Once you have installed a pond at home, expect to see people’s eyes admiring the beauty of your added landscaping feature. But the appreciation you can get is and will always be accompanied by a bunch of responsibilities of cleaning and maintaining the beauty that your pond has.

The recommended frequency of pond cleaning is once in a year. But if you want to be really hands-on with your garden pond then you can do the chore as many times as you want to. You may also opt for pond water treatment to ensure the pond is in its cleanest state. It is the best to have it cleaned in the spring because of the weather conditions in that season. You can have one overall cleaning and a couple of minor maintenance in every year. For the major cleaning, the chores involved are removing all the aquatic plants, water, fish and other marine creatures from the pond. The entire pond is then cleaned inside and out.

Cleaning the pond in other seasons especially in the winter is not recommended. This is because there is a huge tendency for the pond water to turn into ice. When this happens, unwanted microorganisms rapidly build up in the pond. And in the fall, dry leaves fall into the pond and decompose which triggers more toxins to grow faster. All these and more make the living organisms in your pond harder.

The job needs to be done by at least two people. If you are weak at heart then you should find another person to clean your pond for you. Strong-hearted people are the only ones who can take the terrible froth of dirt accumulated in the pond. One of the things you should keep in mind when you plan to tidy up your pond is to wear working clothes. And be sure not to wear these clothes again at any given situations.

The first step in cleaning your pond is removing all the water in it. You can use a solids handling pump that is attached to a long water hose. The hose can be directed to anywhere you want to pond water to go to. It is best if you aim the water to your lawn because it will not be wasted. You can also aim for the plants you have in the backyard. This will help you save time and water.

You can now proceed to remove the plants in the pond while the water is being sucked out. Some marine plants like anacharis can be washed. The fishes can then be caught using a long-handled net and then be transferred to a temporary home in the form of water-filled plastic bags. You can now proceed to detach the pond filter and check if there are other things left in the pond. Once it’s empty, you can begin wet vacuuming its bottom part, then washing it with water with strong pressure in it then another round of wet vacuuming. You can do this as many times as possible until the water is crystal clear enough.

Once you reach the cleanest state of your pond, you can start putting back all the plants in the pond. Then let running water flow into the empty pond. While the pond is being filled, it is the ideal time to put the dechlorinator. This will make the water much safer for your fishes and plants. Before it becomes full, the fishes in ties plastic bags should be allowed to float for at least 15 minutes. This is done to equalize the temperature of the old and new water. After that, you can slowly release the fishes from their temporary homes and let them flow in the newly-cleaned pond.

Your pond can survive another whole year. But if you think it needs to be cleaned, then you know what to do. It might be laborious to maintain a pond at home, but the reward it gives is more than worth the sacrifice.