Helpful Hints
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Adding new water to the pond
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Algae in your pond
Use rubber liner, not vinyl sheets or preformed plastic tubs
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Even in the winter you may have to add water to your pond due to evaporation.
Make sure to use products like MicrobeLift Dechlorinator Plus or Ammo Lock by Pond Care to remove harmful elements from new water. Stress Coat by Pond Care, also removes chlorine from water. Stress Coat contains Aloe Vera to help with skin inflammation and the healing of fish tissue. Stress Coat also adds a synthetic slime coat to the fish to protect them during handling. MicobeLift Plus instantly neutralizes chlorine, chlorimine, chlorine dioxide, copper and other heavy metals while not scavenging oxygen like many other dechorinators do. It also contains a ph buffer and two slime coat ingredients and electrolytes for fish stress reduction. Anytime you add water to a pond with fish, you should add at least one of these products.
If you live in the country, or use a well to fill and add water to your pond, you should use a spray nozzle or some kind of drip system to add water to your pond. Much of the well water has carbon dioxide in it. Without adequate aeration, the carbon dioxide can get into the bloodstream of the fish and kill them. Exposing the water to the air through a spray nozzle or drip system allows the carbon dioxide to be removed.
Whenever you add water to your pond because of evaporation, first, draw out of your pond about 30% of the amount of water that you will be adding. This will remove excess minerals that can't be removed by evaporation. These excess minerals can build up over time. If not removed in this manner, these minerals could be a problem for your fish and plants. Then add the water to fill the pond remembering to put in a dechlorinator if you're using city water.
Remember, the more plants you have in your pond, the less chance of having green water (an abundance of single-cell algae). Plants tend to starve out the single-cell algae. The less dead plant material in your pond, the less chance of having string algae.
People keep asking if they have to feed their fish or how often they should feed their fish each day.
In a healthy established pond, one that has been running for at least 4 to 6 weeks, there should be a thin layer of algae on all surfaces inside the pond. This is part of a balanced pond ecosystem and provides enough food for most fish. Fish foods offer you a chance to interact with your fish and will give your fish added vitamins, minerals. Some foods give the fish products to stimulate their immune system and keep them healthier. Feeding your fish some food will make them grow faster and they may also become more healthy and have better color. The warmer the water, the more active they will be and the more food they may require.
Don't feed your fish below 50 degree water temperature, nor above 83 degree water temperature. It's too cold for their digestive tract to fully function below 50 degree water temperature. In our area, the water temperatures typically lower to 50 about the first of October. Don't feed your fish in the spring until the water temperature reaches 55 degrees. Around here, that's about the middle of April. Use a thermometer to make sure of the temperature in your pond. The amount of oxygen in the water dramatically decreases above 83 degrees. Adding food to the pond at this temperature may actually decrease the already low level of oxygen available at the higher water temperatures.
Microbelift has new fish food, which I believe will become the standard in the industry. We stock their complete line of fish food. Fish don't have a stomach like we have for digestion. Microbelift has added bacteria to their food that enables the fish to absorb more of the food, so you don't have to feed them as much food. They also have many varieties of fish food. There is a wheat germ food for cold weather feeding, a high growth food, a greens and fruit food for added vitamins and minerals, and a food with clay in it to stimulate the fish immune system.
We recommend that you feed your fish wheat germ fish food from about the second week of September until the water temperature is 50. With water temps of 58 to 50, I would feed the fish once every 2 to 4 days. In the spring, feed your fish after the temperature reaches 55 degrees. Feed them every 2 to 3 days until the water temperature reaches 60 degrees.
If we get a "January Thaw" and again when the pond first thaws, I would feed the fish some plain Cheerios. Plain Cheerios are easy for them to digest, will help them with some extra energy during increased "Thaw" activity due to the warmer water temperatures, and it eases their digestive system into the new season. Feed them Cheerios only once every 4 to 6 days and only a few pieces per fish.
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Make sure that you clean out all the dead plant material in your pond before you start it up in the spring. Rinse any filter pads again before placing them back in the filter or skimmer. If you have bags of lava rock in your water fall filter, rinse those off also. Run the pond for a few days, or until there is little or no more small debris being caught by the filter pads. After running your pump for a total of three or four days and cleaning your filters again, you can add your MicrobeLift live bacteria, which is a cold water strain of bacteria that will work at about 45 degree water temperature. Any other bacteria won't begin to work until at least 55 degree water temperature. We have found that the MicrobeLift bacteria also helps to reduce or rid your pond of string algae in the early spring.
MicrobeLift Sludge Away is the best way to rid your pond of the smelly sludge your rock bottomed pond develops each year. Fall is the abosolute best time to use Sludge Away to rid your pond of the oxygen depleting sludge. We recommend using Sludge Away the middle to end of September (9/22 this year) when the fish decrease their food intake. By using Sludge Away again in the spring, you don't have to empty or pay someone a LOT of money to empty and power wash out your pond. Emptying and power washing your pond stresses your fish and plants and destroys your existing ecosystem.Plants take nutrient right from the pond water. The more plants you have in your pond, the clearer your water will become.
Once your pond is clear of ice, usually about the last week of March, or first week of April, you may place your lilies back up on the lily shelf and fertilize them. Wait until June 1st to begin fertilizing the water lilies monthly and continue fertilizing until September 1. You may also bring any zone 5 to zone 7 plants that you had dropped down to the pond bottom, back up to the marginal shelf.
Your marginal shelf, tropical plants can usually be brought outside after Mother's Day. This is about the average last day for frost in our area. We also recommend that you wait until this time before adding floating plants. Tropical water lilies can be added after June 1st, when the water temperature is above 70 degrees. Clean out any dead foliage that was left on the hardy plants in your pond. Remember that the foliage on plants that you have kept inside are not hardened off. This usually means that present foliage will die back when brought outside. It doesn't mean the plant is dead. New foliage should grow up and will survive throughout the summer.
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String algae can blow into your pond, but is usually brought in on the feet of birds or ducks. String algae can damage your pump by blocking available water needed to satisfy the pump. It can also dam up your waterfall or stream causing water to flow out of the pond. It lives mainly off of dead plant material and sludge in the bottom of your pond. MicrobeLift's Sludge-Away can eliminate the the sludge. There are many products out there that claim to eliminate string algae. Eco-Librium really does eliminate it, no matter what the temperature of your pond water. Eco-Librium is safe for everything in your pond, except string algae. Eco-Librium will only eliminate string algae. Unlike chemical algaecides, Eco-Librium won't harm the thin layer of algae that is part of the pond ecosystem, covers the liner and is the algae the fish eat for food.
Excess single-celled algae makes your water green. The green water may be due to excess nutrient in your pond, high ph, excess phosphate, poor circulation, few plants or an improperly sized filter. Algaecides may be used to help clear the water, but they may not be a solution to green water. Be careful if you choose an algaecide to clear your water. Not all algaecides are safe for fish, most are not safe for you or your pets. Your pond should always be kept running 24/7, especially when using an algaecide. The process of killing algae can take oxygen out of your pond. If you don't keep your water moving down the waterfall or out of your fountain, you may not have enough oxygen to keep your fish alive, especially at night.
I like to use MicrobeLift Bacteria in the pond. For many ponds, this live bacteria may be all that you need to rid your pond of green water. The more plants that you have in your pond, the clearer the water also. This may be the easiest solution to clear water in your pond.
Come into The Frog Bog to talk to our experts to get the products that can help your pond.
When you buy a preformed (hard plastic) pond, you are limited to this shape and depth. This pond is much more difficult to install and may have to be leveled again each year due to frost heaving. These preformed ponds will not last as long as rubber liner, but cost about the same. Vinyl (PVC) liner may cost less, but will not last as long and is much easier to puncture. Vinyl liner will also become hard in a few years making any changes or repairs almost impossible. If you desire more depth to make your pond easier to care for and make your fish less accessible to predators, rubber liner is the way to go. Rubber liner can also tolerate expansion due to ice in the winter. In almost every case, we sell the stronger, longer lasting, fish-safe rubber liner to you for less than the building centers, garden centers and other pond stores are selling either the vinyl or rubber liner.
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Last modified: April 1, 2008
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Last modified: April 1, 2008