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  • 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

  • Koi and breeding fish in ponds ... Two key factors that stimulate koi to breed are water temperature and day length (photoperiod). These stimuli work in tandem to influence when koi spawn. Water temperature will fluctuate at comparable dates from year to year, whereas photoperiod is far more consistent. I.e. We know that June the 21st will be the longest day each year but that temperature will fluctuate year on year and is not as predictable as day length (especially up in Lancashire!). The overall effect of these interactions means that koi will spawn at different times all over the country (or perhaps not spawn at all). http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/longkoispawning.htm water gardening and water features

  • Koi and breeding fish in ponds ... Two key factors that stimulate koi to breed are water temperature and day length (photoperiod). These stimuli work in tandem to influence when koi spawn. Water temperature will fluctuate at comparable dates from year to year, whereas photoperiod is far more consistent. I.e. We know that June the 21st will be the longest day each year but that temperature will fluctuate year on year and is not as predictable as day length (especially up in Lancashire!). The overall effect of these interactions means that koi will spawn at different times all over the country (or perhaps not spawn at all). http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/longkoispawning.htm water gardening and water features

  • 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

  • The best biofilter medium by far for conventional box-type biofilters is Alfagrog, a porous ceramic medium specially made for purifying fish ponds. Many people use plastic tubes, hair curlers, plastic coke bottle tops and the like. Be aware that these media need to be used in quite large quantities to be effective at holding sufficient bacteria to ensure clean (biologically speaking) water. You will need 40 times the volume of plastic tubes as Alfagrog to achieve the same biofilter capacity. In the USA Alfagrog is also known as Supra biomedia for pond filters

  • Oxygen in ponds ... On occasions fish in ponds with no fountains or waterfalls may look listless in winter due to carbon dioxide levels being excessive but the problem quickly sorts itself out when windy and bright weather returns. In summer water can hold much less oxygen and the animal and plant life (algae) is also thriving due to higher temperatures along with more nutrients in the water associated with feeding fish. The living organisms are therefore emitting more carbon dioxide in a situation of potentially disastrously low oxygen levels . Fish may then die from suffocation. uv maintenance, lamp changes

  • Pond pumps and "blocked pipes" ... If your pipe from the pond pump does become clogged with algae here's how to clear it out... dismantle the pipe from both ends and rapidly swing the pipe around as though it was a lasso .... just make sure nobody is the firing line because the "muck" will fly out of one end at quite a speed. Opaque rather than translucent pipe are best ... because light allows algae to grow faster, better, bigger .... solar pumps for ponds

  • 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

  • Save when you buy koi food or fish food. Check your koi fish food label. Do NOT waste money. Understand the specification on koi food and fish food packets and you will save considerable amounts of money and grow bigger koi fish more quickly. Do not believe everything you are told about koi food it might not be true. Check for yourself easily. Koi Food If a 5 kg bag of koi 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. http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/koifood.htm pond pump selection

  • Once upon a time all ponds were concrete. Today unless you wish to have a very large or special pond concrete is NOT the material to use. It is simpler, cheaper, better and quicker to use pre-formed ponds ideally made from fibreglass in natural rock finishes with matching waterfalls or streams. If you want a pond whose volume is larger than about 500 litres then it is best and most economical to use a black plastic liner designed specifically for pond building 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

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