Avoid these common cleanout mistakes
1. DON’T – Pressure wash away every last bit of green. Did you know that the green-looking stain on the rocks is basically biofilm? YES! Living organisms that help make your pond healthy show up as a green stain-like substance on rocks. Removing it completely can destroy the ecosystem and cause the OPPOSITE of what you really want. (Otherwise known as a pond cleanout mistake!) The ecosystem can become out of balance and the algae can go crazy!
DO – remove gunk and algae and leave some green so that the system remains healthy.
Autofill - float valve breakage
2. DON’T– Screw up the Autofill. This is a very common pond cleanout mistake. An Autofill is a wonderful piece of equipment! (These are often referred to as Float Valves.) It is typically attached to your sprinkler system and either it is part of a zone or on its; own zone. When the pond is being cleaned, and the skimmer basket, filter pads and pumps come out, it is extremely easy to bump the Autofill and even break it! They do not fix very easily and must usually be replaced.
DO – be very careful around the autofill and if you bump it (or crash into it) test it to make sure it is working correctly before walking away. You don’t want the pond overfilling! Read more about autofills HERE.
Fish care during the pond cleanout
3. DON’T – Let your fish bake. During a cleanout, either the fish will be in a portable pond or one might leave them in the bottom of the pond in a small amount of water. BEWARE! When the sun shines down on that small amount of water, it will heat up too fast and can kill your fish! We put fish in a portable pond during the cleanout.
DO – Make sure to put as much water in a portable pond as you can to give them maximum temperature stabilization and oxygenated water. If you don’t have shade to set the portable pond up in, put something over it to keep sun out.
Jumping fish?
4. DON’T – Let your fish jump out of the portable pond and die. Yes, fish will often try to jump out of the portable pond!
DO – Clip a net or shade covering over it (taughtly) so they can’t jump out!
What pump to use during the cleanout?
5. DON’T – Use your pond pump as a cleanout pump. When the water is stirred up and the gunk and grime are churning, they can easily clog up your normal pond pump. Pond companies have cleanout pumps for a reason! They are made to do the job so the pond pump isn’t under more pressure than it needs to be.
DO – Use a separate pump for doing your own cleanout or let a pond company do it for you.
The UV Light
6. DON’T – Pull out your UV light with your bare hands! The oils from your hands remain on the UV bulb, causing it to heat unevenly and break!
DO – Wear gloves when handling a UV light and be very careful.
7. DONT – Open a pressure filter willy-nilly without reading the instructions! These things are PRESSURIZED and will explode if you do not open them properly.
DO – Read the instructions and try not to get a pressure filter lid blown into your face!
8. DON’T – Use chemicals to clean the pond. Ponds are live ecosystems that will be adversely affected by chemicals. (I do not consider beneficial bacteria to be a chemical. It is added after the cleanout).
DO – Use a hose and/or pressure washer and a long-handled brush to scrub rocks without cleaning agents.
9. DON’T – Throw out aquatic plants or pots if you don’t know what they are. When you are cleaning a pond early in the season, especially before the green leaves are out on the trees, a water lily may look dead, but it just hasn’t come up yet.
DO- Wait until mid-May before throwing something out. Aquatic plants can be expensive and sometimes difficult to get (not to mention that the pond REALLY needs them). So take care before just throwing things out.
This photo shows water lilies that were planted in the bottom of a pond rather than pots. Hm, make your own choice here.
And #10.....
10. DON’T – Slack off on pond care after the cleanout. I cannot say this sternly enough! Imagine that you do all this work, or pay a company to do it, and then the whole pond turns green and there are buckets of algae that need to be cleaned up. Don’t do this to yourself!
DO – Dose with beneficial bacteria right after the cleanout and dosed again every 3 days for 2 weeks. Then you can back off to once a week bacteria. (unless you have an Autodose which will dose it for you).
Need a step-by-step of what SHOULD HAPPEN DURING A POND CLEANOUT? Read THIS.
