Spring Clean Your Pond Like The Pros
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If you ever wondered what’s involved when it comes to spring cleaning your pond, you have two options. One, you can do it yourself as I attempted to do in a previous videos, or you can hire professionals to take care of it for you.
Before Pond Cleaning
After Pond Cleaning
The great people at Hanhs offered to come out and clean my pond, so of course I jumped at the chance. My pond is the greenest and murkiest it’s ever been. It could use a thorough cleaning.
Glad to hand that job over to the pros! I did have some questions like: What were they going to do that I couldn't? How long does it take? Is a professional cleaning worth it?
Cleaning Your Pond
Now I had no idea what to expect, but as soon as they pulled up, I could tell they weren't messing around.
I had attempted this on my own a few years ago and made a video of it. You will see the difference is laughable. Watch the video above or keep reading as we go over each step in detail. Either way you will be left with a crystal clear water and happy fish!
Prep the koi fish holding tank
Use water from your pond when you fill up the holding tank for your fish. This way they are not subjected to severe temperature swings. Never use water from the tap, as this contains chlorine on other chemicals that could be harmful to your fish.
Drain the pond
A cast iron pump connected to a 2” water line was placed in the pond to begin draining it. They had crafted a bucket with large holes in it to protect the pump from sucking up large debris.
It was spring and the ground was saturated from the constant rain. The water from the pond was pumped to the drainage ditch in the front of my house. If not, my yard would have been flooded.
Remove the fish
Once the water is taken down to a manageable level, the fish can be removed. This just makes it easier for everyone, including the fish. By doing it this way the fish are contained in one area.
A pondshark net was used to capture the fish and place them in the holding tank. When you do this be sure no fish are left behind.
Clean the filter pads
The filter pads and lava rocks were removed from the waterfall unit. They were rinsed thoroughly, along with the filter pad from the skimmer box.
Trim pond plants
It was recommended by the experts to trim the pond plants almost below the water surface. The water iris was trimmed almost to their roots. The grassy pond plants were trimmed just above the water's surface.
They also recommended that in the future I remove the plants and place them in pots. This is so they don’t take the pond over.
Water plants tend to be very hardy, and will grow rapidly if not managed. Placing your plants in pots gives you more control over them.
Pressure wash
The team brought in an industrial pressure washer. This thing blasted away the years of green algae and muck. The pressure washing took about 30 minutes or so. When they finished this process the pond did not look that much cleaner.
Final rinse & vacuum
This is where the magic happens. After the pressure wash things didn't look much different. The pressure washer was necessary to loosen up all the muck and tough to remove string algae from the past few years.
It’s the final rinse that makes everything look new again. You can try and rinse your pond yourself, with the water from your hose, but it is nowhere near as effective as their technique.
Using a 2 inch line connected to a tank on the back of their truck, they blasted away all the nasty loosened up debris and pumped it out to the ditch.
The amount of water used to do this is hard to accomplish by conventional means. By eliminating most of the sludge, the pond was left refreshed and ready to be filled with clean water.
While the pond was getting rinsed, the other crew members were vacuuming out the waterfall unit and skimmer box.
While it is unreasonable to expect all the sludge and debris to be removed, this proved to be a great method. You wouldn’t want all the sludge to be eliminated. If that was the case you would lose the beneficial bacteria along with it. That wouldn’t be good for anybody!
Fix any fallen rocks
After putting your pond through a vigorous cleaning like this, it’s understandable that some of the rocks may have moved. In some areas the smaller gravel had made its way down to the bottom.
Any places where the rock wall may have collapsed was fixed and restacked to make it secure again.
Now is the time when they adjusted and aimed the submersible lights in order to have optimal viewing when the sun went down.
Add chemical treatment
Even though they brought their own water to refill the pond, it was still treated from the city. That being said, adding a dechlorinator is a must if you want to return your fish on the same day. A treatment of rapid clear was also used.
RapiClear is a Liquid Flocculent. This means it works by making tiny particles that are floating in the water stick together. This causes all the small particles that make the water cloud heavy and sink to the bottom, leaving you with unbelievably crystal clear water.
Refill the pond
As stated before, they brought their own water. Using a 2 inch line the pond filled back up in a matter of minutes. It would have taken a couple of hours if I had to do it using my garden hose.
Once the water reached a point when the pump was submerged it was turned back on. This was also important in order to make sure the rapiclear and dechlorinator were thoroughly mixed into the water.
Return the fish
It was great to see my fish up close and personal! The water they had come from was so green and murky that I could barely see them in the holding tank.
Koi and goldfish are such wonderful creatures. I was glad to be able to see them again once they were returned to their home.
In conclusion
The whole process took around 2 and a half hours from start to finish. I remember attempting this myself and it took me 4 to 5 hours and the results were not even close to what these guys did.
My pond is alive with a kaleidoscope of colors once again thanks to the guys at Hahn’s Ponds. Even if I followed the steps they do to clean a pond, my results would have been much different. I highly recommend getting a professional pond cleaning. Some things are best left to the pros.
I can’t thank Hahn’s Ponds enough for their professional service and spectacular results. If you are in the Western New York area stop in and check out their amazing store, or give them a call at (716) 731-4779.
Now it’s time to sit back, feed my fish and enjoy the season ahead. Have you attempted to clean your pond yourself? How well didi it go? I would love to hear about your experiences, so please comment below. Now, get out and enjoy your backyard water garden!
~Jeff
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