Habitat - Outdoor :: cleaning the pond

[shady1616]

How often should I clean my 100g pond?? Right now, I have a Beckett filter/pump kit made for small ponds up to 400g. For now, I'm doing a 100% clean every 2 weeks and every week, I clean the filter only. Is that good?
I keep Shady, Sunny, and Scooby in the pond and I have no plants in there because shady eats them up. I also have river rocks on the bottom surrounding the filter and bigger rocks coming out of the water so the turts can bask on the sides of the pond.

How often should i clean my pond?

[marisa]

Do you have a lot of biomedia in the filter? With a 100-gallon pond (filled up?) and a Beckett filter, I wouldn't think you'd have to do 100% changes/cleanings every two weeks. But you have 3 turtles in it--what are their shell lengths? Is the pond big enough for them? You said you clean the filter weekly--is it really dirty after one week?

If the pond is big enough for the 3 turts, I'd get some test kits and test the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels to get an idea of the water quality. Assuming there's adequate bio-media, once the pond is established, I wonder if the somewhat frequent cleaning schedule is necessary...

[birdlady]

You are doing wayyyy too many water changes to your pond. With your 400 gph pump, you are cycling the pond 4 times per hour (1 to 1 1/2 times is normal). You are actually killing/removing the good bacteria every 2 weeks when you change the water.
If you MUST change the water, do a 10% water change every 2 weeks. That way you are keeping the good bacteria.
The only times you really need to do a TOTAL water change is in the fall OR Spring to remove any leaves/debris that accumulated.
My 1200 gallon pond is completely drained in the spring and then filled. Once the filters start up, I change the filter medium once a week till summer and then it's only 1 a month if it's flithy. If not, then it stays until the next month.

[shady1616]

Well, the water gets really green every 2 weeks.

Also, the lawn guy cuts the grass every week and all the grass gets in there and its really hard to get all the grass out. Also some of the grass sinks into the filter and in the rocks. I try to scoop it out with the pool scooper thing but not all of the grass comes out.

[marisa]

Any way you could put some sort of barrier around the pond when it's mowing day so all that grass doesn't get in it?

[shady1616]

like what kind of barier?

I already tryed to put a large plastic thing over it but it was really windy and on top of that, it was raining. I held down the thick plastic with bricks and when I took the plastic out, it made a big mess. I'll try the plastic again and hopefully it doesn't rain. It's been raining a lot lately.

[marisa]

Try the plastic, but instead of bricks, use a really long bungee cord (or tie some together to make a long one). When you cover the pond with the plastic, slip the bungee cord(s) around the pond near the rim to keep the plastic in place (like a big elastic).

[shady1616]

Oh ok I can try that. I don't think I have anything stretchy like a bungee cord. Do you know where I can get one or make one out of?

There going to mow the lawn on Sunday, I think, so the day is coming soon.

[marisa]

Most discount places around here sell them more cheaply than automotive stores (try Walmart). You could even use rope, I suppose, but the stretchiness of the bungee cord makes it easy to slip around the rim of the pond and would hold the plastic over the pond better.

[shady1616]

I'll try to go to Walmart or Target today. I might even just tie around a rope.

[birdlady]

Try a tarp placed over the top of the pond and weight it done with BIG rocks on all 4 corners.
Right now on my 3 ponds, I have tarps Tee Pee'd so that when the leaves fall from the tree, they hit the tarp, roll down onto the ground and stay out of the water. I put a sawhorse straddling the pond in the middle (to peak it..don't lay it flat or else you'll get the leaves/grass in the pond when you remove it), draped the tarp over it and took 4 big rocks. works well.
You could try the same thing to keep out the grass.
Holly

[marisa]

That's what I did with the larger pond this summer (plastic tarp and rocks). But I didn't like how it sagged after a while. With the smaller wading pool I use, the bungee cord works really well and keeps the top nice and taut.

[reptilegrrl]

You said that your pond gets green every few weeks or so. This is a normal part of the pond cycling; the bacteria need to get established. If you leave the water alone, instead of doing full water changes, this green will clear up as the pond becomes balanced. Are you adding healthful bacteria to help it balance?

You can also add an apple snail or some small fish; they will eat algae and help keep it under control.

When you clean your filter, only clean the sponges. Leave the bioballs ((or whatever it has, I think most of those PM filters have bioballs) alone so the bacteria survive.