Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Is there anyone here with a backyard pond or water feature that includes fish like goldfish or carp? What kind of weekly/monthly maintenance should be done to keep the pond and filter clean?
You have to have running water that falls / sprays and picks up oxygen.
The biggy is keep the coons out of it or them fish are goners.
Also have to keep the leaves and any organics out. They make some chemicals to add but if there is constant circ water with a lot of oxygen you don't get much slime. Can broom clean down in there every couple of weeks. Let it get sucked into the filter.
Have to do a major cleaning about once a year. Clean the filters as often as experience shows it is needed. My GF got a pond, real pain as far as I am concerned.
Both my parents and brother have ponds. They clean the filters once a month and clean the pond itself once a year. Take a net and scoop out the leaves and your good to go. During the fall they put tarps over the ponds to keep out the dead leaves. Folks had a problem with a raccoon but we trapped him. Brother lost a fish to a egret but that only happened once. Having a large filter is the key. My folks made one out of a 55 gal trashcan filled with lava rock.
We have a large pond with fish. Maintenance depends a bit on season and weather. We have two pumps running 24/7 9-10 months/year and two filter systems. In the summer we wash the filters (sponges) ca. 3 times a week, when it's cooler we wash them maybe twice a month. We also have a pond vaccum which we use for the big cleanup in early spring. The first winter we installed nets, but that was such a PITA that we almost divorced *lol*, so ever since we rather deal with the leaves.
No racoons here, only cats, but they aren't very interested in the fish - most of them are too large anyway.
A lot depends on the size and type of the filters, and obviously the size of the pond. I have a small pond (less than 1000 gallons) and use 3 pumps and filter systems for the water fall feature. During the summer, I clean them at least once a week (takes about 30 minutes), in the winter, maybe once a month.
When i clean my filters, I use a small net and scoop out dead algae and any leaves that get in and keep the pond pretty clean all the time.
MY pond is almost totally covered with lily pads, so the algae does not attack as much as it would if exposed to the sun.
I feed my fish every couple of days, depending on how hungry they seem, when they come over to see me. Yes they do know when its feeding time when i show up at that end of the pond.
IN the fall, Im going to expand my pond and add a large filter system (like a pool filter).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Keep the coons out of it......
