End of Summer → Pre-Autumn Pond & Water Feature Maintenance.

As summer fades and the leaves begin to turn, it’s the perfect moment to shift your pond care routine into autumn mode. A little thoughtful maintenance now ensures a healthy, balanced pond through the cooler months and minimizes spring renewal tasks. Let’s walk through some simple steps to prep your pond this season.

1. Skim & Shield: Keep Leaves Out

Falling leaves are beautiful — but once they sink and decompose, they can cloud your water, boost nutrient loads, and reduce oxygen levels.

• Regularly skim the surface using a fine mesh net or skimmer.
• Install netting early in the season to catch leaves before they hit the water. Leaves decay and release unwanted nutrients, encouraging algae blooms and harming water clarity.

2. Trim Back & Tidy-Up

As plants die back, they can clutter the pond and add organic waste.

• Cut back yellowing foliage on lilies, marginal and floating plants.
• Remove excess vegetation that may choke the pond’s ecosystem. Decomposing plants can pollute the water if left unchecked



3. Clean and Optimize Filters

Autumn’s falling leaves can overload skimmers and filters.

• Empty skimmer baskets more frequently.
• Rinse filter media gently in pond water (not tap) to preserve beneficial bacteria.
• If debris has settled at the bottom, consider using a pond vacuum to remove sludge. Less decaying material means better oxygen balance and reduced ammonia buildup



4. Adjust Fish Feeding & Support Health

As temperatures dip, fish metabolism slows — wrong food or overfeeding can lead to winter complications.

• Switch to low-protein, high-carb fish food as water drops below ~15 °C.
• Stop feeding entirely when temperatures stay consistently under ~10 °C. Reducing feeding helps avoid uneaten food and waste buildup in colder months.



5. Test & Support Water Quality

Autumn’s changes can stress your pond ecosystem.

• Monitor levels of pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrites, and ammonia.
• Add beneficial cold-weather bacteria to counter reduced biological activity.
As bacteria slow in cool water, supplements help maintain water clarity and balance.
• Add aeration or keep a de-icer running to maintain an open surface for gas exchange in winter.

✅ Autumn Pond Maintenance Services

If you’d prefer to leave the hard work to us, Olympian Water Gardens offers full autumn pond maintenance services, including:

• Netting and leaf control
• Plant trimming and tidy-ups
• Filter cleaning
• General health checks on fish and equipment

📍 Based in Manchester, we cover Cheshire, Lancashire, and the surrounding areas.