Time to Wake Up!

Refreshing Our Water Features in Spring

Photo taken March 5, 2022

Well this photo isn't pretty. But this is reality of what late winter/early spring can look like in a pond. But we have a plan! With that plan, this algae will be gone in no time once the water starts to warm up. How will that happen you might ask? Keep reading!

First, Let's Talk About Ponds

How we change this pond into its best self can happen a number of ways.  Which direction you choose comes down to how much time you want to spend, how much money you want to spend, and your level of acceptance. 

Option One -- Clean it.

When we refer to a pond cleaning, we mean drain it down completely, move the fish to a holding tank, and pump out all the muck. This is a very popular option and many pond owners clean their ponds routinely each spring. (Sometimes even spring and fall.) If there are a lot of leaves from fall and winter or if you need to thin out an over-population of fish, then this is your best option. As a company we perform well over 200 pond cleanings every year.  

You can of course hire someone like Cool Ponds to clean your water feature or you can do it yourself.  We even have a handy video to take you through how to do it.  This is a good way to get your pond looking fantastic quickly.  Keep in mind that after your pond is cleaned, you will need to continue adding water treatments to keep it looking that way.  That algae will grow back if left untreated.  See our easy water treatment regimen here.

-- Find out about Cool Ponds water feature cleanings here. --

Option Two -- Clean the pumps and filters only.

The photo of the mass of string algae above is a pond that's about 8,000 gallons.  For ponds as large as this, we really don't recommend a complete cleaning.  This size pond becomes a very balanced ecosystem and as long as there isn't a great deal of debris like leaves or there's not an over population of fish, it will take care of itself.  What we will do, is clean the waterfall filters, the skimmers, and the pumps. Then we treat the pond really heavy with BioClear and Clean and Remove Away Plus a couple times a week for a few weeks. It will be string algae free and crystal clear by the time we are ready to go out and enjoy it. 

If you are good about adding water treatments regularly and don't have a great deal of muck build up on the bottom, this might be a good option for you. For us, we don't need the immediate gratification of a pond cleaning. We are willing to wait and let the treatments do the work for us.

 Same pond as above -- Photo on left May 9 (the algae is not actively growing now)

Photo on right May 31 (the algae is not growing and what was there

 previously has been consumed by beneficial bacteria).

It takes both products -- BioClear and Clean and Remove Away Plus

to achieve this result.

Side Note: The pond shown above is mine at home.  We also have a medium sized pond that we do clean every year. Why the difference?  Every pond is unique.  Although we can use treatments to get one pond going, the other pond is situated under trees that drop material into it most of the summer.  Both option 1 and 2 are good options -- it just depends on your particular water feature and what it needs.

Option Three -- Do nothing.

Some pond owners do nothing -- no cleaning, no water treatments. The water clarity might not be the best and there might be some build up on the bottom. But if the fish are healthy -- which is very important -- and you are ok with the pond's appearance, then you could choose this option. At some point, the pond will probably need to be cleaned down the road. The build up can only go on for so long before it becomes a health issue for the fish. But as long as you are ok with its appearance --- go for it. We do highly recommend at least cleaning your pump annually however.

Of course with any of these options we recommend using BioClear and Clean and Remove Away Plus regularly. I can't really say that enough.

Pond-Free Waterfalls

Not sure what a pond-free waterfall is? Find out here.

Option One -- Complete cleaning of the creek and basin.

For a pond-free cleaning, everything in the creek or stream gets rinsed off and the basin is completely pumped out. The pump gets cleaned. We recommend doing this every 4-5 years with a pond-free waterfall.

Steve removes debris build up on the basin of the

 Harmony Pond-free waterfall at Cool Ponds.

Option Two -- Hand pick debris and clean the pump.

This option is just removing the large debris and leaves from the creek or stream and the top of the basin. Pull the pump and clean it. For most pond-free waterfalls, this is all that needs to be done annually.  Sometimes this can be accomplished mostly with a leaf blower.

Option Three -- Do nothing.

Honestly, pond-free waterfalls are so easy! They really don't need much anyway. We do however recommend cleaning the pump annually and clean the debris off the top of the basin. Debris on the top of the basin can starve the pump and shorten its lifespan.

We also recommend using Algae D-Solve weekly from March through November to keep algae from growing.

So there you have it. Options to get your water feature going this spring. Remember the more prevention you do this spring, the less work you will put into your water feature this summer. That way you just sit back and enjoy it!

Happy Cleaning!