Pond Maintenance cleaning and upkeep

Let’s talk about some common problems a pond can have, and how to prevent pond maintenance from being a big deal. The biggest and most common pond maintenance people ask about would be algae. 

Some algae is normal and healthy for a water garden. Others though, not so much. Algae is a plant in the end. It functions the same, uses sunlight and nutrients to grow. 

If your having big problems with green water in your pond go ahead and check out our blog that covers 8 things you can do to clear green pond water up.

The reason algae dominates a pond is because there is an imbalance in the water. Simply put there is to much plant food and not enough plants. So algae blooms occur.

Filamentous Algae or string algae often will show up in falls and on the perimeter of the pond. This algae is not necessary bad and can be be removed by hand. 

Then there is the dreaded green algae, blach! This algae turns the water a green or brown color and prevents fish from being seen. If left to long it can consume all the oxygen and harm fish. Its a common problem in newly constructed ponds, improperly built ones as well! 

You will know it’s getting bad when fish come to the surface for air! A properly constructed pond will prevent this, but unfortunately not all water gardens are built right. So there are a number of solutions from a reconstruction job, adding additional filtration, or a UV light. 

another point of pond maintenance that can come up in ponds is over grown plants, this is relatively easy to solve by simply cutting them back on occasion.

However there are some plants that if not kept back regularly might need a more aggressive approach. You want to keep care of your liners when using tools in a pond!

Then every pond requires pumps and bubblers. They can fail over time and need to be replaced. Pump options are endless, from cheaper hardware store pumps to specialty pumps bought through a dealer. Some last longer than others. As with most things in life budget up against quality is always an issue. 

Mechanical filters are also a point of pond maintenance, they also come in endless options. Over time these filters will breakdown and need to be replaced or cleaned to bring them back to a functional state. 

Ill put a point of encouragement in here, so you don’t lose site of how awesome water features are! One area ponds have an advantage is in thier biology. Its like hiring billions of workers who will go and breakdown organics and turn them into food for your plants. So filters should be designed to be a home for them causing less need for cleaning. 

Also depending on how the pond was built some may need to be drained and power washed annually or every few years. Other ponds can be built so that they will never need this. 

The biological makeup and filters allow the pond to clean itself with occasional cleaning without draining. I have seen ponds 20 years in that have never been drained because of how well they were built. 

There are a number of other aspects to ponds that may need to be maintained like lights and motion sensor sprinklers that keep predators away. This are not always found in ponds. But if they are they will need to be maintained or closed down for winter. 

Okay so after listing all these pond maintenance points I want to stress that none of these problems should be all but occasional on a professionally built water garden. 

Our water feature we built 5 years ago has only been drained once and that was to expand its size. We do not have algae problems, and the pumps are going strong. The only regular work is to pull the debris basket and empty it. And even that hardly needs to be done except in the fall. Then there is annual work like shutdown and opening, a few hours of work and its done!