Tips to reduce pond maintenance

These are some things that will help reduce the amount of effort spent cleaning and maintaining a garden/ fish pond.
I also have lots of videos showing how to build your own pond, including filters (skimmers, bog filters, waterfall filters, intake bays ect). So if that's something that interests you go ahead and check them out.
If you prefer written guides visit my website ozponds.com

[@Kashmar_1]

I have been on KZbin for 3 weeks now watching these videos of other people explaining things and I can comfortable say you give the best explanation so far so thank you and I have to subscribe the bog videos for sure will help me so much love man💯

[@Ozponds]

That’s great to hear. I appreciate the support 👍

[@gelobeep8188]

@@Ozponds oz what are youre thought on a with a large survace area but low depth 3feet deepest point and lowest is 2feet but is almost never that depth due to the water always having a topup due to the evaporation so how do i improve my pond and fix it on budget its 5000liters and i have canister filter rated for 10000liters max output a 5800liter pump on it Dont have lots of money what do ido

[@LampWaters]

I'm so excited my husband has taken a few days off coming up. Finally finally in 10 days is time for our BIG DIG 😀 I should of ordered some materials sooner but have to have the ability to move things like the liner once delivered so it had to wait. I'm building a version of teich swimmer and will use mesh bags of gravel but the bags are on back order so I might temporarily filter through a barrel while I wait for my bags if they happen to take too long to deliver. I already ordered my underlayment and liner and taking a risk and using 30 mil in blue. Because I'm not using large rock or boulders in the pond and it's going to be very deep I felt I needed a liner that isn't black so it's more appealing to swim in the deep end and not a dark hole. I'll try to get an SD card so I can save pictures and videos to share. I'm soooooo excited. Yard is all prepped and made a chicken and dog run to keep the animals up while we take down our backyard fence to get equipment in. We struck a deal with local rock supplier, my husband gets free wood pallets at work so we are selling the pallets to the supplier in exchange for delivery and discount on rocks. Even after we are done we can continue to sell him the wood pallets we have so over time I'll be making back a large portion of my cost. Here's a video on turning a bucket and shop vac into a wet vacuum, he uses a 5 gallon bucket but I'll be using a rain barrel and doing the same thing. Since we already have a shop vac I see no need to buy a pool vacuum or seperate pump. And this way I can save the excess from vacuuming for the garden and use in the hottest months of the year when I'll need extra water for the garden. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6OXpJt8YtSCsMk

[@Ozponds]

Awesome! Can’t wait to hear how it all comes together, very exciting! Love that video! I wish I did more research before buying an expensive pond vac. Thanks for sharing 👍. Hopefully others watch it and save some money.

[@unmeaninglessly143]

Your calm voice including the water sound makes me drowsy. Aint a bad thing tho 😆 The water looks crystal clear it makes me envy

[@Ozponds]

😂 ozponds helping put people to sleep since 2020 👍

[@grantwilletts5669]

Very helpful and informative as always. Thank you, Kev.

[@dylantkl]

Thanks so much for this video. I love your content and the information you in provided have given me new ideas and hope about landbased natural fish farming.

[@Ozponds]

That’s great Dylan. I’m happy you get something from my vids 👍

[@laurabarrow6340]

Hello Kev, I like your approach to clean out... it makes a lot of sense. One thing that I'd like to understand better is how you were able to run the hose on the rocks when you had drained the pond to a few inches? My point is that since you had fish and good bacteria in there, I wouldn't think you could use city water to rinse down the sides of the pond. You do mention de-chlorinating when you were ready to refill the pond, but what about before that, when the hose is running in your video? I'm really lazy so I don't want to be adding extra steps and precautions if I don't need them. 😂 Thanks!

[@Ozponds]

😂 right on. No unnecessary steps👍. So when I rinse off the rock I’m probably killing off the bacteria there in the pond with the chlorinated water. But I didn’t touch the bog filter or the stream so that still had plenty of bacteria. Once I fill up the pond, add the de-chlorinator and turn the pumps back on the bacteria colonies in the bog and stream will help re-colonise the pond. The small amounts of chlorine in the tap water don’t hurt the fish (at least not in my experience, with my water).

[@vongeisen]

Beautiful pond.

[@DrJoeJoeHands]

Thank you

[@bagsga9454]

Hey Kev! I love your videos! Here is a question for you - and maybe a new project to experiment with and investigate! (You seem to be the master of successfully making DIY versions of expensive pond products.) I have chipmunks a-plenty in my yard. I am building a new pond and would like to use concrete cloth around the upper parts of the excavation. The stuff is hard to get and very expensive! I've been talking with some folks on a pond forum and discussing the pros and cons of different DIY versions -- possible problems, etc. I hesitate to use anything with wire, for fear of it puncturing the liner. I am contemplating dunking a bunch of heavy geotextile fabric in cement and trying to make my own concrete cloth. Have you tried anything like this? (Do you want to? LOL). Thanks for all your tips and tricks - you've been very helpful to me in planning my pond!

[@Ozponds]

I like you idea of dunking the geo. But I wonder if you need to. Would it work if you just spread the bagged cement all over the top shelf (in powder form dry) and then lay the geo over the top? The moisture in the ground or when it rains will activate the concrete and create the barrier? We don’t have chipmunks in Australia so I’m not sure how thick the barrier needs to be. If you find a good solution let us know 👍

[@Warrior_Mom4]

Please list the flowers around the pond. Thank you

[@Ozponds]

I’ve done that in a previous video. You’ll find it if you scroll through all my vids 👍

[@suzannemoran7281]

Hi Kev , your ponds always look so bright and lovely for your fish. I wonder is it because you have stones and gravel on the bottom.??? 🤔🤔 My pond looks very dark , I worry about my little goldfish and 2 munchkins not having their best life 😩🐡. When I put the pond water into a glass the water is clear. It is a raised pond and the bottom and sides are a black liner. I have put plants in around the sides in pots but it's heading into winter now so not much is growing. My water temperature today was 14° my fish are still swimming around and seem very hungry. So Kev , do you think Fish can be happy or sad? Should I put gravel down so they have more to eat? Thank you for your channel I do enjoy watching , and dreaming that I lived in sunny Australia with my fish. 🙋‍♀️🐡

[@Ozponds]

I often just use footage when it’s sunny. The ponds can sometimes look dark. Goldfish do like having pebbles. The weather is starting to get nice here. I’m not sure if the fish get happy or sad. I’d imagine they do but they don’t tell me.

[@suzannemoran7281]

@@Ozponds Well after I add my pebbles if my fish tell me they are happier I will of course let you know. 😊🐠🐟

[@Ozponds]

😊 sounds good 👍

[@user-rg9mq1kv5d]

Hi Kev, great videos thanks. Im wondering which method of plumbing works best in bog. I notice you didnt add a pipe with slits the length of bog when you used black half pipe. Did the water going directly into half pip e (purchased from large green shed) spread evenly -( you said you were experimenting with this). Im about to plumb up my bog and there seems to be a lot of methods to choose from.

[@Ozponds]

Yes, those green shed pipes worked at spreading the water evenly 👍

[@dcsd6193]

Have you considered getting a turtle to stir up the bottom sediment for you? Also, consider a Cooter, they eat algae.

[@Ozponds]

I’d love a turtle. I’m in Southern Australia my choices are limited.

[@luudantu7211]

What type of rocks/boulders are you using for the pond? They look like they have pores in them

[@Ozponds]

They are called Colac rock at my local landscape yard. I believe it’s a type of basalt.

[@stevesperry3008]

I bought a house that has a pond. The previous owner didn't build it or run it for the 4 years she lived here. Should I do a full drain and clean?

[@Ozponds]

Doesn’t hurt to start fresh.

[@bob.fagg-bois657]

Hi kev, i have a problem with ground water rising up and under my EPDM at the bottom of my pond, it pushes up the liner in the middle as i have rocked in three of the sides and just started the bottom two steps at the end, the pond is dug into very flat ground which is mostly clay, we have had some big storms recentlyso the ground around the area is sodden, any ideas how i can stop the EPDM ballooning or stop the water from rising up under? thanks.

[@Ozponds]

A few options. 1. Put in some drainage to remove the ground water. Even on flat ground you can drain it to a pit where it can be pumped out. 2. Fill the pond with water. The weight inside the pond will counteract the weight of the ground water. 3. And this is not the best option but might be necessary in extreme situations. Put a hole in the liner with a bulkhead fitting, install a one way valve so that if the water pressure from the ground is too much it can release into the pond. Because the valve only allows water to flow one way the pond water will remain in the pond when the ground dries out. I hope that makes sense. I could do a video on on it but I don’t really have any footage to go with it. It would be more boring than usual and have a lot of my dodgy sketches.

[@bob.fagg-bois657]

@@Ozponds Thanks i`ll try some form of drainage, maybe even just a pipe running down behind he steps before i put them in completely.

[@josephrickard7973]

Hi Kev, did you just get rid of the water totally and add new water? My pond is 4,000 gallons, I can't really do that it would take days to refill it as I have a dug well. Any ideas on what I can use to store a couple thousand gallons of the original water without breaking the bank?

[@1991ryanl]

one of those swimming pools thatre made of a plastic frame and waterproof liner... not sure if theyre super expensive, or if theyre easy to put up and take down though

[@Ozponds]

Pretty much all the old water was removed. But that’s not necessary, my pond vac just sucks so much water up to do it’s job. If you can remove the sediment without taking out so much water that’s even better. And yes those temporary swimming pools are pretty cheap. The round ones with the inflatable ring don’t even need a frame. When i do a big clean on my desk pond it will possibly take weeks to refill as I’ll just let it fill up via my winter rains. That’s the cheapest way. I’ll just turn off all the pumps and leave the very deepest point for the fish. I plan on doing a vid on that when I do. I’ve never cleaned such a large pond before, but cause we swim in it I plan on giving it a good once over each year.

[@adiadri6886]

Hy kev! I've built my pond,and its running for 3 weeks now.i only put beneficial bacteria at first and now its green.i know that this in normal at first.. you have any ideea of how much time it needs to clear the wather? I'm running a big bog filter also..

[@Ozponds]

You could try a pond flocculent to try and clear it fast. Usually I’ll expect string algae but not green water in a pond running a bog.

[@adiadri6886]

@@Ozponds you ad some diatomix,or other product to you pond ocasionaly even if you have a cristal clear wather? Maybe you could do a video about this 😁 And a green water will clarifi even if i dont ad floculent? Thx for all the info you provide. Take care!

[@Ozponds]

The diatomix should also help clear up single celled algae. But if the bog is working right the single celled stuff shouldn’t be an issue. I use it more to help with string algae.

[@DevinBaillie]

Could you please post a link to the half-pipe drainage channel that you used in your bog filter and intake bay? I haven't been able to find it online anywhere. Thanks in advance!

[@Ozponds]

www.bunnings.com.au/everhard-230-x-1200mm-small-evertrench-drainage-trench-liner_p4770446. I’ll also add it to those videos 👍

[@DevinBaillie]

@@Ozponds Thanks so much!

[@Ozponds]

No problem👍

[@DevinBaillie]

@@Ozponds Unfortunately it looks like there's nothing equivalent for sale that I can find in Canada. Don't suppose you want to come visit and bring a dozen pieces with you?

[@Ozponds]

😂 I wish. Unfortunately I don’t have the time or the budget. There’s gotta be something similar. Search for drainage associated with septic systems.