So part in the spring pond maintenance is thinning out some of the aquatic
plants
So they don't really take the pond over. This particular plant right here,
"Pennywort" and it's actually really cute plant
and some people love it and some people hate it and I can tell you
that people hate it don't manage it because if you let this thing takeover
are really getting between all the rocks
and it's really hard to manage if you let it take off
So what we're gonna do is, we're gonna thin it out really well this season
this plant actually, all this is from back over here we have a nice little cluster
here and all the runners that kinda made their way here
so I don't manage it now, the runners can continue on and by the end of the year
they'll be all over by the skimmer
So I'm just gonna thin back what we don't want, clean it up
and get it back to a nice little specimen plant
So I'm working on this little beach entrance here
and I'm just gonna more around some of this gravel so as I'm rinsing it
And in doing so, I found a little bit more that Pennywort
running across. I stripped that out and then I'm gonna continue on rinsing
So when we're doing the rinsing of the pond
in this fashion, without doing the pressure washer, remember I'm not
worried about this algae
this is a good biofilm and it takes some time to develop so I don't want to
hit it with the pressure washer
But what I do want to do is get in behind the cracks because that's where all the
sludge is
back in behind here so I'm really gonna work my hose
in these cracks and if you'll notice, what I'm getting out of here
some pretty Blackwater, So if I want this ecosystem the run super efficiently the
season
I want to get in here and and just kinda clean that stuff out. So work you way
in and around the pond like
so and one other tip I want to give you when you're cleaning the pond
we have we have the pump clear, we moved all the gravel we have the pump down lowest
end of the pond
and you'll see we have this gravel on this section and as the pump is draining the
pond down
this gravel is holding back
that dirty water that we want to get to there, so kinda what we'll do is we'll
create a trench like this
by all the way across the bottom of the pond
and that allows all the dirty water to make itself
all the way over to the pump. I'll move this guy the way. So now everything that I'm
rinsing this way comes into this
trench and everything that I'm rinsing on this site comes into the trench
it works its way to the pump and then we can pump it out to the landscape
it's a great opportunity when you have the pond drained down like this you doing
all the rinsing
to inspect all the underwater lights. So I've got the light
transformer turned on and we're gonna come through and check to make sure all
the lights are
adjusted. I'm gonna take the time and clean the face of them off right here
when algae starts grow on the light fixtures, it
dulls the, it dulls the impact that has as well
so I'll just check on them, they're running good. If I have any bulbs that are out right now
it's a perfect opportunity
make a change.