clean the filters religiously. In the fall I skim as many leaves as I can, but I don't stress about it. Based on the water clarity & goldfish breeding, it's a very healthy environment.

My questions now are all about dirty, flithy mucking.

1. How frequently should I muck the bottom?
2. What is the best time to muck?
3. How much muck should I look to remove?
4. Should I try to remove my fish (a LOT right now) or will they be fine through the process?
5. Is draining the pond necessary?

I do know that muck is good. In the beginning I pull a lot of material out and ended up having to rescue some bullfrog tadpoles in the process. I just figure there comes a time when it can be too much....

Any thoughts, comments or semi-coherent ramblings appreciated.

 

[buckry]

Great questions, can't wait to hear the answers.

 

[addy1]

ramble ramble ramblelllllllllllll....................I bought a swimming pool net, (heavy duty leaf rake it is called) swimming pool pole and just net the bottom, stuff comes right up. I toss the muck onto some screen to sort out the tads, snails etc and toss them back into the pond. I do this maybe twice in a summer, Always do a spring netting and a after leaf fall, fall netting of the bottom.

I have not netted the bottom of the pond since march first, the muck is maybe 1/2 inch thick, so might net the bottom in the next 3 weeks or so.

Takes a few hours to net and sort all the muck lol, but it does not stink just smells like a pond.

Don't drain the pond
Do leave the fish in unless your muck is so bad it might hurt them ie. very deep and anaerobic.
I just remove enough to get rid of some of it, never do I get the bottom spotless clean, the tads etc need something to eat..........

 

[Shoestring Ponder]

Good questions! I have often wondered about the whole mucking process. It certainly stirs up a mess and I worry about the fish not being able to properly breathe. In addition, the one time we did so, I had to sift through the muck that was removed to remove the critters and put them back in the pond....the dragon fly larvae, snails etc. I keep a more natural pond and as you do, I also sift out the leaves in the fall and DH and I put a netting over the pond to try to keep as many out of the pond as possible, but whatever goes through, goes through and eventually they float to the top throughout the next season and as I walk around the pond, I remove them. No one mucks out natural ponds and lakes. So, I would like to be educated as well about mucking.')

:goldfish:

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Greetings All-
My questions now are all about dirty, flithy mucking.

1. How frequently should I muck the bottom? Try it once a month in the spring/summer months, more frequently if you find there is a lot, less frequently if you dont have muck. You'll know how bad it is after your first couple muck sessions.
2. What is the best time to muck? Morning.
3. How much muck should I look to remove? Leaving a little on the bottom doesn't hurt, nor would an inch, anymore than that and it's gona make a lot more mess next time you muck it out.
4. Should I try to remove my fish (a LOT right now) or will they be fine through the process? Not nessesary if you muck it out regularly. If you wait until you have a foot on the bottom the fish aren't gona like it. Besides, good luck catching them if you have a lot of muck in the in your pond.
5. Is draining the pond necessary? Shouldn't be if you do it regularly.

I will add that you should probably clean your filters the next day after the water has had a chance to clear up.

 

[addy1]

I can't net my pond easily so the leaves, flowers, seeds from the maple fall in. I put the simmer on full draw and suck as many as I can in that way, the rest sink and get scooped out. Mainly the fall leaves, the other stuff go into the skimmer nicely.

 

[JohnHuff]

I use a wet/dry vac to suck up the dirt at the bottom of the pond once a year. I leave my fish in and the ensuing mess in the pond doesn't seem to bother them, all the suspended debris is usually cleared within a day, hours maybe by my mechanical pre-filters. I pour away the muck, of which there is a lot (about 7-8 loads at the bottom of the wet/dry vac), under my bushes, and the muck doesn't smell at all.

 

[buckry]

Do you put a hose or something on the vac so the water drains out during use, or do you have to fill it up, then dump it, then fill it up again? I have 3 different wet vacs, but use them dry 99% of the time. The few times I've used them wet it was for minimal moisture, sucking up stuff underwater is a whole new ballgame, curious about the details.

 

[addy1]

This attachment from sears works to pump out the vac. I only use mine on the stream ponds the big pond is too deep for the vac, it does not have the power to vac.

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-pump...0916952000P?prdNo=11&blockNo=11&blockType=G11

 

[Waterbug]

My first backyard pond was a swimming pool. It was under a huge oak tree. About 3 or 4 years in, after never cleaning, no pump, no filter, big chunks of stuff started breaking off the bottom and floating to the surface for a few hours and then sank back to the bottom. Fairly gross. Time to clean.

Plan 1, I used a net, a swimming pool leaf rake to be exact. I lifted a few huge loads of muck out, making a mess of the water. Pretty soon the aluminum pole bent in half and that was that.

Plan 2, empty the pool. I couldn't net out the goldfish because the water was not clear at all. So I pumped down the water so I could remove the fish. Now I'm at the bottom of an 8' deep pool, knee deep in muck, and I still can't find the fish. Slowly I start finding some and remove them to a holding tank. It was a nightmare. But the only fish that died were a couple that got sucked into the pump. A couple of dozen fish were in basically pure muck for up to an hour and lived.

Plan 3, vacuuming. After that I got seriously hooked on ponds, building filters, and vacuums. I generally kept my pond clean. I also cleaned other people's ponds for a time in order to test my vacuums and filters.

So for me, I found Plan 3 easiest. Designing the pond to making cleaning easier is a help too. Little bit of effort each week was easier, and less stressful for everyone, than a huge clean out once every year or two. And stuff is easier to remove before it decomposes.

My next pond I'll be taking bottom drains more seriously and all the new methods developed since my last pond.

I did learn a lot about vacuums back then. Here's my web site on the subject.

But your questions I think are things only you can answer for yourself.

 

[JohnHuff]

Do you put a hose or something on the vac so the water drains out during use, or do you have to fill it up, then dump it, then fill it up again?

I have the older version of this: http://www.sears.com/craftsman-16-g...p-00917761000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1
At the back, there is a hose attachment. When the vacuum is full (when it stops sucking), I stop it, take the nozzle out of the pond and hit the button again, the water automatically goes out the back.

In the front, there is another outlet and I unscrew the cap there when I want to get rid of the gunk inside. I swear by this vac, it's saved me a lot of money. When I first inherited the pond I hired a guy to come and clean it for me. He charged like $150/hr. As a newbie, I thought the $200+ was well spent. But the last time he came, he pro-rated and charged me the same rate for answering my questions and slowly cleaning up his gear. So I got this and have been happy with it every since.

 

[buckry]

I need to go look at one of my vacs, I don't recall seeing anyway to dump or drain any of them except by taking the top lid off the cannister, but that being said, i have one in the garage, one in the basement, and one at my studio, none of these do I want to put into the pond, so I guess it doesn't matter what they can do, I just need to buy one that does ponds really well. I'll head up to Sears when it's time to muck out my liner.