pond is ready for its 3rd season!

[ScottishFish]

I havent kept a pond before, do you need to do PWC?? or is a yearly clean out all they need??

[Crispy]

I havent kept a pond before, do you need to do PWC?? or is a yearly clean out all they need??

this was the first cleaning since we built it 2 years ago. rain or the occasional hose top-ups was all the waterchanges it got. there were so many leaves, algae, and mud in the pond that we decided it was time for a complete draining. it started getting a 'ditch' smell to it so we figured it was due. if it was a small pond, I think I would do pwcs much more often. it's filtered by mostly plants and about 10g of lava rock as biomedia in the filter. the filter is also only cleaned once per season. as long as it stays flowing strong, we won't touch it until we shut it down in late fall.

[ScottishFish]

Thats pretty do-able maintenance, I have always been under the impression ponds are a pain to keep clean. If I get a house with a yard im sure I will get one.

[smaug]

Now I feel better! It took three 1/3 WC at 800 gallons each to clear mine up a bit before I was able to get proper functioning from my uv clarifier. Wait til your koi get bigger,you may find it impossible to keep plants in the water any more. My koi simply root all of mine up,all I have left is one lily and 1 lotus both of which won't make it through this year. The only reason they are still alive is because I surrounded there roots with broken potter shards!