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Pond And Water Garden Reference Library
Understanding the nitrogen cycle is key to a balanced ecosystem!
Fish waste, uneaten food, runoff and
wind-bourne debris will all combine to increase the nutrient level in your pond. The beneficial
bacteria in your pond work to break down this waste and convert it into nutrients that plants thrive
on, primarily nitrogen. Excess nutrients - more than required by your aquatic plants - will typically
result in the prolific growth of algae. |
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The guiding factor will always be for you to build your pond where it will bring you the most enjoyment,
of course, but the location you choose will require you to think through other factors.
| Location |
Will your pond get direct sun, and if so for how long? Four to six hours are required for blooming
plants such as water lilies, but each additional hour of direct sunlight will increase your pond's
temperature - and the amount of photosynthesis that will occur. Longer exposure to direct sunlight
will increase the probability that algae (like other plants) will grow prolifically. If your landscaping
plans call for the use of trees and shrubs to provide shade to your pond, use care when planning.
Not only can they increase your maintenance burden, since falling leaves and other debris will need
to be removed from the pond, but some species are poisonous - and others may give you problems with
their root systems. See the ponds and trees
page at Pond Expert for more information! |
| Size |
Although space constraints and your aesthetics will ultimately dictate your pond's design, size
definitely matters. The larger (and deeper) your pond, the more stable it's water temperature
will be, and the easier it will be to keep your pond's ecosystem balanced. For help estimating
your pond's critical measurements, see our "pond calculations" page. |
| Aquatic plants |
Depending on your pond's location (and who you talk to) you should plan to keep 40 to 70 percent
of your pond's surface covered with floating and/or emergent plants, such as water lilies. The shade they provide
helps regulate your water temperature - and photosynthesis. Depending on your pond's
size, you'll need sufficient volume of oxygenating plants such as Anacharis. If you choose to use
fewer plants for aesthetic reasons, you will need to use other methods to keep algae-growing
nutrients in balance. |
| Fish |
It's not an uncommon problem to over-estimate the size of your pond and over-stock it with fish,
which will increase the nutrients available for plant growth. If production of these nutrients
exceeds the ability of your aquatic plants to consume them, you can count on algae to fill the
void. Again, you'll need to consider other methods to keep your pond's nutrient level in balance.
As a general rule of thumb, plan on 1 inch of fish for each ten gallons of water. |
As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.....
| Feed responsibly |
Any uneaten food will eventually add nutrients to the nitrogen cycle as they break down, and add to
your difficulty in balancing you pond's ecosystem. A good rule of thumb is to feed your fish no more food
than they can eat in two to three minutes. In the spring and fall, when your water temperature is less than
60 degrees, feed your fish a low protein food like Ziegler's Pond Fancier to
reduce the fish waste burden on your bacteria colony. Stop feeding your fish when the pond water falls below
50 degrees. |
| Remove debris |
Empty your skimmer basket and rinse your bio filters on a regular schedule. Your schedule will vary
based on a number of factors (location, season, etc.) but these are relatively simple tasks that don't
take a lot of time. When rinsing your bio filters, use pond water only. Your filter media hosts your
beneficial bacteria, and you don't want to damage the colony by using a garden hose! |
| Trim plants |
Removing dead or yellowing leaves not only keeps your water garden looking its' best, it also keeps them
from decomposing in your pond. Spending just a few minutes each week keeping your garden looking good will pay
dividends by decreasing your maintenance burden! |
| Change water |
Partial water changes of 15 to 20 percent every three or four weeks will remove dissolved nutrients and help
you keep your pond's ecosystem balanced. If you use municipal water, find out if it's treated with chlorine or
chloromine. Unlike chlorine, chloromine will not break down over time with aeration, and will require you to treat
the water before you add it to your pond. This is an excellent reference article
on treating your water for chloramine. We recommend using chlorine & heavy metal neutralizer,
especially when chloramine is present. |
| Remove solids |
Mulm buildup on the bottom of your pond will need to be cleaned to keep your pond as clear as possible.
Draining and cleaning your pond should be part of your spring and/or fall maintenance tasks, but as an alternative
to draining, you can also use a pond vacuum periodically to greatly reduce the time spent on pond cleaning! |
| UV clarifiers |
Ultraviolet (UV) lights will kill the free-floating algae that can turn your pond's water into "pea soup". And
no, they will not harm your pond's beneficial bacteria! |
| Quick fixes |
Especially during the cooler months in the early spring or late fall, when your plants and beneficial bacteria are
not fully active, string algae may be a problem. Just be aware that string algae is removing nutrients until your
plants are again fully established!
While you can remove excess string algae manually, you may prefer to use an algaecide. We recommend
Green Clean, which will not harm your fish or other aquatic life. And it is always a good
idea to replenish your beneficial bacteria, especially in these seasonal transition periods! |
A wisely chosen variety of pond plants will not only add beauty to your backyard oasis, it will also help balance
your pond's ecosystem!
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Submerged plants produce oxygen
during a process called photosynthesis. This is a reaction by the green chloroplasts of the plant cells, using sunlight
and carbon (from carbon dioxide) to create the carbohydrates and sugars used as the plant's "building blocks". One of
the by-products given off in the process is oxygen. This two-way exchange of gases is called transpiration.
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Marginal and marsh (or bog) plants like Iris
are those that occupy the shallower areas around the pond, in water up to about 6 inches. Most of these plants do not like
to dry out.
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Water lilies and other emergent plants
add beautiful blooms as well as shade to your pond. These plants are easy to grow, but they do need deeper water - and they
do not like flowing or splashing water.
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Floating plants assist with water
clarification. However, they must be controlled since they tend to grow rapidly and can spread prolifically. Some
floating plants, such as the Water Hyacinth, may be declared weeds in your state.
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Ponds attract wildlife, such as song birds and butterflies, which add greatly to the beauty of your
pond's ecosystem. Unfortunately, wildlife also includes predators, the most notorious being blue
herons and raccoons.
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Herons are a magnificent bird, standing about 3 feet tall with a wingspan up to about 6 feet,
and they can wade in water as deep as 2 feet. They will eat anything they can swallow, including some fairly large koi.
They are patient hunters, and they will stand still and wait for your fish to come to them.
As long as they can feed from your pond, they'll return - and left undeterred, a heron will eat all your fish in a matter of days.
Herons do not land on water, so it helps to make your ponds edge as difficult for them to navigate as you can. Their feet are adapted to wade
in muddy lake bottoms - it's harder for them to walk on gravel or slippery rocks.
You can use this information to landscape your own "heron barrier" around the pond - it will help, but it's not foolproof.
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You can place netting over your pond to make it more difficult for a heron to walk in the shallows. Lightweight black netting is ideal - it is barely
noticeable, and you will not have to keep it on forever!
After the spring mating season is over, using a heron decoy may help. This is because herons are territorial, and they
will usually stay out of other herons territories when not in search of a mate. Remember to move the decoy around occasionally to
imitate the actions of a live bird. Otherwise, your decoy will become much less effective over time. Others swear that
a scarecrow, since it mimics a person, is just as effective - and won't trigger a herons natural curiosity as a heron decoy can!
A motion-detecting "scarecrow" can also be very effective for protecting your pond from herons, as it
squirts water when set off. The good news is that it does scare off herons. The bad news, however, is that it will also
squirt you - and your guests, your children and your pets. Depending on how close to your house or patio your pond is
located, this may be very inconvenient!
Don't forget your basics - building your pond with a "deep" section of at least 3 feet will help, as will providing
shelter for your fish through overhangs at your waterfall and adding sections of submerged pipe for them to hide in.
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There are two ways that a raccoon will use to catch fish in your pond. If your pond has shallow edges, a raccoon will
simply wade into the pond and capture your fish. If your pond has steep sides, a raccoon will sit at the edge and entice your fish to be caught.
(This is especially true for Koi, which are very tame)
Raccoons are nocturnal animals, and since they tend to do their damage at night
it's difficult to catch them in the act of raiding your pond.
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Raccoons are very smart animals, and fences, netting or motion-detecting "scarecrows" don't seem to deter them for long. Building shelter
for your fish (depth, overhangs or sections of sumberged pipe) may help your fish, but raccoons can still cause other damage in your pond.
The best results may be achieved by catching them in a baited "Have-a-heart" box trap and transporting them far, far away.
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Let's consider something that may not be obvious at first: your pond probably reduces the liklihood of having
mosquitoes in the area. That's because every mosquito that lays her eggs in your pond will not lay them somewhere else!
Mosquito larvae need stagnant water to grow, and the combination of circulating water in your pond and hungry fish
should take care of most of your mosquito problem themselves.
Where you may have a problem is if you have a small water garden - with no fish and no water circulation. If that's the
case, we'd highly recommend installing a small aerator or fountain to keep your water garden from becoming a mosquito breeding
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For larger ponds, keep the following in mind:
Avoid sections of "dead" water. Free-form pond designs are very pleasing, but when the skimmer
is not located directly across from your waterfall, you may have surface areas on your pond surface with little or no water
flow. If you do have a dead area, consider a small aerator - the air bubbles rising from the venturi will disturb
the surface enough to keep mosquiotes away.
Avoid extremely shallow areas in your pond. As long as the water depth at your edges is at least an inch,
your fish should be able to snack on any mosquito larvae that do happen to find their way into your pond.
Don't over feed your fish. Hungry fish make better mosquito predators!
Consider building a bird house or bat box in the area. Bats especially are voracious mosquito predators!
Keep your landscaping plants trimmed back from the water's edge - don't allow their foliage to grow over the
water's surface!
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Tracking and maintaining your water quality is key to maintaining fish health!
Alkalinity
(Carbonate Hardness or KH)
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Alkalinity is the ability of water to resist changes in pH. Alkalinity is also known as Carbonate Hardness or KH. An alkalinity value of 100 to
300 ppm is good. These levels provide greater buffering and more stable pH.
Combining a low total alkalinity with submerged plants or algae can cause a day time
alkaline pH and a night time acid pH. (This is because plants produce oxygen during the day but
not during the night) This 'pH shift' is stressful to your fish and can lower
their resistance to disease if the situation continues. To increase alkalinity, add sodium bicarbonate
or change the water.
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| Ammonia |
Almost all of the ammonia present in your pond's water is from fish waste, primarily respiration,
and it is toxic to your fish. The amount of toxicity depends on how alkaline the water is. As pH
increases above 7, the amount of ammonium transformed into ammonia increases dramatically.
Water test kits measure the combined total of ammonia and ammonium, which should always read 0.0 PPM.
To reduce the toxic ammonia content, make a partial water change, decrease the amount of food you feed your fish,
reduce your pond's fish load, add more filtration, or add a commercially prepared ammonia remover. |
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Chlorine & Chloramine
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These chemicals are often added by water companies to make water more potable for human consumption. If you use tap water
treated by these chemicals, we recommend that the residual should not be more than .003 PPM when mixed in your pond.
Municipal water will lose much of its' chlorine by exposure to sun light in a time period of a few days, but that is not
the case for chlorimines, which are much harder to break down. Chloramine can be neutralized by
using chlorine & heavy metal neutalizer. This is an
excellent reference article
on treating your water for chloramine.
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| Heavy Metals |
The solubility and toxicity of zinc, lead, aluminum and copper have a direct relationship to increases
of pH and water hardness. To remove heavy metals, use activated carbon filtration
or chlorine & heavy metal neutalizer.
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Nitrites / Nitrous Acid
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Nitrite is the by-product of nitrosomonas bacteria breaking down ammonia in alkaline water.
Nitrous acid is the by-product of nitrosomonas bacteria breaking down ammonia in acid water.
These reactions are the first steps in the nitrogen cycle. As pH decreases below pH 7, the amount of nitrous
acid increases dramatically and becomes more toxic. A test for these molecules should read 0.0 PPM. To
reduce toxic nitrous acid, make partial water changes, reduce the fish load, reduce the amount of food you're
feeding your fish or adjust the pH.
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| Nitrates / Nitric Acid |
Nitrates and nitric acid are the by-products of nitrobacter bacteria breaking down nitrites or
nitrous acid. This is the second step in the nitrogen cycle. Unless found in large quantities, both are
considered non toxic. To control the amount of nitrates and nitric acid, make water partial changes or add plants.
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Oxygen
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Oxygen is needed for the normal day to day functions of a fish and by the bacteria necessary for the breakdown of fish
waste products in the nitrification process. Water temperature has an inverse relationship to the amount of oxygen
contained in that water - the higher the water temperature, the lower the oxygen saturation level. Other factors affecting
the amount of oxygen in the water are fish load, organic load, medications, and the water turn over rate. Minimum levels
of oxygen should be 5 PPM. To increase the oxygen content, reduce the organic load by ridding the pond of any organic
matter that is sitting on the bottom, increase the water turnover rate, add plants, reduce the fish load or add
an aerator.
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| pH |
The pH level of your pond is your single most important water quality measurement, as it affects the toxicity
of your pond water. All values above pH 7 are termed alkaline and all values below pH 7 are termed acid. Your fish
can live in a wide range of pH, but the level should remain stable - and a reading of 7.2 to 7.8 is ideal. Use
your water test kit to measure your pH levels in the morning and evening to keep an eye on
"pH shift", and do not adjust your pH until your alkalinity is stable and pH shift is minimized. To adjust your pH levels
perform partial water changes or use pH Up or pH down.
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Because the best decisions you make are always informed decisions.....
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