Tools Needed for a Successful Pond Cleaning

1) Good quality fish net. Too often, some pond owners will try to catch a 12" fish with a 7" net. Even worse, sometimes that net is old and dry, and is certain to get fish scales caught in it, doing damage to the fish. Invest in a higher quality fish net and clean it after each use.
2) Large bucket to toss debris into.
3) Wading boots, unless you have something old that you don't mind getting dirty.
4) Rubber gloves wouldn't hurt either.
5) Pump to drain the pond. You can use the pump that currently circulates the water in your pond, but we recommend that you buy additional tubing to use as a discharge hose for draining your pond. If you have a waterfall pump in your pond, you can put that pump on the bottom of your pond and let it drain all the water and sludge out of your pond. If you're using a pre-filtered mag drive, or non-solids handling pump, you will want to drain as much of the clean water with this pump by placing it on a block, or something similar, that will raise it off the bottom of the pond, and drain any remaining dirty water with a shop vacuum.
6) Large barrel to house fish.
7) Simple air stones to provide aeration.
8) Net or plywood to cover the barrel. Some fish will jump out of the water.
9) Garden hose or pressure washer no greater than 1500 - 2500 PSI. Remember, you don't want to overdo the cleaning.
10) Garden shears to trim back all of your water plants.
11) Aquatic fertilizer tabs to properly jumpstart your plants for the spring.
12) Dechlorinator for the new water you have added to the pond. Whenever you do a major water change such as a clean-out, you need to get rid of the harmful chlorines and chloramines that are generally found in city tap water.
13) Bacteria. To replenish the colonies of beneficial bacteria that have died off throughout the winter and during the cleanout.