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How To Use These Links
We have extracted brief information about the page you will go to if you
click the link at the end of each paragraph.
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Pump head is measured from the pond surface - not the bottom of the pond. Most people make the mistake of measuring from the bottom of the pond and this mistake can easily lead to an over specified pump that will cost more to buy and more to run. When buying pond plants check with the retailer ... how fast they grow and how big they will become. When small, plants can be very misleading. Low cost plants tend to grow big - a very general statement of course but bear it in mind. Floating plants make excellent nutrient scavengers because they tend to be fast growing. pond pump head or pressure
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Fish food understanding what's important ... ALWAYS, ALWAYS look at the analysis of the koi food you buy. The ash, fibre and moisture percentages are worth absolutely nothing. So the higher these percentages the more the money is being wasted. If a 5 kg bag of food contains 15% ash, 10% moisture and 3% fibre then 28% of the bags contents (amounting to a whopping 1.4 kg) is a total waste of money. This means that the R200 you paid for the 5 kg bag actually resulted in your paying R144 for food (3.6 kg) and R56 for rubbish (1.4 kg). Worse still 18% of the food (ash and fibre pass through the fish) now has to be handled/removed by the filter - 900 gms of solid waste has to be removed from the pond. http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/koifood.htm pond pump selection
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How To Measure Water Garden Pond Depths and Volumes ... Pond depth is one of those factors in pond building much talked about and misunderstood especially by those people who "mix" with dedicated koi keepers. So often you must ask yourself do I want a koi pond in which I want to raise monster sized or prize winning koi or do I want a garden fish pond containing koi around which I can sit with the family and enjoy the scene. If you belong to the dedicated koi keeper class then yes depth of your pond should not be less than 4 ft and preferably 6 feet. This is quite simply to provide space to swim and exercise a mechanism which in part determines the koi's shape. http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/artponddepth.htm all about ponds and waterfalls
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Many people use salt in their ponds. I do not recommend it but the reason is to help prevent parasitic diseases that lead to complicated bacterial diseases. It is important not to overdose and if the intent is to remove parasites from individual fish then rather place the fish in another small temporary pond loaded with salt for a few minutes. Use about 2 lbs per 20 US gallons of pond water as a general treatment. As a short term soaking to treat individual fish use about 3 times as much salt as above. Adding pond start bacterial mixtures can do no harm especially at springtime. blanketweed in fish ponds
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Springtime pondkeeping ... If you are contemplating a major clean out, this is one of the best times to do it, although personally Id have done it before the tadpole explosion. If you do it. rescue as much wildlife as possible and leave any debris draining away on the side over night so that beasties can make their way back into the pool. Also treat any fresh tapwater with pool conditioner. The plants will be coming into new growth. There is still time to divide and replant if you want. You can also feed with a slow release pellet in each basket koi ponds and koi fish
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Pond pumps operate most efficiently with no pipe attached. This is obviously impractical so make sure the delivery pipe from the pond pump is not kinked or is being restricted by a build up of algae inside the pipe. This happens quickly in transparent tubing exposed to sunlight. Make sure that the pipe diamter is as wide as possibel and that the pipe length is as short as possible ... ie try to get as close as possible to "no pipe at all" so you get maximum efficiency pond filter pumps
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Winter water gardening ... If the frosts are slow to arrive, the foliage factor from some of the variegated water plants is a major bonus. The sword like leaves of the Iris laevigata Variegata, the variegated scented rush Acorus calamus Variegatus or the small tufty A. gramineus Vareigatus are late to die down and are up early spring, brightening up the most moribund boggy patch. Gardeners garters (Phalaris arundinacea var. picta) add a splash of colour all year, but are somewhat rampant and difficult to contain after the first year floating pond plants
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Winter water gardening ... If the frosts are slow to arrive, the foliage factor from some of the variegated water plants is a major bonus. The sword like leaves of the Iris laevigata Variegata, the variegated scented rush Acorus calamus Variegatus or the small tufty A. gramineus Vareigatus are late to die down and are up early spring, brightening up the most moribund boggy patch. Gardeners garters (Phalaris arundinacea var. picta) add a splash of colour all year, but are somewhat rampant and difficult to contain after the first year floating pond plants
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Oygenators, pond plants ...The best by far for the pool or pond. is also often referred to as "Curly Pond Weed" but is most rightly called aragasiphon major or more commonly Elodea crispa (South African native). This has a tendency to take advantage of highly nutritious pond environments by filling them up, but at least you don't get algae. It is easy to control by just snapping handfuls of it near to the source of growth. Fish love to spawn on or near it and it is dense enough to provide protection for the eggs and the subsequent fry. For indigenous plants to the UK: Water Starwort, (Callatriche stagnalis), rampant but easy to crop to its source. marginal pond plants
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Algae influence the water quality of the pond mainly by affecting the balance among dissolved oxygen, pH, carbon dioxide and nutrients. Algae produce oxygen, remove nutrients and take up respired carbon dioxide from both the fish and the algae itself. In heavily stocked ponds, the water becomes super-saturated with carbon dioxide. During daylight hours, algae can quickly strip the carbon dioxide out of the water, and pH levels can rise above nine in a matter of hours. Fish not acclimated to such sharp shifts may initially show signs of stress. uv light specification
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Never switch off your pond pump for more
than about 60 minutes
Make sure the delivery pipe from the
pond pump is not kinked
Must the UV be placed before the
biofilter?
A waterfall adds oxygen to a pond by
creating a large surface area
Submersible pond pumps can operate
against a closed valve
It is a good idea to pump out about 10%
of your pond water
Lighting in and around ponds creates a
brand new dimension
Sick and tired of looking at debris on
the bottom of your pond?
Do not feed more food than what you fish
can eat
Pond Links and Tips
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