Cleaning a pond?

jf_f1

Hi, this is my first post to this forum, I have spent a lot of time reading the wildlife garden posts.

My question is, do you have to clean out a garden pond? We have had ours for probably 20 years now, it is teeny weeny, probably 4 feet by 3 feet and it has never been cleaned. We had 6 large clumps of frog spawn this year. The most number of frogs of various sizes I counted at one time this summer was 11. It has tiny snails, lots of larvae and is often visited by insects and damselflies. We also had the most number of froglets that I have ever seen. They were everywhere in the undergrowth.
 
It appears to be very healthy, but I do wonder if I should be clearing out some of the sludge from the bottom, or would this just upset the eco system? Part of me thinks I should be doing something, but it appears to be so full of life I am afraid to interfere. 

pansyface

The old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” comes to mind.

The sludge is home to literally millions of little jobbies, all offering a service to each other. 

It sounds as if you have a lovely mini eco system. Congratulations.🙂

jf_f1

Thank you pansy face.  I guess my only worry is about the depth of the pond? Will there become a time when the 'sludge' at the bottom gets too deep and the pond becomes too shallow? There is a tree from our neighbours garden which overhangs the pond and leaves and the occasional apple falls into it. We try to get out as many leaves as we can, but obviously some leaves will be accumulating etc. in it.   

pansyface

I’m not a chemist, so I can only offer you the roughest explanation as to what happens to leaves in water. They are made of cellulose and lignin, mostly. The cellulose breaks down rapidly and the lignin breaks down slowly. That’s why in winter you find skeleton leaves - the lignin remains and the cellulose has turned to - gas? 

So the leaves in your pond will only cause it to become shallow very slowly.

The sludge is a mixture of blown in soil, frog poop, dead flies and so on. Not a great deal to worry about there.

Keep skimming off the fallen leaves and the odd apple and you should be OK for quite a few years yet. 🙂

jf_f1

Thank you very much for your help, I feel relieved now.
I know everything on the surface looks ok, but it feels nice to be reassured.    

ifrat77

Since the pond in my house is used for fish farming, it can be said that maintaining and cleaning the pond is very important to ensure a clean and healthy environment for any species of fish and plants. I usually clean the filters and pumps, clear debris from the pond including leaf debris on the surface and bottom of the pond, clean any waterfalls and fountains and remove and replace any dead plants. As for deep cleaning of the pond, such as completely removing silt and accumulated debris from the pond, I only do it 1-2 times per year.

Fairygirl

ifrat77 said:

Since the pond in my house is used for fish farming, it can be said that maintaining and cleaning the pond is very important to ensure a clean and healthy environment for any species of fish and plants. I usually clean the filters and pumps, clear debris from the pond including leaf debris on the surface and bottom of the pond, clean any waterfalls and fountains and remove and replace any dead plants. As for deep cleaning of the pond, such as completely removing silt and accumulated debris from the pond, I only do it 1-2 times per year.

Why do you have a pond in your house? 

Cleaning everything out of a pond twice a year isn't what the OP needs to do. That's fatal in a wildlife pond. 

Joyce Goldenlily

I have a very small pond as well Mine is about 6ft in diameter. I completed it approximately 15 years ago and this last year is the first time I have removed any sludge from the bottom. I was surprised there was so little. My pond is about 4ft deep in the centre. I would not worry about your pond until you can see the sludge, then only take out a small amount. It sounds as if your pond has an established miniature ecosystem working so leave it alone. I use organic blanket weed control, sludge controller, and blanketweed controller which perhaps is why I do not have a lot of sludge.

Redwing

jf_f1 said:

Hi, this is my first post to this forum, I have spent a lot of time reading the wildlife garden posts.

My question is, do you have to clean out a garden pond? We have had ours for probably 20 years now, it is teeny weeny, probably 4 feet by 3 feet and it has never been cleaned. We had 6 large clumps of frog spawn this year. The most number of frogs of various sizes I counted at one time this summer was 11. It has tiny snails, lots of larvae and is often visited by insects and damselflies. We also had the most number of froglets that I have ever seen. They were everywhere in the undergrowth.
 
It appears to be very healthy, but I do wonder if I should be clearing out some of the sludge from the bottom, or would this just upset the eco system? Part of me thinks I should be doing something, but it appears to be so full of life I am afraid to interfere. 

I wouldn't do much, thin out plants maybe.  You seem to be doing everything right already.

Simone_in_Wiltshire

@jf_f1 I used to have an aquarium when I was young. After one year, I had created a working environment that filling up water now and then was all I had to do. The algae were eaten by the fishes, and when I checked the ground, there was hardly any fish excrements. It stayed like this one year until my sister moved back with her little baby over winter because her flat was too cold. She turned off the light and pump believing the baby would be disturbed, which killed the aquarium inside 2 months. 

If you check your water and it smells fine, reach the bottom with a ladle and check if if the ground is good, then never change a running system. 

jf_f1

Thanks everyone for your replies. The only thing I have had to do recently is crack the ice on the pond, it was a good 3/4 inch thick just before Christmas. I have a couple more questions if you don't mind?

@Joyce Goldenlily, would you mind giving me some information about the organic blanketweed controller and sludge controller that you use please? I think they would both be a good idea for me to use.

Also, @Simone_in_Wiltshire could you explain a little bit more about using a ladle to check if the ground is good? I am very sorry to hear about your aquarium, my son had one and it was a lovely addition to our home.

Thanks @Redwing, I do keep thinning out my plants, it is about the only bit of maintenance that I do, but it appears to be working ok lol.