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  • Make access to your biofilter easy. If there is a risk of it overflowing and emptying the pond in the process then try to ensure the overflowing water would find its way back into the pond. This risk is real for most biofilters - if the outlet from the biofilter blocks then the pump will cause the water to overflow through the lid. If you are installing a new pond and arranging for a supply of electricity to it then do add any extra power point for possible future use. pond biofilters

  • 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

  • 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

  • UV light water filters, UV lamp changes & pond algae control. Pond volume, stock density and sunlight intensity is required to specify correctly the size of the Ultra violet (UV) light you need to prevent algae making your pond go green For a pond of around 250 gallons in full sun and highly stocked a 4 watt UV will do the job. This will also be big enough for a pond with very few fish and situated in the shade of 700 gallons. This assumes the UV comes equipped with a quartz tube to ensure the UV runs at peak efficiency. For a pond with average stocking an 8 watts UV will handle pond volumes up to around 1200 gallons depending upon the sun/shade situation. http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/artuvcapacity.htm uv maintenance, lamp changes

  • Plants in a pond also help to reduce nitrate levels ... the nitrate is formed naturally by he action of bacteria on the excreted waste products from the fish and other aquatic animals. Nitrates are rich in Nitrogen and there is a process of conversion from ammonia excreted by fish to nitrite then to nitrate. Always spray water onto the pond surface when filling with fresh tap water ... any chlorine in the tap water will then be reduced. pond pump supplies

  • 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

  • Lighting in and around ponds creates a brand new dimension and attraction to the garden. Normally for safety reasons these are low voltage. Lights can be submerged or above the water surface to create immediate impact and variation. You have submerged colored lights normally pointing up to the surface of the water. These could also be plain white light of course. Others focus the light down onto the bottom of the pond by creating a mushroom or umbrella effect. Still others float around the surface encased in glass globes. koi ponds and koi fish

  • Brushes in biofilters. Ask yourself why do you use brushes? Do you really need them ... possibly not. They do add to the cost without creating a major benefit in most small biofilters. Brushes in off the shelf conventional biofilters have such big gaps in them the only purpose they can serve is to remove long stands such as twigs, lengths of algae etc. For this purpose they are obviously fine .... is this what you want to achieve? For any other reason they are unsuitable. They don't do any harm ... they just make you poorer. biological pond filters

  • 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

  • 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

 

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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