

Should I perform a water change when I clean? Water changes can be useful for heavy stocked ponds, but water needs to be treated so it’s safe for fish.

If waste levels get too high, you will just need to manually remove enough waste so bacteria can get back to work again – no total drainage required! Topping up with more water after draining can cause even more disruption, as mains water is usually high in chlorine, which is toxic to much of the natural micro-organisms living in ponds.Ĭleaning a pond without draining will ensure that your natural bacteria populations are maintained, allowing them to continue providing bio-filtration after the worst of the waste is removed. Removing pond water means you’ll also be reducing the natural beneficial bacteria populations, which will cause a reduction in your pond’s biological filtration process. These are essential to ponds with fish, and form the basis of the “ nitrogen cycle,” which helps keep the pond in balance. Pond water is filled with micro-organisms and millions of beneficial bacteria which are constantly at work to break down harmful substances, such as ammonia and nitrites.

In fact, the opposite is often true, with water that appears dirty actually being very healthy and working with the pond’s eco-system to provide a natural cleaning service. Public domain.Ī common misconception among some pond owners is that “dirty” water needs to be drained before ponds can be properly cleaned. Buy on Amazon Do I need to drain my pond water to clean efficiently? Even if pond water looks “dirty” in appearance, it doesn’t always mean it’s poor quality and needs to be drained.
