Pond maintenance can be overwhelming to a new pond owner, however with the right guidance it can soon become a breeze and become therapeutic to tend your water garden.
The following steps below are not in any particular order of importance but keeping them in mind will help your pond throughout the years.
Maintain a healthy fish population.
It is extremely important to maintain a healthy fish population, be careful not to overstock your pond. Like humans in a sense, overpopulating can be detrimental to your pond, leading to serious clarity and water quality problems in the near or late future.
As a general rule of thumb, if you’re keeping Koi in your pond, allow 35 gallons of water per inch of fish. With goldfish, allow 20 gallons of water per inch. However, these rules of thumb can get technical and may vary depending on your plantation and filtration.
Do not overfeed your fish.
Overfeeding fish can cause issues with not only your fish health, but can also cause harm to your ponds water clarity and quality. Implement “the 5 minute rule” (see below). Overfeeding will not only create more fish waste, but also un-eaten food will break down, adding to your pond’s organic load which will lead to chronic pond problems in the future.
What is the 5 minute rule?
The 5 minute rule is a simple tool which helps you to quickly gauge how much your fish are eating so that you do not overfeed them.
Start by feeding your fish with a small quantity of food and start timing them. If they consume all of the food within the five minutes, you can give them more, but be sure to remove any leftover food with a net when the 5 minute period is over.
Clear any pond debris and decay.
It is important to take away any unwanted and unnecessary debris and decay, including plant and fish waste, as this will affect water clarity and quality issues in due time. Prune any aquatic plants when needed and be sure to skim any foreign, unwanted debris before giving them a chance to decay, such as leaves and twigs that may fall into your pond etc.
Use appropriate filtration system.
Depending on what type of pond you have, it is important to use proper filtration systems especially on ponds strictly for fish with fewer plants. It is important for your pond filtration to match both your ponds size and also fish load, especially if you’re considering adding more fish to your pond in the future, it’s always best to upsize your pond filtration system to ensure maximum protection to your fish health, water clarity and quality.
Add more plants.
Nature provides us with hundreds of beautiful aquatic plants. Not only do they look great, they can also help to balance the water qualities in our ponds.
Ideally, ponds should have at least 50% of their surface area covered. This provides shade from the sun and also adds oxygen to your pond’s water. Aquatic plants also rid of nitrates in your pond water which also accelerates your pond’s nitrogen cycle.
Take a look at “Wellies and Waders top 10 plants” to get pointed in the right direction for beautiful and much needed aquatic plants suitable for all water gardens.
