Simple Fish Pond Maintenance Is So Easy
One of the most attractive additions to your garden must be that of a garden pond. Regular fish pond maintenance in order to keep it looking beautiful, clean and also healthy. You will gain many years of enjoyment from your garden pond with the proper care and attention.
Algae growth can be problematic in garden ponds. Sooner or later most garden ponds will suffer from algae invasion. Algae will breed rapidly in fresh water when they have sufficient light and food sources. Algae not only makes your pond look ugly but it can have disastrous effects on fish and plants. Algae will clog up filters, decrease oxygen supply to fish and literally overtake your pond. Algae thrives on food sources like fish waste, nitrates, fertilizer, yard chemicals and plant remains. If your pond has run off rain flowing into it you should block this with a barrier to limit any commercial chemicals entering your pond.
Floating plants such as water hyacinths and water lilies can help block out sunlight and your filter will remove any nutrients that your water contains to stop algae from breeding. You can purchase algaecides, but these cannot be used in ponds that keep fish, unless the fish are removed and the pond drained. Non-toxic alternatives are using aerobic organisms to eat up all the nutrients that algae feed on and also aeration systems that oxygenate ponds, limiting algae growth.
If you keep fish in your pond you can ensure that your pond is healthy by regularly testing the pond water. Contaminants are both colourless and odourless and you will not be able to tell what your water contains just by looking. You should buy a test kit that will test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, protein, phosphates and hardness. Fish do best in a neutral ph of 7 so you will want to test this at the same time too. Buffer can be added to your pond water to raise or lower the ph if it changes. You can also add products to your pond water as you are changing it that can neutralize any metals that are present in your tap water. Test your water every couple of weeks or at any stage where your fish are behaving differently so if there is an outbreak of disease you can catch it early.
Regular cleaning of your pond is essential to keep your water looking pristine and also to reduce chemicals and nutrients. A skimmer can be used to eradicate any surface debris and a pond vacuum will get rid of sludge, silt and detritus. Buy some pond scissors to cut down overgrown plants and remove dead ones.
With regular maintenance and proper pond care your water garden should stay healthy and be a source of tranquillity and beauty for many years to come.