Pond care · Richmond, VA
Pond cleaning and maintenance in Richmond, VA
Jordan's Water Garden Solutions cleans and maintains koi ponds and water features across Richmond, Henrico County, Chesterfield County and Charlottesville. Jordan Blanton, an Aquascape Certified Contractor, does the work himself. Spring clean-outs start at $925, fall netting or a fall service visit at $725, and a service call at $275.
$275a service call, to start
The year on a pond
What a professionally maintained pond looks like, season by season
A pond that gets looked after does not ask much of you. You walk out after dinner, the water is clear, the fish come to the edge, and the only sound is the waterfall. That takes a few visits a year, timed to what the pond is doing rather than to a calendar on the fridge. Here is how Jordan's year on your pond runs.
Every pond is different, so the schedule is too. A koi pond under two oaks in Richmond needs more hands on it than a small water garden in full sun with four goldfish. Jordan sets the number of visits after he has seen the pond, and the maintenance plans are built around that.
SpringThe clean-out, the pump and filter back in
The pond comes out of winter with leaf litter and muck on the bottom, and the water goes green the first warm week. The spring clean-out fixes that in one visit. Jordan moves the fish to an aerated holding tank, pumps the pond down, rinses the rock and gravel with low pressure so the beneficial bacteria stay put, vacuums the sludge and cleans the skimmer and the biological filter.
Then the pump and the filter media go back in, the plants are divided and reset, the pond refills, and the fish go home once the water is ready for them. The pond starts the season the way it finished the build.
SummerPlants trimmed, water topped off, algae kept ahead of
Summer is upkeep. The lilies and the marginal plants get trimmed so they shade the water without taking it over. The water level is topped off, because a waterfall in a Richmond July loses more to evaporation than people expect. The skimmer basket is emptied and the filter pads rinsed so the waterfall keeps its flow.
Algae gets handled before it gets ahead, with beneficial bacteria and a look at what is feeding it. That is the point of a visit in June rather than a rescue in August.
FallNetting before the leaves, the fall visit, the fish checked
The fall visit comes before the leaves drop, not after. Fall netting goes over the pond while the trees are still full, so the leaves land on the net instead of sinking to the bottom and rotting all winter. Jordan cuts the plants back, pulls what has already sunk, and gives every fish a close look before the cold, when a problem is easier to deal with than it will be in January.
The fall service visit is also where the winter plan gets decided, with you, at the edge of the pond.
WinterPump and aerator decisions
In winter the pond mostly looks after itself, but one decision has to be made. Run the pump through the cold so the waterfall keeps moving and the ice never closes over, or pull the pump, store it dry, and put an aerator in to keep a hole open in the ice for the fish. Each has a case, and it depends on the pond, the fish load and how much you like the look of a waterfall in the snow.
Either way the fish rest on the bottom, eat nothing, and wait for Jordan to come back in March.
Each of these is a single visit you can book on its own, or they come bundled in a maintenance plan. When something breaks between visits, pump repair and replacement is a service call that starts at $275, and a leak detection visit starts at $495.
Services and starting prices
Pond cleaning services, priced before anyone visits
These are real starting prices, so you know where you stand before the call. The pond itself settles the final number: its size, how many fish, what grows over it and what the last person left behind. Plans are quoted once Jordan has seen the pond.
Spring clean-out
Drain, rinse, vacuum, clean the filters, refill. The fish wait in an aerated tank and go back into clear water.
from $925 Spring clean-out Before the leaves dropFall netting or a fall service visit
A net over the pond before the leaves come down, the plants cut back, the fish checked and the pond set up for winter.
from $725 Fall clean-out and netting Any time, one visitRegular service call
Skimmer and filters cleaned, water topped off and tested, plants trimmed, treatments added. Booked when you want it, with or without a plan.
from $275 Book a service call Biweekly, monthly or seasonalMaintenance plans
Plans bundle visits that start at $275 each, so the pond is looked after on a schedule and you never touch a net. Three tiers, each quoted on your pond.
Quoted after a visit Compare the three plans Service calls from $275Pump repair and replacement
The pump has stopped, the waterfall has slowed to a trickle, or it hums with no flow. Jordan diagnoses it and repairs or replaces the pump.
from $275 Pump repair and replacement Leak detection visits from $495Leak detection and repair
Topping off every day is a leak, not evaporation. Jordan finds where the water is going, in the liner, the stream or the plumbing, and fixes it.
from $495 Leak detection and repairStarting prices. Every pond is quoted on the site visit or the consultation call, and nothing starts before you have the number.
Water clarity
Algae control and clear water, without a chemistry set
String algae and green water are the two complaints Jordan hears most in Richmond, and they come from the same place: more nutrients in the water than the pond can use. Fish waste, leaves that sank and rotted, lawn fertilizer washing in off the yard, and a long sunny afternoon on water with no shade all feed algae. Still water finishes the job, because the corners the pump never reaches are where string algae takes hold.
So Jordan treats the cause. Filtration first: a skimmer pulls debris off the surface before it can sink, and the biological filter or a wetland filter gives beneficial bacteria somewhere to live and something to eat. Plants next, because lilies shade the water and marginals take up what the algae would otherwise feed on. Then beneficial bacteria, added by hand on a service visit or by an automatic dosing system on a plan. A pond that fights string algae every summer gets an Aquascape IonGen on the Platinum VIP plan.
Every treatment that goes in the water is fish-safe. If the pond has already gone green, a clean-out resets it and the plan keeps it that way. If it keeps going green, something in the pond is missing, and that is a conversation about the upgrades below.
Upgrade while we're there
Three upgrades that cut the maintenance
Some ponds fight algae because they were built without the parts that keep a pond clean. Each of these goes in during a maintenance visit, and each one means less work for Jordan and clearer water for you. All three are priced on your consultation call.
Fountain bowl
More circulation and more filtration, so there is less algae and more surface for beneficial bacteria to live on. It also gives the pond a second sound.
Priced on your consultation callWetland filter
A planted gravel bed the water passes through on its way back to the pond. The bacteria in it do the cleaning, and the result is crystal-clear water.
Priced on your consultation callSkimmer
Catches wind-blown leaves and debris and holds them in a basket, ready for removal, instead of letting them sink and rot on the bottom.
An easy upgrade
Automatic refill: one less thing to think about
Every pond loses water to evaporation, and a Richmond summer with a waterfall running takes more than most people expect. Let the level drop far enough and the pump runs dry. Top it off with a hose all at once and the fish feel the swing in the water.
The Aquascape automatic fill valve sits inside the skimmer or the pump vault and watches the level. When it dips below the set point, the valve adds a slow trickle until it is back. There is no hose to remember and nothing to worry about before a trip.
It goes in during a maintenance visit, on a new build or on a pond that has been running for years. Watch the clip to see where it sits, then ask about it on your consultation call.
Koi pond maintenance
Koi pond maintenance for Richmond fish keepers
A koi pond is a different job from a water garden, because the fish are the point. They grow, they eat a lot, and they put far more into the water than a pond full of lilies does. So a koi pond visit starts with the fish. Jordan watches how they swim and how they eat, looks for anything off, and tests the water for ammonia, nitrite and pH, because the water tells you about a problem before the fish do.
Feeding changes with the season. Koi eat hard through the summer, and that is when the filter needs the most attention. As the water cools in the fall the fish slow down and feeding tapers off, and by winter they rest on the bottom and eat nothing. Jordan goes over the schedule with you on the fall visit, along with the fall health check: a close look at every fish before the cold sets in.
If your koi pond was built by someone else, or came with the house, that is fine. Jordan maintains ponds he did not build, and the first visit usually tells him what the last owner was fighting. If you are still at the thinking stage, the koi ponds page covers how one gets built, and the blog has a piece on how koi pond contractors keep fish healthy.
Where we work
Pond maintenance near you, across the Richmond area
Jordan's Water Garden Solutions is a service-area business based in Richmond. Richmond is the home market. In Henrico County that means Short Pump, Glen Allen, Tuckahoe and Innsbrook. In Chesterfield County it means Midlothian, Bon Air, Brandermill and Moseley. Charlottesville, including Albemarle County and Crozet, is a regular run too.
If you are between those places, ask. The route is set by where the ponds are, and a pond in Richmond or any of the suburbs above is an easy yes.
Questions
What Richmond pond owners ask about cleaning and maintenance
Anything else, ask Jordan on the call.
How often should my pond be professionally serviced?
It depends on the pond. A koi pond under trees in Richmond does best with a visit every two weeks or every month through the season, plus the spring clean-out and the fall visit. A small water garden with a few fish can get by on the seasonal visits alone. Jordan's Water Garden Solutions sets the schedule to the pond on the first visit rather than selling the same plan to everyone.
What is included in a maintenance visit?
On a maintenance visit, Jordan's Water Garden Solutions cleans the pump and filter components, empties the skimmer, adjusts the water level, trims the aquatic plants, removes debris, adds fish-safe water treatments and checks the automatic dosing system where one is fitted. Service calls across Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Charlottesville start at $275.
Do you clean the entire pond every month?
No. Monthly and biweekly visits are upkeep: filters, water level, plants, debris and treatments. The full drain-and-clean, where Jordan's Water Garden Solutions pumps the pond down, rinses the rock and gravel, vacuums the sludge and refills, happens once in spring, and sometimes again in fall for a Richmond pond under heavy leaf cover. See the spring clean-out.
What kind of water treatments do you use?
Jordan's Water Garden Solutions uses fish-safe treatments, mainly beneficial bacteria that eat the nutrients algae feed on, plus whatever the water test says a pond in the Richmond area needs. On the Gold and Platinum VIP plans an automatic dosing system adds the bacteria between visits, and Platinum VIP adds an Aquascape IonGen for string algae.
Can I do pond maintenance myself?
Some of it, yes. Emptying the skimmer basket, topping off the water and pulling string algae by hand are all things a homeowner can do, and Jordan's Water Garden Solutions will show you how. The spring clean-out, the filter work and anything to do with the pump or a leak are where most Richmond homeowners call Jordan, because getting those wrong costs fish or a pump.
Do you service ponds built by other companies?
Yes. Jordan's Water Garden Solutions maintains ponds and water features built by other contractors, by landscapers or by a previous owner of the house, across Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Charlottesville. Jordan builds the Aquascape way, so a pond with a skimmer and a biological filter is familiar ground, and a pond without them usually gets a conversation about adding one.
Keep exploring
More from Jordan's
Read: Jordan's at the Lewis Ginter Spring Plant Sale Read: How Much Does Pond Cleaning & Maintenance Cost in Richmond? Read: Top 5 Aquascape Pond Problems Read: Aquascape Pond Maintenance Checklist Read: Aquascape Ecosystem Pond Benefits Over Traditional Designs Read: When to Call a Pond Repair Specialist
Based in Richmond, working across Richmond, Charlottesville, Chesterfield County and Henrico County.
Estimate calculator
See what looking after your pond would cost
Pick the spring clean-out, the fall visit, a plan or a service call, answer a few quick questions, and see the starting price on the spot. Then pick a time for a free phone consultation with Jordan.