Water gardening and landscaping ponds and waterfall in your backyard should not be difficult
Water gardening landscaping information tips and tricks Knowing the many tips and tricks associated with water gardening can make a big difference to the enjoyment you get out of your pond.
A waterfall adds oxygen to a pond by creating a large surface area across which air can be absorbed into the circulating water.
A simple fountain also adds large amounts of oxygen to pond water. A fountain is cheaper than a waterfall.
Before buying any pump check what the running cost will be. Look on pump box and if you can find watts consumed multiply this
by 8.76 and you will get units (kWhrs) of electricity consumed every year by your pump. Go to your electricity bill find cost per unit and you can work out running cost of the pump.If you can only see amps on box you can work out watts as follows:
amps x voltage of mains supply = watts
In winter make holes in the ice using pan full of hot water to remove toxic gases. Do not break the ice - not good for the fish
Normal centrifugal pumps can operate against a closed valve with little effect upon the well being of the pump.
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.
To correct pH problems in a pond use dilute solutions of vinegar, or lemon
juice for high pH readings and baking powder for low pH readings. Make sure you do not add too much at once. The procedure is add some, wait,
test again. It is important to always test at the same time every day since
the natural pond cycle creates pH changes at different times of day. For example as carbon dioxide is released by plants the pH may well decrease, When the plants absorb carbon dioxide the pH could rise again. About 10am is a good time to test.
Testing pond water. This is straight forward and is done by using special kits. Look out for expiry dates since chemicals used for testing are sensitive to time. Do not get carried away with the test results. After all they are indications only. The good reason for testing is to check stability or consistency and not absolute values. If your fish and plants are thriving and your pH for example is consistently on high side .......... so what? When you see a definite change then start testing.
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. Only in extremes of climate or in very shallow ponds therefore does a pond completely freeze solid. Koi will normally stop feeding around 8 degrees centigrade, 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
Plants and algae in a pond compete for the available nutrients in the form
of phosphorous and nitrogen containing chemicals. It follows that the more pond plants there are then the greater the probability of reducing algae blooms. Old well planted stable ponds as a result tend to suffer less from algae problems than newly created young ponds.
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