January Pond Maintenance

By Andy Hobson on Wednesday, 2nd of January, 2013.

January is usually the best time of year to give your pond a little TLC or a major overhaul if you need to, as long as the weather is not freezing still.

If you are having a problem with the pond freezing over, and are worried about your fish not getting enough oxygen, our advice is to use a pond heater, these heaters are designed to keep a gap in the ice, meaning oxygen is still able to enter the pond and harmful gases are able to escap too.

Usually at this time of year you will find that there is a lot of sludge and debris, including leaves, which can break down and cause water quality problems, so removal of this is neccessary to provide a better quality habitat for your aquatic plants and other life in the pond such as fish or wildlife.

Pond Vacuums

The best way to carry out this kind of maintenance is using a pond vacuum, they are designed to work in a similar way to your household vacuum, so not complicated at all. Most pond vacuums work by sucking the debris or sludge with water from your pond, this will then go into the chamber of the vacuum and then out of a outlet hose where you would have a netted bag. This netted bag will collect the waste but allow water to run back into your pond.

Although you can, you don't have to put the water you have vacuumed out back into your pond, you can use this water and sludge to fertilise and water your garden plants if you want to.

Pond Pump Maintenance

January is also the perfect time of year to get your pond pump out, and carry out a service, by giving it a good clean, and removing and cleaning the impellor itself, and the impellor housing. This will ensure longevity and efficiency of your pond pump, meaning that you won't need to go to the expense of buying a new one too soon.

Most pond pumps will have a strainer cage, you would be best to open this up and hose it down, unblocking it and removing any debris, as you've done this you should be able to get to your impeller, which will need a clean and so will the pump housing too. This will prevent any future problems with it being clogged and seizing, which can mean you would have to purchase a new pump if that happens.