What
do I do about algae?
How often should I feed my fish?
How often should I use the chemicals?
What plants should I put in my pond?
What type of equipment do I need for my pond?
How do the skimmer and biological filter work?
Where are you located?
You don't HAVE to feed fish at all. They will eat what is growing in the pond.You never need to worry about having someone come over to feed the fish while you are gone on vacation.
Here are the rules:
Feed fish only as much as they will eat at one time.
Excess floating food is just more food for algae.
Feed only when the water temperature is over 55 degrees (Fahrenheit). Below that, fish are semi dormant and feeding could make them ill. That means NO FEEDING IN WINTER.
Feeding fish will make them tame…that is the only real reason to do it!
Pumps:
The goal is to circulate all the water at least once every hour. To figure out approximately how much water you have, use this formula:
Length x width x average depth x 7.5 = gallons.
For example: a 10' by 15' pond that is 3 feet deep will hold about 10*15*3*7.5 or 3375 gallons. You would need a pump with a rate of 3000 gph (gallons per hour) pump AT LEAST.
Savio Skimmer and SavioFalls:
A skimmer is both a mechanical filter for your pond and a pump housing. The skimmer nets catch debris such as leaves before it can get into your pump. It also provides a place for the pump to sit at the edge of the pond for easy access. We highly recommend using a Savio skimmer .
Liner:
You need to measure accurately for the liner and take into account the added amount necessary for the depth. An easy way to determine how much liner you need is to dig the hole the size that you want and then lay a garden hose across it both ways. Measure the hose to find the dimensions of liner. Liner comes in 10 and 20-foot widths. 30' and 40' is also available by special order.
Landshapes is located at 11517 Shelbyville Road in Louisville, KY. Take I-64 to exit 17 (Blankenbaker Pkwy) North. Go 1 mile to Shelbyville Road and turn left. Landshapes is one block east on the north side of the road (Just across from Scheller's Cycling and Fitness)
What do I do about algae?
What kind of algae is it?: String or floating (pea-green) algae? For string algae: D-Solv or UltraClear Also see "salt" above. For floating algae: Ask yourself some questions: How big is your pond? Do you have a filter? How many fish do you have? How often do you feed them?
As a general rule you can have 1" of fish for every 1 square foot of pond surface you have. SO, a 10' by 10' pond would have 100 square feet of surface area and could support 20-5" fish OR 10- 10" fish. The most common cause of green water is too many fish! Determine if you have too many. Do you have a filter? The little foam pad on your pump doesn't count…it only protects the pump from getting clogged. It is too small to adequately filter the water.
Have you added bacteria to the water? If not, you should! The bacteria will eat all the fish waste and excess nutrients from the water. This effectively starves out the 'floating' algae. We recommend trying AlgaeFix, UltraClear clarifier or Microbe Lift.
Do you have rocks on the bottom of the pond? The rocks will act as a place for the bacteria to grow and will be like a mini bio-filter. If you have rocks and have "seeded" the pond with bacteria, we suggest Crystal Lagoon. Crystal Lagoon is not an algaecide. It is a flocculent which clumps the algae and dirt together and makes them drop to the bottom where the bacteria can eat it.
How often do you feed your fish? Feeding too much will just add more food for the algae. The main reason to feed your fish is to make them tame. If green water is your problem and you feed the fish every day, we suggest that you cut back on feeding them. The fish will then eat string and other algae in the pond.
We also recommend using a UV Clarifier. These UV lights in special flow-through tubes kill floating algae in the water. They work very well and can all but guarantee crystal clear water.
How often should I use the chemicals?
All usage directions are on the packages.
Bacteria: In general, use recommended amounts once per week for the first 4 weeks, then once per month to maintain. This is for a new pond. For an established pond, once a month should do it. You do not use the bacterial products in the winter since it is too cold for bacteria to grow.
Dechlorinator: Whenever you add chlorinated tap water to the pond, you need to add some dechlorinator or it will kill the fish.
What plants should I put in my pond?
The reasons to use plants are to help filter the water, provide shade and enhance the natural beauty.
Good filtering plants are:
Hyacinths -
These float on the surface and have, long hairy roots that will hang down and draw nutrients from the water. These also provide a bit of shade, which cuts down on the sunlight available for photosynthesis in algae. These are tropical plants which mean they will die in the late fall and winter. They multiply rapidly so you don't need too many. They will bloom (sometimes) in late July and August.
Lettuce -
Another floating plant that works like a hyacinth except it has no bloom. It is also tropical and will die off in fall.
Shade plants -
Lilies and lotuses are the biggest and best. Hyacinths help out a bit.
Flowering plants -
Irises are good plants. They are hardy and will survive the winter. They come in blue, yellow and purple. Cannas are pretty but they are LARGE and grow 3-4 feet tall. They are also tropical so they will either die, or you have to bring them inside during the winter.
How do the skimmer and biological filter work?
The skimmer works like a swimming pool skimmer. The water flows in and large debris gets caught in the net. Smaller debris will get caught in the filter mat. The pump is located behind the filter mat, which protects it from getting clogged and burning it up. The advantage to having it at the edge of the pond is the ease in getting to the pump. You don't have to wade out into the pond or lean over the edge and get all wet.
The biological filter doesn't filter of debris from the pond; the biological filter pads are colonized with bacteria. They love the little nooks and crannies of the pad. Any rough material can pretty much be used as filter media, but commercial filter pads are just the easiest to remove for cleaning. The bacteria on the pads leeches out the nutrients (i.e. fish waste and excess food) from the water so that the algae starve. This is how it keeps the water clear.
Even though you can use practically anything in the filter, we want to warn you about lava rock. It works great but weighs a ton and is hard to remove for cleaning. You only need to clean the bio-filter media once every 6 months or so. When you do, you should not use chlorinated water. The chlorine will kill all that bacteria you have been seeding on the pad. You will need to replace your filter pads every couple of years or so.
