Saturday, August 20, 2005

How To Clean Your Fish Pond

I have a fish pond made of half a wine barrel containing comet goldfishes and water-lily.Problem I have with it is that it gets dirty quite quickly especially during the warmer months when algae forms very quickly, choking the fishes in the pond like what you can see here.
So, to clean the pond out, I have to remove the fishes from the pond and put them in a different container temporarily while I proceed with the cleaning.
First the aquatic plants are removed, water emptied and the pebbles removed.
Then using a nylon brush, I scrub the inside of the barrel to get rid of the algae and slime that's built up inside....
...until it is very clean.
Next I wash the pebbles with high pressure water to clean them thoroughly.
When everything is clean, I put the plants and pebbles back into the barrel.
Water is then put back in, you may add water conditioner at this stage but I've never bother with it because the comet goldfishes that I have are very hardy and can tolerate tap water quite happily.
Lastly the fishes are put back into the water and we get a crystal clear pond again!
Here's a before and after shots of the pond, quite a difference.

2 comments:

Chief said...

try install a small pump with filter. i have a pond outside and with the pump & filter the water's clear all the time. but the side of the pond is full of algae, can't be helped

Unknown said...

Washing it out completely with tap water will kill all your beneficial bacteria. The pond will have to cycle again everytime. Do what chief said, get a filter. If you live in tropical climes, get an algae eating fish, eg. ancistrus, siamese algae eater, etc.