Cleaning Your Pond Filter
Whilst it can be a bit of a grotty and smelly job, cleaning and maintaining a pond filtration system is a very important job, especially in the hot weather.
What many people don’t realise is that there is a right way, and consequently also a wrong way to do it.
One of the ways your pond filter works is by becoming a home for lots of friendly bacteria, which help kill off the algae and maintain a good level of water chemistry that keeps your pond healthy and clear.
Over time these bacteria, along with the natural filtration activity of your pond filter system will lead to a build up of sludge in your filter housing, and also in the filter media meaning the water flow in your pond will slow. This is obviously not ideal, and does of course mean that your filter needs cleaning. But what many people don’t realise is that by cleaning your filter if you do it incorrectly you are actually harming your pond, and it’s overall chemical balance and it’s otherwise healthy eco system.
How to clean your pond filter safely
The key to cleaning your filter safely, without damaging the biochemistry of your pond lies in the water used to clean out the filter media. What you need to do is avoid using fresh water for doing this. You should aim to use water from the pond itself.
Water straight from the tap contains a number of chemicals designed to make it safe for us to drink as humans, including chlorine. Chlorine is designed to kill bacteria in water, and will likely kill all the friendly bacteria that have built up in your filter media.
If you clean your filter media using water from the pond you eliminate this problem, and also the water is then good for your garden as it contains a higher level of nitrate, as well as numerous other beneficial organic compounds.
Topping the pond water level back up
Whilst I would never actively advocate topping your pond up lots direct from the tap, if you are only putting 30 or 40 litres in straight from the tap, if you have a 1000 litre pond, the impact of this will be negligible and is relatively safe to do. If you need to add a higher percentage of water, then you should consider using a tap safe solution for ponds which neutralises the impact of the chemicals found in tap water.
Removing debris
During the recent spell of hot weather we have had a few leaves fall off the trees. It is important that you stay on top of removing these from your pond. It’s a quick and easy job that only takes a couple of minutes once a week and can be done while you are out there feeding your fish.
The problem with leaves is they will eventually rot down, especially while the water is warmer. When this happens they release gasses into the pond which helps algae grow, and also leads to sludge build up on the bottom of your pond
Maintaining a good water chemistry
My pond can be seen as a prime example of how this can work well. Since the start of the season I have had to do very little to maintain the water quality, bar an early season dose of sludge buster to get rid of some of the leaves etc that had fallen in over winter and rotted. If you stay on top of your filter, and also the level of pond plant cover as mentioned in a previous blog, you can have clear water very easily all year round.
