Fall cleaning question

[Karen Mullen]

After spending last summer and most of the fall in FL I returned home to find
my pond full of leaves and quite a few fish missing. Seems my daughter
"forgot" the water was on (for 3 days) and I lost most of my older fish to I'm
sure chlorine. This spring I got out the net and scooped out as much leaf
debris as I could drained 50 percent of the water and refilled and turned the
woefully inadequate pumps on (leftover from much smaller pond in Houston). It
was very cool here until almost July so the plants got a slow start and another
trip to FL didn't help and the pond once again sat unattended. When I returned
home, I bot a 3600gph pump and altered the biofilter/falls/veggie filter to
accomodate the larger pump. While doing this we cleaned out the 110 gallon
stocktank - what a stink! Everything looked like it might be OK, when the
waterfall flow slowed way down and a check on the pump showed the impeller
broke loose and busted the cover. Under warranty I called and they were going
to send new parts ASAP. Well guess who's pump parts were 'somewhere' during
the power failure. Took over a week to receive my next day air package LOL.
Everythings up and running again, but the pond smells awful and is very green.
I want to drain and clean it, but being so late in the season, I'm not sure
that's such a good idea. The hose water is very very cold and although it
currently is a balmy 80 degrees, tomorrow it could be 50. The fish are all
healthy and eating well and looking good, plants are doing fine and blooming
and my only fish loss was due to a flower pod caught in the mouth/throat.
What do ya'll think, should I drain and clean it now or wait until spring?

gal = 4000
Ph = 8.4
ammonia = 0
nitrites = 0
KH 179.6
about 40 percent plant coverage in full sun
fish 30 or so golfish 2 koi (currently among the missing)

I've also updated my website with pictures of the relandscaping of the yard on
the page pond progress. Lots of pictures so it may be slow loading.
TIA
Karen
Zone 5
Ashland, OH
http://hometown.aol.com/kmam1/MyPond/MyPond.html
My Art Studio at
http://members.aol.com/kmmstudios/K.M.Studios/K.M.Studios.html
for email remove the extra extention

[NJ]

Karen,

You are really hoping for a cool front! I'm up here in Lorain County and
suffering in 90 degree heat with astronomical humidity and tropical dew
points. You're only about 45 minutes away from me, and I doubt we'll see 50
degrees anytime soon.

<<<Hope I'm wrong!!>>>>

Anyway, get a net for your leaves...I use the black mesh "floating" net, but
pull it taut over my little pond and hold it with rocks. Draining and
cleaning a pond is asking for trouble; you will lose any balance you may
have as well as beneficial bacteria and side algal growth.

The rest of the ponders here will give you more complete advice,
undoubtedly.

NJ

[AngrieWoman]

"NJ" > wrote in message
...

>
> Anyway, get a net for your leaves...I use the black mesh "floating" net,
but
> pull it taut over my little pond and hold it with rocks. Draining and
> cleaning a pond is asking for trouble; you will lose any balance you may
> have as well as beneficial bacteria and side algal growth.

I thought about that, but I wondered how the frogs would survive if they
couldn't get out of the pond to eat.

And don't I need to leave some sludge at the bottom for them to hibernate
in?

[RichToyBox]

"Karen Mullen" > wrote in message
...
> Everythings up and running again, but the pond smells awful and is very
green.
> I want to drain and clean it, but being so late in the season, I'm not
sure
> that's such a good idea. The hose water is very very cold and although it
> currently is a balmy 80 degrees, tomorrow it could be 50.

If the pond smells, I would begin doing partial water changes, and be sure
to use the dechlor. Partial water changes of 10-30% are better for the pond
and the fish than complete water changes. Cleaning the bottom of the pond a
little at a time may be the only way to get it done with a shop vac, but a
little at a time will get the job done, and not nearly as likely to cause
problems.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html

[NJ]

"K30a" > wrote in message
...
> I would leave a little but I would also have a hole open in the ice to let
the
> gasses of decomposition escape.

I sink a big 4 or 5 inch PVC "y" connector in the deepest part of the pond
to provide cover for the fish. I have no frogs, so I can't speak to that
issue. I also use a cheapo aquarium bubbler with two airstones to keep the
pond aerated, and a floating donut-type heater to keep a hole open if the
bubbler doesn't.

NJ

[[email protected]]

if the pond smells bad it means there is a lot of organic crap in there being worked
on by anaerobic bacteria. you need to get some really good aeration going in there
and the bacteria will start breaking it down aerobically. if you use PP at about
half strength you can slowly drag a net along the bottom to start dredging up the
crud. the PP will inactivate gases that are released as you do this. I wouldnt
leave a lot of crud on the bottom if the pond freezes over in winter for very long
(where are you?). keep an eye on nitrates, dont let those climb over 20 ppm without
doing water changes. Ingrid


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
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endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Karen Mullen]

In article <CrU2b.269993$YN5.184468@sccrnsc01>, "RichToyBox"
> writes:

>
>If the pond smells, I would begin doing partial water changes, and be sure
>to use the dechlor. Partial water changes of 10-30% are better for the pond
>and the fish than complete water changes. Cleaning the bottom of the pond a
>little at a time may be the only way to get it done with a shop vac, but a
>little at a time will get the job done, and not nearly as likely to cause
>problems.
>-

I drained the biofilter today, the water was black and smelly, cleaned all the
filter material off, them I pumped water into the tub with the drain open to
get the residue out, probably doing a 10 percent water change. Hope this
helps.

Karen
Zone 5
Ashland, OH
http://hometown.aol.com/kmam1/MyPond/MyPond.html
My Art Studio at
http://members.aol.com/kmmstudios/K.M.Studios/K.M.Studios.html
for email remove the extra extention

[Karen Mullen]

perhaps then I did a good thing today. I pulled the pump out of the water to
clean the prefilter (yes there is junk on the bottom of the 5ft area), but when
I restarted the pump last time, the biofilter had so much gunk in it that it
dumped back in the pond with the waterfall. Today I drained the biofilter
(watr was black and smelly) and then restarted the pump with the drain still
open and basically did a water change while cleaning out the filter, hosed all
the filter material off and once the water ran clean (or should I say green) I
closed the plug and refilled the pond. Hope this helps.
All my parameters are good 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, just lots of junk on the
bottom from not being tended to last year. It's like starting over.

Karen

In article >,
writes:
the biobugs adhere in colonies to the filter
material. what is normally rinsed off is the mulm and silt that are covering
the
colonies and keeping oxygen from them. Ingrid
>
>if the pond smells bad it means there is a lot of organic crap in there being
>worked
>on by anaerobic bacteria. you need to get some really good aeration going in
>there
>and the bacteria will start breaking it down aerobically. if you use PP at
>about
>half strength you can slowly drag a net along the bottom to start dredging up
>the
>crud. the PP will inactivate gases that are released as you do this. I
>wouldnt
>leave a lot of crud on the bottom if the pond freezes over in winter for very
>long
>(where are you?). keep an eye on nitrates, dont let those climb over 20 ppm
>without
>doing water changes. Ingrid
>


Zone 5
Ashland, OH
http://hometown.aol.com/kmam1/MyPond/MyPond.html
My Art Studio at
http://members.aol.com/kmmstudios/K.M.Studios/K.M.Studios.html
for email remove the extra extention

[[email protected]]

Hi Karen,
I am Bill King's (your cousin) daughter. We live in the Boston area. We can't seem to find you any other way, so I hope this works. Would you please contact me for further information regarding Uncle Bill Mullen. You may call me at (781) 733-2055. Thank you.