You mean pond? I never clean mine. I have bottom drains in all of my ponds that carry waste to the filters so there is never any debris in the bottom. I clean my filters once or twice a week in the summer (15 minute job) and once every couple of weeks in the winter.

When I had my water garden years ago, I cleaned it once or twice a year, but that was not enough. A good, cleaning in the fall before cold weather is critical though.

oh yeah! i meant pond :D look at me. i am a mess :D
thanks for the suggestion friend

I don't clean mine either. I don't have a traditional bottom drain, but I do have two "retro" drains (through the side), and they do a very good job of keeping the bottom clean.

Most people with rocked ponds will drain and power wash twice a year, spring and fall. If you're only lightly stocked with fish, once a year in the spring should do it.

I have a rocked pond. What do we do with the fish, when we drain the pond?

annaca has raised an interesting point. what to do with the fish while draining the pond?

No problem --- if you live two blocks from a friendly nurseyman that has a 500 gal stock tank he will let you use - which I have discovered I do. Last spring I kept 9 fish 12 to 20" in a 55 gal drum for 3 day -- circulation only, no filtration -- with no problems while I cleaned my pond. I don't know that I would do it again with that many fish.

Annaca, on the occasions when I remove my fish from the pond for whatever reason, I use a 10' round Intex pool, 3' deep. Works great. I rig a temporary filter by putting a pump in the bottom with the hose running to a tub of water with a bag of aged filter media. It's too late in the season to find them in the stores, but you can google them. Or check eBay. Sometimes you can find a bargain. Don't get one with a filter, or if you do don't use it. It isn't intended for aquatic life.

Clean-up is a snap if you can empty the pond. But once I got a couple of fish I have faced the same problem. I can fill a temporary home with pond water and do the clean-up. But how do I deal with putting the fish into a newly-filled pond where the water is much colder than the water in the temporary holding tank. Just wait?

Drain off a portion of the water in your holding tank and pump in some of the pond water. Wait a short time for them to acclimate to that, then repeat until the water in the tank is basically the same temperature and ph etc as in the pond. Then net the fish and return them to the pond.

the current way I do our small 250 gal pond is to fill a big garbage can a couple days earlier with City water & another empty can covered with a net. I bucket out the water, strain it through the net to catch any fish & put them in the other can of water. When the other can gets full I empty it on to my flower beds, lawn, etc. & repeat the process ... over & over & OH, my aching back!! Towards the bottom of the pond the remaining water there has been stirred up & so yucky & I can't see any remaing fish so I just scoop & hope to catch them all! I suck up what little remains with the shop vac & let the pond dry out for a day or two & then refill it & replace the fish. The pond plants I have already removed earlier & placed in a plastic 'kiddy pond' of water until the pond is ready for them again. There must be an easier way to vac the pond between serious cleanings without emptying the pond .... isn't there?? I have posted elsewhere here my results with my new pond vac...

Thanks a lot guys for your wonderful help...you always help :)

Ok I understand what to do with the fish when you clean the pond, but now the question is how do you catch them?

My wife worked all summer to catch one that was in a place he should not be in. I am not sure if she has caught him yet

Our fish are between 4 to 10 inch long comets. in pools of about 4 to 5 hundred gallons.

Drain the pond down to about a foot in depth, and the fish should be fairly easy to net.

Oh my... I am having a nervous breakdown just reading the work involved... Now for a dumb question.... What will happen if I dont clean the pond?...

Annaca with a rock bottomed pond if you don't clean it all the crap will go anerobic in time. Think of it like an aquarium--you usually use some kind of syphon to clean an aquarium to get the crap out of the gravel. You can buy a pond python which hooks up to your garden tap but I don't know how deep they go. I don't have rocks in the bottom of my pond for that reason--also it makes it really slippery if you have to get in the pond. I have a retrofit bd and a skimmer but even still in the fall I use a long pond net to get any leaves/plants whatever off the bottom of the pond and again in the spring. My fish are overwintered indoors so I don't worry about the fish. Because I'm much colder here I wait until the water gets to about 40F or less before bringing the fish indoors--they are easier to catch and I bring pond water and the fish in at the same time--300 gals of pond water for their indoor tank. In the spring I pump out about 1/3 of the pond water to the bottom of the plant shelf so that I can use the garden hose to spray out any gung that gets in amongst the rocks covering the edge of the liner on the shelf. If you drain your pond every year you have to cycle your pond every year. Because I move my fish and their water back out into the pond each spring and the media from their indoor filter it jump starts my pond.
There is a product called microblift (I think that's what it's called) that some people use in the spring to break down any organic waste. Don't stress about it it's really not rocket science just several hours of your time depending on the size of your pond!

I don't have rocks in my pond bottom. It is a liner pond, about 1100 gallons. In late fall, I lift all the plant pots outs, trim the excess roots that are growing out of the pots, cut the marginals down to a about 1" above the roots, then use a fine mesh net and scoop out as much junk as I can from the pond bottom. Then I sink the pots to the deep part so the winter doesn't kill the plants. I take down the bio filter and I'm good for the winter. In spring, I repeat the scooping out with the fine mesh net and set everything up for the growing season. I have never drained my pond.

Hello all! New to forum!
Hope to get to know alot of great ponders here!
Anyway, I too have not drained my 1200 gallon pond yet for a full cleaning in 10 years that I've had it. I guess I wish I would of put in a bottom drain now too. But usually I fine net most of my leaves, which ars small and sneak thru my net (really sucks by the way!)and I know Im not getting them all which bugs me. I just got a 6 gallon wet/dry vac to get a small section of the leaves off the bottom, but hard to see them in murky water. I dont know if I should get in the pond soon (about 50 degrees now) or still get them the best I can from the side of the pond? Dont want to stir anything bad up for the fish, you know? I have one 12 inch koi left and about 30 six inch long goldfish. Over the past 5 years I've been losing one koi and maybe one goldfish...I used to have 4 beautiful koi...very very upset by this' Im very attached to my fish and pond..so enough jibber sorry. but is it best to try and clean all the debris or am I causing more harm then good to my fish? I want mind getting in the pond really. just worried about the fish.
Thanks everyone!
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