All ponds are different and the maintenance schedule for your filtrations system will vary depending on many different factors, these can include:
  • Livestock levels or the amount of fish you have in your pond, this is down to the amount of waste you fish are producing.
  • Plant matter will be a large contributing factor to the amount of waste you have in your pond, grass trimming and leaf debris from the surrounding plant can cause your filter to take on more waste than usual increasing the maintenance intervals.
  • Excess food can also become a problem for your filtration, this is because as the food breaks down within the water column this can cause nitrates to form, this, in turn, will cause bacteria to reproduce at a faster rate causing your filter sponges to clog up thus reducing the efficiency of you filter. 
  • Excess algae, if you have a build-up of algae within your pond this can get cause up in your filtration and reduce the efficiency, if this is the case I would recommend that you clean the filter regularly until the algae problem have been resolved.
The biggest cause of your filtration needing constant maintenance is typical because it is undersized for the pond water volume or stocking level you have.
It is recommended that you maintain your filtration every 4-6 weeks and change the UV bulb every 6-8 months, but if you find yourself maintenance a schedule more often than this then it may be worth rethinking your setup.