Clean Water/Filtration

[The_Desacrator]

So with aquariums people change the water regularly to keep the water clean and safe for their fish. How do you do this with a pond?

 

[hippy guy]

With a pond filter and a huge bucket... lol, probobly just a big pond filter

 

[SaltyH2O]

My wife maintains a small (about 500 gallons) koi pond. She does a water change using a utility pump like the kind you would use to suck water out of a flooded basement. She cleans the large rock around the pond with a pressure washer. There is a canister filter (about 5 gallons) that contains filter media and bio material. Keeping live plants that cover some of the surface area of the pond helps control algae growth by limiting sunlight penetration. Water fountains and/or water falls help provide oxygen in the water, keeps water from becoming stagnate and keeps some mosquitoes away. If your talking about a much larger pond then I don't think water changes are necessary. Nature takes car of that with evaporation and rain, Lol, but a water fountain is still highly recommended for the same reasons listed above.

 

[Candymom]

Evaporation and rain aren't a water change, all that is changing is the concentrations of whatever is in the water. No different than topping off a fish tank. I periodically siphon several hundred gallons of water out of my pond and replace it with fresh water and the proper conditioners.
With a great filter system, of course, you may be fine without water changes in regards to ammonia, etc. but it needs to be a really great filter system to deal with things like the buildup of hormone that results in stunted fish growth.