Summer Pond Clean

Today was a pretty big day in the garden as we had a long weekend and due to the hot weather I haven't been able to tackle the jobs around the house. We decided to host some friends around for a BBQ and enjoy a few beers so we got to work cutting the grass and cleaning one of our feature items, our front pond.

We originally had 8 fish Koi fish but had 3 different species and the bigger Koi fish ended up eating the smaller ones and dominating the pond. We've ended up with the Veiltail Goldfish dominating the pond and they're starting to get quite large.

Head To Head

Out of 8 we have four left which is sad in itself but that is how life is in the wild I guess, a fish eat fish world especially given this pond is out the front opposite the wetlands so it get's visited by birds and cats, I have popped in a few rocks for the fish to hide under and lil pads, it's been going for a year now so pretty good.

I try not to clean it all too often as Gold fish enjoy murkey water and it also helps them stay hidden, but it was getting quite yuck so we got in there and scrubbed it clean.

Non Chemical Scrub

The important thing to remember when cleaning ponds is that you can't use any chemicals to do so, while there are some that have been created to support cleaning it is always best practice to clean environments that will be home to fish with out chemicals.

For this, we drained the pond with a bucked while scooping our fish out and placing them in fresh rain water. These fish are a little older and hardier and I was hoping the new water was a lot cleaner as the original water was just about black.

Once it was emptied, with a brand new scourer I scrubbed all around dislodging all the gunk and mud. Being out the front of my house this pond often ends up capturing a lot of the rubbish that blows down the street which is annoying.

The water I was draining I didn't just tip down the sink, it was the perfect fertilizer for my plants and trees in the front yard. They'll do nicely with this added boost of natural fish poop.

Time to put the Fish back in

Then came time to put the fish back in, previously I used my rain water tank to refill the pool but within 2 days it turned algae and I had complaints from neighbours due to smell. This time around I just used normal tap water and yes, you're supposed to let it sit for a few hours prior to putting fish into it due to the chemicals in tap water.

But, I didn't do that this time. I figured what they were living in was a lot worse and they would be keen to get some fresh oxygenated water, I did let it sit for an hour and half while the water rested and warmed up.

I need to invest in a net, but I let the kids pick them up and gently put the into the pond.

I have to admit, as soon as I placed them into the cleaned water with some fresh food they were really excited swimming around, playing and probably had enough oxygen to breath for a change. I need to invest in a water pump and filtration system to properly clean the tank.

I have a second section I need to build which will include a waterfall and a natural filtration system I just haven't gotten around to doing it just yet.

Overall, great fun and the kids really enjoyed it!

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