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When a person builds a pond it is to achieve the vision of crystal clear water. The vision normally includes a pond full of colourful fish and attractive aquatic plants. Often the reality of a pond is something quite different ... a green smelly hole in the ground. This need not be the case. Before you dig the hole do understand that if you intend to keep fish then a biofilter must be installed. A biofilter can be a fairly simple box shaped container with a suitable biomedia inside it onto which bacteria can accumulate so that they can do the job of purifying the pond water day in and day out. all about water garden fountains
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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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Fish food for ponds .. In the early days of artificial pond and fish keeping the only food available to buy was food made to feed trout and similar farmed fish. The trouble was this type of food was first of all not formulated for feeding to carp types (koi and goldfish) and the food sank to the bottom immediately. Now this sinking factor was not all that serious since carp are natural bottom feeders but fish pond owners like to see their fish eating (don't we all) so the market need for a floating form of fish food was born ... forget flaked fish food used in aquariums and mainly which is ridiculously expensive. Tetra, a German company, accepted the challenge and I believe created the first commercially available fish food stick that reliably floated. On the back of excellent technology and marketing they established a multinational market that thrives still today. http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/artfishfoodsticks.htm pond pump selection
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Algae Growth (Photosynthesis) ... koi ponds are usually closed recirculating aquatic systems, meaning that these systems, unlike natural ponds with streams flowing through them, lack a fresh-water flow-through source. Rather, closed recirculating aquatic systems rely on filtration to purify and reoxygenate their water. Outdoor ponds that are closed systems are subject to seasonal algae blooms and attached filamentous algae growth due to nutrient and carbon dioxide buildup. The primary nutrients of concern are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is a by-product of decomposed fish waste, uneaten fish food and accumulated sludge in the bottom of the pond. uv size required
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A tip from Patricia in Ireland. She has a large pond with no fish. It had green algae problems. Patricia tried barley straw which took 6 weeks to work. Her tip is that to prevent the mess floating barley straw can make put it into old (or new for that matter) tights. Thanks Patricia. uv light specification
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Measuring pond volume in USA .... Burt Ballou pointed out that in USA most homes have a water metre which can be accessed readily. This makes pond volume measurement simple if you start with an empty system. Just make sure that while filling the pond nobody uses the toilet, takes a shower does the washing up etc. All you have to do is then record the start and finish readings from the metre to get a very accurate indication of pond volume. fountain pumps
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Winter and garden ponds. Pioneering marginals like Bog Bean (Menyanthes trifoliata), the Spearworts (Ranunculus flammula and R. lingua Grandiflora) and Parrots Feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum syn. proserpinacoides) that seem intent on investigating the outer reaches of their universe should be cut back to home base: show them what youre made of. The same goes for Reed Maces ( Typha angustifolia and Typha latifolia). Feel around the baskets to see which plants have linked up in a firm vegetative bond. A bit of basket busting may be in order to sort them out. marginal pond plants
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A tip from Patricia in Ireland. She has a large pond with no fish. It had green algae problems. Patricia tried barley straw which took 6 weeks to work. Her tip is that to prevent the mess floating barley straw can make put it into old (or new for that matter) tights. Thanks Patricia. uv light specification
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Getting your pond ready for spring and that burst of life .... You can out those marginal plants if they need replanting. No real hurry but get it done before the middle of April. Just empty out the baskets, divide with a knife of spade and replant the portions with healthy growing tips in a good heavy garden loam. Wait a while for the lilies until they are in full growth and the heavier the loam the better for them. Top off with pea shingle. In new ponds they will need a good feed of a slow release pellet each. Keep your eyes peeled for any fish diseases, sores, or things hanging off or on and treat accordingly. water gardens, pond keeping
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Many gold fish are born black and not gold ... they seem to appear from nowhere when they are about 1 inch long. In fact they have been hiding from the larger fish. Such larger fish even koi and "harmless" goldfish would have eaten them along with many others that did not survive hatching from the ova. Because they are black they can be difficult for us to see. Gradually they start turning gold until they do become little goldfish - what a delight they are too. All your own work at that. pond pump supplies
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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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