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  • How to select the right pond pump .. You only need this information to select right pump ... 1. Vertical height of waterfall inlet above water surface of pond (NOT bottom of pond) ... measure this in feet 2. Width of water overflow point for waterfall ... if overflow is series of smaller overflows add all together to get width in inches. If you have no waterfall choice is easier ... Waterfall Pump Selection Table ... check where height meets width in the table. This is the flow your pump model must deliver. For a wide range of guaranteed. http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/pumpselect.htm pond filter pumps

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Water has a maximum density at 4 degrees centigrade, about 39 degrees Fahrenheit so when a pond has a frozen surface the water at the bottom of the pond is normally at this temperature (higher density water sinks). Only in extremes of climate or in very shallow ponds therefore does a pond completely freeze solid. As the ice gets thicker form the top downwards then the water becomes even more insulated and will tend to stick at 4 degrees or 39 Fahrenheit. pond pump flow rates

  • Fish ponds and winter ... Koi keepers know that fish will still come to be fed, if feeding is a routine, way past the temperature at which they are capable of digesting food. Being cold-blooded animals their systems can only summon enough reserves to digest very low protein foods between about 10C (50F) and 7C (45F). So only feed a little winter feed or maybe a wheat germ based food two or three times a week. Below that temperature, feed nothing at all. As the temperature of water in the pool drops to around 5 C (41F) the fish begin to hibernate. Arm yourself with a thermometer that will register these temperatures accurately so you wont have to guess what is going on. water gardens, pond keeping

  • Vegetable BioFilters ... Aquatic Plants For Gold Fish and Koi Ponds The idea of using vegetable filters (also called veggie filters is an area where plants are deliberately grown en masse) to remove algae for Nitrate control and green water control is not new by any means. It has found use in systems where people do not want or cannot afford UV systems. Concerns expressed about vegetable filters include blocking of pump impellers by stray roots and leaves. Some plants would be worse than others ... eg water hyacinth. Despite this they are excellent nitrogen removers. An ideal plant to use is Azolla also called Fairy Moss. It grows extremely quickly and is capable of removing large amounts of nitrogen and of course carbon through photosynthesis. It is also easy to remove simply by netting in the event it over-runs the filter area. http://www.pond-solutions.co.uk/pjmvegfilter.htm water gardens and pond filters

  • Biofilters and bacteria starters ... Some manufacturers claim that their bio starters contain Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter. Now it is extremely diffiult to freeze dry and keep alive such sensitive bacteria so any claim should be backed up by definitive proof of the fact that such powders do contain those bacteria and they are in a form that will work. If there was a viable population when packed then the question to be asked is are the bacteria still viable ater "x" weeks on a shelf in non-controlled conditions. If the concoction does not contain Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter then what value is it anyway? biological pond filters

  • The maximum flow through a normal gravity (box type) biofilter is governed by the size of the outlet pipe from the box. Try to pump too much into the filter and you risk pumping your pond completely dry because what cannot come out of the pipe will overflow from the lid. This has happened many times. Where such a possibility exists let any overflow find its way back into the pond (eg by placing the biofilter on a slope above the pond and placing a plastic sheet between the filter and pond where possible. This will allow the water albeit maybe a bit dirty to flow back into pond ... this will save the lives of your fish. using pond filters for clean ponds

  • Oygenators, pond plants ... All plants that live happily under water can be described as oxygenators. Out of these plants there are bound to be one or two that are the best for the job we need them to do. There is no doubt they are specialised. Roots tend to be merely for anchorage and the nutrition absorption and gaseous exchange occurs on the surface of the plant directly to each cell. The plant therefore has very thin walls and thin leaves to allow this to happen. This makes the plants floppy, which in fact becomes an advantage under water as they are able to bend with the eddies in the water. Two plants that have made this a real speciality and thrive in streams are Water Crowfoot, the true Water Buttercup (Ranunculus aquatalis) and Curly Pond Weed (Potamageton crispus). all about garden pond plants

 

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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