Aquatic Chores

Many of our clients enter into pond ownership with every intention of being actively and intimately involved in upkeep and maintenance.

What this often means is that, for the first year or maybe two, they’ll net out leaves, clear the skimmer basket and, maybe once a year, will hold their noses (literally or figuratively) and muck out the filter. But what we’ve found with our clients at The Pond Digger Waterscape Design & Construction (Yucaipa, Calif.) is that their resolve isn’t often firm enough for them to dig in and give a fish-filled pond the deep annual cleaning it really needs.

I developed the video attached below to show homeowners what’s involved in a thorough spring cleaning. In some cases, this opens their eyes wide enough that they’ll ask us to do the work, which is fine. In others, they’ll still want to go it alone, in which case we’re satisfied that we’ve done what we can to let them know that the job is both harder and nastier than they likely ever imagined.

In the time since we taped this series, however, I’ve found yet again that the information offered is incredibly valuable for staff-training purposes: After rolling through the videos a time or two, everyone going out on such a job is familiar with what needs to be done, how it should be done and what to watch for as the process unfolds.

In this particular case, with a backyard pond in temperate Ventura, Calif., the tasks are pretty straightforward as we do what we can in imitating the natural processes of flushing and reinvigorating the pond like a good spring flood.

Click here to watch the early steps in the spring-cleaning process.

Eric Triplett is founder and chief executive officer at The Pond Digger Waterscape Design & Construction in Yucaipa, Calif. He may be reached at [email protected].