How To Drain A Pond?

In this article we will explore how to drain a pond with a hose and how to drain a pond with a pump. However, before you drain your pond you should be absolutely sure it is necessary as draining your pond can be detrimental to any wildlife that may be living in your pond.

Please note that the hose method is better suited to raised ponds whereas the pump method is more suited to ponds that are lower to the ground.

How To Drain a Pond With a Hose

If you do not have a pond pump, then you are still able to drain your pond by using a hose. This section will take you through a step-by-step guide on how to use a hose to drain your pond.

Step 1 – First you take the garden hose, and you should connect it to a spigot. When doing this process, you should make sure that the garden hose is long and can be extended between the pond and where you want to release the water. However, do not panic if your hose is not long enough, you can use a hose extension or additional hose.

Step 2 – The next step is to take the end of the hose that is not in the pond and connect a nozzle to it.

Step 3 – From there, you should activate the spigot and the water should enter the hose. You need to make sure that the hose is completely filled.

Step 4 – Then you should twist the nozzle until no more water is coming out. At this point the spigot should be turned off completely.

Step 5 – Once you have done that, you should disconnect the garden hose so that it is not attached to spigot anymore. You should then hold it in a vertical position so that the water does not come out.

Step 6 – Next, you should use your free hand to grab the hose by its nozzle. Both ends should then be bought to somewhere in your garden that is lower than the pond. This is where you should release the pond water. The end of the hose with the nozzle should be placed here.

Step 7 – The end of the hose that is open should then be placed into the deepest area of the pond. This needs to be kept submerged into the water, so it is recommended that you use something to weigh it down like a brick or rock. If the hose does not stay submerged, then the siphoning will stop working.

Step 8 – Lastly, keep the end of the hose with the nozzle on low to ground. You should then remove the nozzle and the water should then come rushing out.

Please note this method will not work unless your pond is raised. If you have a ground level pond and do not wish to use a pond pump then you will have to use a hose that is attached to a manual pump.

How to Drain a Pond With a Pump

There are a variety of pond pumps that you can use to help to drain your pond. Each pump works in a slightly different way, but the pump that you choose will be down to your personal preference. There are hand pumps, solar powered pumps, submersible pumps, and external pumps. Although submersible pumps are the most recommended amongst pond owners.

Using a pump to drain your pond, especially a submersible pump, is the easiest and quickest way that you can drain your pond. Hence these are highly favourable for pond owners. To use these types of pumps you connect it to the garden pond and the place where you are planning on emptying your pond water. They are the only steps that you need to take to drain your pond.

Most people choose to empty their pond water into the garden as it can hold many nutrients and minerals that can act as a great source of fertiliser to plants you may have in your garden. When inserting your pump, it is best to choose the deepest part of the pond as it allows you to drain the pond in one go.

How Long Does It Take To Drain a Pond

Naturally if you use the hose method to drain your pond it will take longer than if you were to use a pump in your pond.

If you use a hose to transfer the water from your pond then it can usually drain 2-10 gallons of water every minute. So, depending on the size of your pond you can use this guide to work out roughly how long it will take to drain.

However, using a pump can drain the water at around 5-10 gallons every minute. So, if you have a pond that is around 100 gallons, it should take 10-20 minutes to drain.

Using a pump is much more time effective but can be a lot more costly, so you need to bare this in mind. If you were to use a hose it would be 10 times slower than a pump on average.

Do You Need To Drain A Pond

When considering whether to drain your pond or not it is important to work out if it absolutely essential or not. You only actually need to drain your pond for a very few reasons.

If you were to drain your pond it can mess with the natural ecosystem that has been established. A pond that has been in the garden for a long time will have a vast and complex ecosystem. This could contain things like plants, insects, good bacteria and microorganisms. If you were to drain your pond you could destroy this well-established ecosystem.

Draining the pond and destroying the ecosystem could have detrimental effects on your fish. Fish like koi or goldish thrive on the bacteria that is in the pond to survive. Therefore, by draining the pond you will lose this. Even if you refilled the pond, to get the ecosystem back to how it was previously will take a long time.

There are, however, a few circumstances that draining your pond would be necessary. If you need to replace or repair your pond liner, then of course you will need to drain the pond to access it. However, it is best to only drain the pond to the point that needs repairing if you can, as that way you can still keep some of the old ecosystem.

Also, if you are redesigning or changing your pond completely, then of course you will need to completely drain your pond. Although bear in mind that to get the pond back to how it was, and having an effective ecosystem, may take some time.

But, if you are thinking of draining your pond to clean it, then this is not necessary at all. If you have the correct filtration system and regularly maintain your pond, then you should never have to drain your pond. This is unless for the very few circumstances that may require this to happen.

Conclusion

To conclude, there are two main ways in which you can drain your pond. First you can use a hose and secondly you can use a pump – this is the most effective and quickest way of draining you pond. In fact, using a pump instead of a hose can be up to ten times quicker.

Although it is recommended that you only drain your pond if it is absolutely necessary and most of the time it is not. Ideally you should not drain your pond as it can mess up or destroy the ecosystem which many of the plants and fish need to survive.

Only drain your pond if your pond liner needs repairing or replacing, or if you are completely changing the design or location of your pond.