Are You New To Garden Fish Ponds?
Tony Roocroft
My friend Peter J May, one of the UK's top water gardening landscapers puts it best. He says "To have the sight and sound of water near them in a garden has been an almost instinctive urge to people of all cultures in all ages. Now as then, the beauty of reflection, the relaxing sound of moving water and the life that it attracts make the water garden as desirable to many people as a lawn or patio." What a beautiful description yet so many water features and fish ponds do not achieve this goal. Let me explain why . When a water feature is installed and especially when goldfish or koi are placed into a pond a cycle of events takes place briefly described and simplified as follows. The fish are fed and the waste products are released by natural metabolic processes. These waste products are essentially ammonia and if allowed to build up the ammonia reaches levels that are poisonous to the fish and the fish die. Do you remember that lone goldfish in a goldfish bowl when you were a kid? The fish lasted about a week then died. Yet goldfish are capable of living for many years. Well the fish died from poisoning itself. In a pond environment it is absolutely essential to install 2 things. 1. A pump to circulate water containing life-giving oxygen to the fish and to the bacteria that purify the water s make sure you select the correct pump for your own pond or waterfall 2. A biofilter in which bacteria grow and thus provide a mechanism for purifying the water similar to what happens in a natural pond. These bacteria convert the ammonia to nitrate fertilisers that can be used by pond plants ... UV & bio filters. The pump must circulate water through the biofilter 24 hours per day or the bacteria will die from lack of oxygen. You can build your own biofilter for a small garden pond up to 1,000 litres (250 gallons) very simply and cheaply using Alfagrog (called Supra in the USA) or you can buy one for a small sum of money if you choose wisely. Virtually all fish ponds go green in summer owing to large concentrations of suspended algae forming in high sunlight, warm water conditions. The only effective way to keep a fish pond crystal clear is to install many plants and in most cases even with planted ponds to use an ultra violet light that kills the algae. These algae (algae are tiny plants that multiply by photosynthesis) are then removed in the biofilter. The simplest equipment to install which will guarantee you crystal clean garden ponds are called combo filter/UV units ... in other words a combined biofilter and Ultra Violet light (UV for short) all in one to make for easy installation. Golden rules of fish pond keeping: 1. Pump water into biofilter 24 hours per day 2. Do not overfeed your fish and buy the best quality fish food you can afford. 3. For crystal clear water all year round buy an UV light ... normally buying UV and pond filter combo is best and cheapest route to go ... see above
About the author: Tony Roocroft is known world-wide as The Pond Professor. He is the author of many articles and books on pond keeping. Explore his latest site www.perfectpondkeeping.com
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