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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

  • If you want to save money and reduce dramatically the risk of pond infections and fish disease do NOT use a sand filter for a pond. They are great for swimming pools, and bad for ponds. The basic reason is that many "dead-spots" are created because the water makes channels in the bed of sand. All water then flows through these channels and all the other sand becomes de-oxygenated. This situation allows anaerobic bacteria to grow (those that grow in absence of oxygen ... normal these cause bad smells). Anaerobic bacteria create pathogenic conditions in a pond. koi pond filters

  • In winter make holes in the ice using a pan full of hot water to remove toxic gases. Do not break the ice - this is not good for the fish as you can probably imagine. These days there are low cost electrical heating devices that consume small amounts of power and maintain a "breathing hole" in the pond. pond pump curves

  • Spring has arrived. Pool lights which give an aura of nighttime mystery around the pond can come back out now. Check the water quality. Many serious fish keepers will do a partial water change of up to one third in order to dilute any build up of salts and chemicals they may have been adding. As the water temperature gets nearer to 10C (50 F) you can start feed the fish their normal food. A bit of live daphnia would be a special treat or chopped worms, yummy! preformed garden ponds

  • 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

  • This one sounds a bit crazy but works. Your fish will learn to recognise you especially if you feed them. To speed up this process move your hands as you approach the pond (or do something similar) ... just don't let the neighbours see you. Keep the movement the same every time. bio filter review

  • Building bridges in and around your water garden ... encouraging aquatic pond wildlife to come and go Encourage wildlife into your pond environment. A pond attracts a wide variety of wildlife and the attraction can be made even greater by paying attention to a few approaches of design and layout. In nature diversity is enormous. You find that certain animals prefer shallow areas, others stony areas and still others wooded sections. Many insects prefer riffling running waters over a clean bed of gravel. http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/artbuildbridges.htm all about water garden fountains

  • Pond pumps preparation for winter .... Remove any submersible pumps for waterfalls or filters to give them a thorough clean and overhaul, even gently scouring away any build up of lime or silt on fins and bearing surfaces. Put the pump back at a level less than 30cm(1ft) below the surface so that only the surface water is in the cyclical flow of water in the pool. This is so that the water at the bottom of the pool, if left undisturbed, is more likely to remain at a more even temperature. The pumps can be left in operation until it gets really cold sump pumps

  • To determine an approximate average depth of your gold fish or koi pond whose depth is not constant take a stick and mark it in intervals of say 3 inches with an indelible ink pen. At 10 different places in the pond insert the stick and record the depths (10 numbers). Add the numbers together and divide by 10. Use this answer as the average depth of the pond. If your pond is of equal depth and the same cross section then you can very accurately measure the pond volume. solar pumps for ponds

  • I received a very interesting question this week. The question was what is difference between a biofilter and the powder she throws into her pond every week as recommended by a dealer. The powder she was referring to is called a bio-starter or bacteria starter. These powder products are offered by many companies and are probably worthless in practice. The powder is supposed to be a mixture of naturally occurring bacteria that are also found in biofilters. The types of bacteria required for effective biofiltration convert ammonia to nitrites and then to nitrates. All fish ponds need a biofilter. This is non-negotiable. pond biofilters

 

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

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