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Pond Keeping Tips.


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Many people purchase filtration units for their ponds that contain foam inserts which catch and hold the sediment flowing through the unit.

Remember that the foam inserts can be fashioned should the orignal product no longer be available.

 

When time comes for cleaning many people believe that this must be done thoroughly. The opposite is actually the fact.

 

Pondkeepers can forget that within the filtration unit are friendly bacteria that help to clarify the water before it is returned to the pond and indeed continue their good work in the pond.

When you clean your unit it is vital that you leave one sponge alone and only clean the others.

If you only have one sponge squeeze it once into a bucket of pondwater and then clean in a seperate bucket. You will re-introduce the water back when the cleaning is complete thus returning the good bacteria back into your unit. Without the bacteria a filtration unit can take 6 or more weeks to return to its original state.

Do the cleaning of your sponges in a bucket of water taken from your pond or a water butt never use tapwater.

This will allow the bio culture to re-establish itself quickly and begin working.

 

Pond04-06-12004.jpg

 

After cleaning secure a pair of tights to the exit hose and see how much sediment you collect that would normally return to the water.

The sediment is great feed for your vegetables or garden plants as it slowly breaks down. In winter the sediment acts as a good barrier against frost damage.

 

I empty mine every 2 days until the water clears significantly.

 

Pond04-06-12002.jpg

 

 

If you have a large unit and cannot completely remove all the sludge from inside then maybe, as I did, you should purchase a Vax 6131 wet and dry hoover to suck out the sludge. It makes my job so much easier and is far less messy.

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If you have a sick fish you do not need expensive treatments to try and cure it of its ailment.

 

Capture the fish and separate from your stocks to a treatment tank with air stone and small fluval pump, no sponge or charcoal.

 

Cooking salt at 1 tablespoon per pint is an effective treatment for almost all conditions fungal or bacterial. It works well on Ulcers and so long as the fish remains in the treatment long enough for the wounds to heal and scar over your fish will survive.

The pump helps the whole diseased part, wound to receive full coverage as the fish continually swims against the flow.

 

You can also add cooking salt to your pond at 1/2 tablespoon per pint in the winter months without any problem.

 

DO NOT USE TABLESALT.

 

Treatments usually take between 3-4 weeks. Then just put the fish back in the pond.

In colder weather allow up to 6 weeks treatment time, feed very lightly and don't worry about water changes.

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People often wonder how to help remove the nutrients from the water that feed Algae blooms besides having good stocks of pond plants.

The answer is simple:

Turf around your pond and allow the turf to go into the water to a depth of 12 inches.

For those with liners this offers 100% protection from UV damage. UV's cause liners to split or crack.

 

The grass as it grows uses the nutrients from the water and provides extra foraging areas for fish.

Worms and other insects inhabit to the waters edge.

It also offers protection to vertebrates or invertebrates alike.

 

Pond04-06-12003.jpg

 

In my case the grass actually established itself on my shelves which is a bonus as it gives my fish an area where they can rub clean, forage or hide from the bigger fish.

Pond04-06-12001.jpg

 

 

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Add some water slaters to your pond. They not only feed your fish but also breakdown sludge and debris.

 

slater.jpg

 

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Between March to May your pond may suffer a brown discolouration.

This is completely normal and will settle by June.

Your pond is warming up and coming to life. Also fish may be spawning.

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Pond04-06-12005.jpg

 

 

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If you use pondvacs ensure that you leave at least some of the sediment in the pond. The sediment contains lots of good bacteria.

The best time to actually complete a Vac is when the water temp is below 10 degrees celcius and the fish are more placid, not so easily startled.

Use any sludge as garden plant food as it contains vast quantities of good nutrients.

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If you suffer from Algae blooms increase the amount of foliage in the pond. A favourite, which competes directly with Algae for nutrients, is the Canadian pond weed. Fish also like this plant too as a food source.

Also try to ensure that you have some Lillies as these absorb the sunlight before the Algae get a chance.

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My pond as it was last year.

 

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Now,

 

Nice post (thread). Just a thought. Table salt is salt. What you should NOT use is iodized table salt. Salt, as you say, does all those things. Equally, salt competes with dissolved oxygen for space in water. Only recently (within the last week) Elton started a thread that advertised very inexpensive DO meters. Better have one!! Always check it at dawn, when DO is at its lowest level.

 

Not a backyard pond guy myself but many in the US use barley grain where you are using various grasses. Somehow, I don't know the science, barley (especially straw) retards algae.

 

Again, interesting thread.

 

Phone

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When it comes to solids removal, I've never found anything better than a settlement tank with brushes (though I could never stretch to a vortex). Great solids removal, never blocks, easy to clean.

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Now,

 

Nice post (thread). Just a thought. Table salt is salt. What you should NOT use is iodized table salt. Salt, as you say, does all those things. Equally, salt competes with dissolved oxygen for space in water. Only recently (within the last week) Elton started a thread that advertised very inexpensive DO meters. Better have one!! Always check it at dawn, when DO is at its lowest level.

 

Not a backyard pond guy myself but many in the US use barley grain where you are using various grasses. Somehow, I don't know the science, barley (especially straw) retards algae.

 

Again, interesting thread.

 

Phone

 

 

 

@ Phone---Thanks for your comments---I realise that salt competes with Oxygen hence the need for a powerful air stone and pump but at the level of salt per pint indicated I have never experienced any problems. Almost all the fish I have ever treated, unless found too late, fully recovered.

 

Barley does compete with Algae as do the grasses I use, Barley is grass anyway. The straw takes longer to work.

I have never used or even heard of a DO meter but I will investigate them further.

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Growing live plants in the pond prevents algal growth by out-competing the algae for fertiliser and light. Putting dead barley straw in the pond must work by a different mechanism - one theory is that it released something toxic to algae as it rots, another is that because it is high in carbon and low in nitrogen, the organisms rotting it down sequester nitrate from the water column and starve out the algae. Reports seem a bit hit and miss to me, so I've never used it. Personally, if you want to never have green water, I would advise a decently powerful UV clarifier. If you do that without attending to the nutrient issue, you will have crystal clear water through which you may observe masses of blanket weed - add a vegetable filter or heavy in-pond planting to fix that.

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