How hard is it to maintain an outdoor pond (with pump)?

10 years ago

Hey!

Based on responses to another question in this forum, it takes "several hours per week" to maintain a pond. Other responses also noted that owning a pond is a labor of love, much like a garden, which makes this whole thing very subjective. Coming from a prospective ponder (is that a term?) who loved his neighbor's frog-filled pond as a kid, this sounds excessive and definitely not worth it.

My ideal scenario? Pond w/ 2-tiers, no fish, maybe some lilies and uninvited frogs. The pond takes 30 minutes of vigorous maintenance every weekend, plus maybe a minute or two of maintenance on my way inside after work each day. Maybe a 3-hour project, such as a pump replacement or liner washing, 1x or 2x/year. Yes, I want a pond; no, I do not want to be a pond hobbyist.

Thanks in advance for the responses!

Ford

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Comments (3)

chas045
10 years ago
Well, there have been some detailed threads on here of serious pond work, but there have also been plenty of pond threads that didn't imply that excessive pond work was required. I kind of cleaned my liner once (in 8 years) when I emptied the pond looking for a possible leak. I un-vigorously remove string algae every week or so certain times of the year when I feel like it. I think it is perfectly possible to have a pond with even less work than you mention. The only concern is that your circumstances may vary and you might at least temporarily find yourself doing more work for awhile.

Again, depending on circumstances, you may not need filtering. I have a woodsy storage pond including goldfish with no pump or anything that can get real turbid if stirred up with new muddy french drain water, but that with time will clear up. NOTHING gets done to it. Of course, it is not for beauty, but it looks OK on occasion.

My usually pretty pond has a stream that does almost all of the filtering from the masses of plant roots in that stream. A small stream could be your upper layer.
Hal Warrick
10 years ago
I'm down to just maybe 15 min. to back flush the strapping filter into the garden beds and flush the brush's in my skimmer. Other than that I like to watch the fish and at present time have loads of toad tadpoles in the pond. It's ok, within a couple weeks they will all be gone. Did I mention I like to watch the fish. It's what you decide to make that decides what it takes to maintain what you want. There is NO one answer of the amount of time taken to keep it how you want it.
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frankielynnsie
10 years ago
Once I get it up and running in the spring I just feed the fish and cats (They show up when I call the fish--they do love flake fish food.) and admire things daily, maybe a little plant tweeking and moving my pair of herons around. I do 1/2 water changes at least 3 times during the season--one at the beginning, in the middle and in September. I shut down in October.

When I do water changes I have an extra tub that I set up next to the pond and put water in a few days before, let it sit, then add dechlorinator. Then I drain out 1/2 of the pond's bottom water, pump in the clean water and put the tub away.

I have a 300 gallon rubbermaid tub sunk in the ground and a pump that sends water into a big pot that spills back into the pond. It is a simple set up and perfect for me.