KEEPING THE BALANCE OF NATURE
Pond Water Maintenance
You might be tempted to let Mother nature tend to
your backyard pond,
and who could blame you? After all, she does a pretty good job
of taking
care of really big ponds, so why would your backyard ecosystem
pose much
of a challenge to her?
Unfortunately, the fact is your backyard pond is only going to
get some cursory attention from Mom; the rest of the work is
going to be left up to you.
In the "real world" chlorinated water doesn't find its way into
ponds
very often. "Big" pond water passes through a great many natural
filtration and oxygenation systems, and the various fish and
flora work
together to keep the pond clean and fresh. Our backyard ponds
don't have
quite that much help, so here's where you need to step in:
If you are going to keep fish then you absolutely must remove
all traces
of chlorine from your pond before your favorite Koi set up
housekeeping.
Pond fish cannot live in chlorinated water so don't even try.
There are
many
products available to remove chlorine quickly, or you can
opt for
the old-fashioned, natural way if you have the time to spend.
If you opt for 'a la natural' then expect to wait about 8 to 10
days for
the chlorine to dissipate. You will need to make sure that your
pump and
filter are running and that you have set up an aerating method
such as a
waterfall or "splasher" to bring oxygen into the water. Make
sure that
the pond is exposed to plenty of sunlight (the natural enemy of
chlorine), and use a chlorine testing kit to check the water
daily.
Me? I just drop some
de-chlorinating product into the pond and
check back
the next day.
Even if
chlorine is totally removed, you still have nitrite and
ammonia
to worry about. These two toxic buddies are byproducts of fish
waste
and can wreak havoc with your Koi's health. After a while Mother
Nature
will kick in some help by allowing beneficial bacteria colonies
to
develop that enjoy eating nitrite and ammonia for breakfast,
lunch and
dinner. They won't be present in new ponds, however, unless you
buy some
bacteria starter kits to kick start the process.
Introducing the Pond Fresh PF-100
Your garden pond could become overtaxed, ecologically, if you
add too
many fish too quickly. Start out adding no more than two per
week so
that the newly introduced bacteria do not get overwhelmed by the
waste
that will be produced.
Just when you think you've got it all under control that ugly
thing
called "pH" raises its head.
Testing for pH levels is also very
important since neither plants nor fish will survive very long
if the
pond's pH is out of whack. Your pH test kit should show a
reading of
between 6.8 and 7.4. You can put in the proper additives to raise
or lower
if as necessary.
Speaking of
test kits, get one that will allow you to test the
pond's
salt levels as well. Unless you're raising baby Sea bass, too
much salt
is not a good thing.
After your pond is fully established, Mother Nature will lend a
bigger
hand and you can settle into a routine of testing every three of
four
weeks unless something serious, such as flooding, has occurred
in between.
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