There are three specific times of the year when pond maintenance should be carried out, these are winter, summer, and fall, each specific time of year involves slightly different types of maintenance and I will begin with summer.
Summer pond maintenance:
Summer can be the most problematic time for fish ponds, the heat from the sun on the water leads to your fish being a lot more active. Which means they will eat more food which in turn produces more waste, this is when you must make sure your aeration and filter in the pond are working efficiently.
Oxygen should be your main thought during the summer months, always make sure the pond fountain or other type of aeration device you have is working 24 hours during those really hot days. Because warm water does not store oxygen very well it is important you keep the levels topped up, by doing this you will also help the friendly bacteria to thrive which in turn will help to keep down the ammonia and nitrate levels.
You will also notice an increase in algae growth during the summer months, this can be down to the photosynthesis increasing growth within the algae. A good way to control this growth is to control how much sunlight the pond gets, pond lilies are a great way of controlling sunlight as the wide leaves sit on the surface keeping the water underneath reasonably cool. I cant stress enough that you should make sure you keep the oxygen levels high, this will help keep the nutrients down to a manageable level in the pond that algae thrive on.
Over the years pond owners have used what they call algaecides to control the algae in there ponds, these can be very useful provided you stick to the manufactures instructions. Remember that getting rid of algae is a slow process and must not be done quickly, as the dead algae will float to the bottom of the pond causing a depletion of your oxygen levels. In the last few years there have been major advancements in the production of algaecides, GreenClean is one such product that is non-toxic to fish and is much more environmentally friendly.
I would also suggest carrying out regular ph checks during the hot summer months, because the biological activity in the pond is much more pronounced during these hot periods the ph of the water can alter in a short period of time. You should also consider placing a pond net over the pond ready for the fall of leaves and other debris in the fall season, this can save you loads of time and effort in cleaning out the pond in the fall season.
Fall pond maintenance:
The first thing I suggest as part of the fall pond maintenance is get rid of the dying or unhealthy looking foliage in and around the pond, cleaning this out and cleaning around the edges will go a long way to preserving your pond water integrity during the winter months.
It is also a good idea to remove as much debris from the bottom of the pond as possible, but be careful when doing this as the friendly bacteria that kills harmful toxins resides at the bottom of the pond. What I actually do is clean the bottom of the pond carefully, then add some more friendly bacteria to make up for any that I might have removed accidentally.
I also use a pond net that keeps most of the falling debris out, so cleaning involves mainly removing fish waste and food that has fallen to the bottom.
You will also want to remove any types of water plant life that might not survive the cold temperatures of the winter months, you can re-pot them and move them into your garage or shed to preserve them until the spring then re-install them to the pond.
Another thing to consider is the fact that when the water temperature drops dramatically the fish will slow down there metabolic rate and therefore require much less food, so make sure you cut down on the feeding slightly or else you will create a problem of excess food drifting to the bottom of the pond and turning into harmful nitrates.
Winter pond maintenance:
One thing you must make sure of doing during the winter months is make sure that the pond does not freeze over, if the pond freezes over it can cause serious problems to the pond environment and more importantly to your treasured fish. The problems that arise with a frozen pond is that the waste and other debris cause toxic gases that can not escape, this in turn means oxygen can not get in to the water neither which makes for a extremely unhealthy environment for the fish.
Also remember that in winter your fish will become extremely lethargic and will require hardly any food at all, so keep the feeding down to the bare minimum during the winter months.
Personally I use a de-icer in my pond during the winter months, I always place in the shallow part of the pond so it keeps a small area open all the time, you don't have to keep the whole pond free from ice to allow oxygen to enter the water and harmful toxins to escape.
Just a small area is perfectly adequate in a medium sized garden pond, If your pond is very large in area then i suggest obtaining two de-icers and placing them at opposite ends of the pond, just to let you know these de-icers cost pennies a day to run and are extremely efficient and use very low energy.
So if you have done the fall maintenance then there is very little winter pond maintenance to do, like I have said the main thing is to make sure the pond does not freeze over if you live in a very cold area. Hopefully this advice will help you to maintain an extremely healthy fish pond all year round, fish ponds do require work and maintenance but I am sure you will agree it is well worth the effort.
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