Tag Archives: Pond

Landscaping 101: A Pond in Your Own Yard

March 28, 2024   Matt

Landscaping 101: A Pond in Your Own Yard

A pond is attractive way to enhance the landscape if your home and have l large area you wish to landscape. So what do you do? Consider an area where the pond would be attractive and practical.

Why create a pond, you ask? Ponds increase the value or your property, and would be a way to attract a prospective buyer. A well designed and functional pond also adds a peaceful effect to your yard. Ponds create an ideal ecosystem beneficial not only plants but wildlife as well. If you are fond of fish and water plants, a pond would be ideal.

This article will not go into details on creating your pond, but will furnish information about the landscaping aspect…

Landscaping your pond starts at the pond itself. Create a border by adding stones, plants and statuary that will create a great view. You should also create a walkway from your pond to your house. Access is important and easily accomplished by using stepping stones, etc.

Trees are both beneficial and harmful to your pond. Trees provide shade that will be good for your pond but they will also add to debris such as branches and leaves or fallen fruit The key is to strike a balance between the two.

Shrubs will also play a role in maintaining unity between the tall trees and the low pond. They will create continuity from your pond to the trees. You may also add some flowers to provide some color. Be sure to cut the off the old blossoms to prevent debris that can make your area unsightly.

Water plants are a must for ponds and should be added immediately after your pond has been finished. Use similar colored plants as their surroundings to create some balance and harmony between the two. Be creative and do some research on different kinds of water plants to use.

A finishing touch for a pond is adding some fish. Add them after everything else has been finished. Always select appropriate species of fish that will not out-grow the size of your pond.

Creating a pond for your yard will both be tiring, but the fun of creating it will be rewarding. Be sure that do regular maintenance to so it will always be free from debris. After all of your work is finished, enjoy your pond and marvel the harmony you have created in your yard.

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Building Your Fish Pond In Your Own Backyard

February 23, 2024   Matt

BUILDING YOUR FISH POND IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD

A pond may offer a number of benefits. It can be cool
and relaxing, visually appealing and it can provide
the local wildlife a watering point.

For Starters

It is imperative to know the reason why you are
building this pond before the actual construction.
Some individuals just wanted to put up these kinds of
projects without considering the comfort and safety of
the inhabitants of that pond. Evaluate first these
things before assembling your pond.

You can ask for advice from your pond professional or
read books that are concerned on pond kits and the
techniques of construction of ponds. Consult your
local pond contractors who have experience regarding
this field.

Now you can build your own fish pond following these
planning stages:

Consider the location.

Choose a site where your pond is not near existing
large trees. These vantage points will prevent root
problems as well as minimizing the problem of falling
leaves in your pond that may cause decaying and poor
water quality. Pond plants such as water lilies need
sunlight to grow. It is best to place your pond where
it can be exposed to sun but not too much as it can
over heat during mid afternoon or on hot days. A semi
shaded place with a good amount of light coming
through is sufficient enough.

Temperature extremes should be minimized on the pond.
If you intend on raising and keeping fish, it is
important to make the pond as deep and as large as
practical. However, deeper ponds may need to be fenced
to prevent accidents.

Design with purpose.

Consider electricity supply for pumps, filters, and
lights when designing your pond. It is also important
to look into the water supply and drainage.

Ponds must have an overflow area (a place located
below the rest of the pond height) to control where
the excess water should go. Overflowing may be caused
by overfilling the pond with water or from heavy rain.

Screen your overflow paths to prevent any escape of
small plants, fishes (and its eggs), and snails during
water additions and heavy rainfall. This may also
protect the local waterways from any possible escape.
This is especially important if there are non local
fish in the pond.

Complete preparation requirements.

It is essential to clean and rinse ponds before using
it since fish and other water plants are sensitive to
contaminants. “Curing” concrete ponds combined with
water changes, scrubbing, filling, and painting with
vinegar is also important.

Allow chloramines and chlorine to dissipate especially
if you used tap water to fill the pond. One can also
utilize a commercial chlorine neutralizer from pet
shops to solve this problem.

Ensure that all equipment such as fountains,
waterfalls, filters, and lights are working
satisfactorily before adding the fish and plants.

It is also better if you allow at least one week for
the plants to settle in the pond before adding the
fish. Clean up the pond regularly for dead leaves as
this will add unwanted excess nutrients to the water
and decay it as well.

Observe proper maintenance.

A said, keep the pond clean of fallen vegetation and
dead leaves. The frequency of cleaning will depend on
the amount of vegetation falling into the water and on
the tome of the year. Do the cleaning at the beginning
of spring before the temperature of the water starts
to rise.

Feed your fish and clean up the filters periodically.

Add water in the pond periodically. A normal garden
hose will do. However, no more than 10-20% should be
added at any time because of the chlorine levels in
tap water.

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Building A Fish Pond For Your Own Backyard Garden

June 18, 2023   Matt

BUILDING A FISH POND FOR YOUR OWN BACKYARD GARDEN

DIYs

Building the perfect pond for your backyard garden can
be a do-it yourself activity or you can hire a
professional to do it for you. It’s really not that
hard but does require some research and certain
knowledge about landscaping in order to get it right.
You need to get a good book and read up on it or ask
some friends and professionals about the idea of
building a pond in your garden. For now, here is a
brief discussion on how to build that pond that you’ve
always wanted in your garden.

Situate the Pond

Basically the first step to building a pond is to find
a suitable spot to dig a hole in your garden. The size
and depth of the pond should be proportional to size
of your garden. A liner will also be needed for the
pond. You can buy and place a prefabricated fiberglass
piece or have the choice free forming your pond with
rubber roofing material or similar to it. In any case,
a liner is a must for ponds to keep the water from
draining.

If you are planning to breed fishes in the pond, you
need to consider the depth. You have to make sure that
the pond is deep enough for the fishes. In colder
climates, the pond should be deeper than the frost
line and making sure that the fishes have still enough
room to go to.

Ponds should not be placed near trees, shaded, or low
areas. Plant life, especially lilies, and fishes need
the warmth of the sun. Falling leaves can also
accumulate fast and cause a cleaning nightmare. Low
areas cause large volume of rainwater runoff to enter
the pond. Rainwater runoff may contain chemicals
coming from pesticides and fertilizers which can be
harmful to pond plants and fishes.

Filtration

Building a pond also requires the owners to put some
thought on how to filter off the waste that
accumulates in it. A good thing to remember is that
the bigger the water area the better it can handle the
waste coming from the fishes. Keep in mind that you
will need to put some kind of substrate or gravel so
that a bacteria bed can build up and help maintain the
water in good quality. You can buy good filters and
gravel in your local pet stores.

If you are building a pond to keep a school of gold
fish or other kinds of fishes, wait until you have
covered the bottom with gravel and placed a good
filtering machine. Like an aquarium or a fish tank,
you should introduce a fish to the pond one at a time.
Allow some time for the environment of the pond to
adjust with the population. If you dump all of the
fish you intend to place in the pond, they probably
would not survive the environment because the natural
filtering of the bacteria will not be able to handle
the waste of the fishes and their food.

Filters can also help to ensure that your pond doesn’t
become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes
lay their eggs on still waters, so anything that
agitates the eggs will help prevent the pond to become
a breeding ground. Filters help maintain the waters
clean but regular cleaning is still needed to maintain
the quality of the pond.

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Winterizing Your Pond

December 10, 2020   Matt

Winterizing Your Pond

For lots of components of the country, it’s getting to be that time of year once again. Time to begin thinking of getting your fish and also plants all set for old male wintertime …
Yearly, as the weather gets cooler and we start heading into winter, most of our consumers ask us how to prepare their ponds for wintertime. Pond owners ought to be mindful of numerous straightforward points to do in preparing their ponds for cooler months.
Fish as well as plants need extremely different things in the winter, but can be kept in leading condition for the following season if the proper actions are taken (see relevant articles).
Fish must be fed much less, floating annuals should be tossed out, potted durable plants must be cut down and transferred to the bottom of the pond, filters ought to be cleaned & drained pipes, and also pumps turned off.
An additional great method that we suggest is to do a partial pond cleaning and also water modification. It’s not required to drain the fish pond totally, yet we recommend draining 25% – 50% of the water and also web out or get rid of as much natural particles as feasible (IE: fallen leaves, plants, etc.).
The reason for this is because decomposing fallen leaves, dead plant product, and various other natural wastes will certainly emit harmful gasses as they decay throughout the winter season. This can be particularly hazardous if the fish pond is permitted to ice up over.
A thick layer of ice can easily create over the pond in sub-freezing temperatures, which can avoid these gasses from getting away from the fish pond. If enabled to construct up, your fish will endure. The most likely outcome will certainly be a damaged immune system, as well as a more prone fish you will certainly have come springtime time.
Anything you can do to minimize anxiety on your fish prior to and during winter, will settle handsomely in the Spring. Your fish will certainly be far more vibrant as well as healthy and balanced.
One more vital reason not to let your pond ice-over is since the oxygen levels in the fish pond water can drop to unsafe degrees. By maintaining the pond surface from freezing over, or by at the very least keeping a 2′ – 3′ opening in the ice, you can eliminate or greatly reduce these threats.
Oxygen degrees should be maintained during winter if whatsoever feasible. If you have a common fish tank air pump – plug it in outdoors as well as let it run all winter season.
We likewise suggest keeping your salt degrees throughout winter months. This maintains your fish’s slime layer strong, and immune systems solid all winter months long!

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