Pond Water Quality

Pond Water Quality

You water garden is a home to fish, plants, and to the animals that visit your water garden that you do not even see. Caring for your water garden is just like caring for your own house, sometimes you need to do a little bit of work on it to keep it up in running order. Your water garden that was well planned away from trees, buildings and to hold the water is going to last years and years with out heavy maintenance needed.

What type of chores are you most often going to be faced with? Cleaning debris from the pond, dividing plants that are growing a little large, and changing filters in the filtration system will be needed. If you are careful in planning and taking care of your water garden, you should not have to drain or remove water from the water garden for years.

Pollution can be a problem in the water garden. Metal put into the water will cause metal poisoning to your fish. Glue, paint, stains, and piping can cause problems with your fish health. It is important to look for these types of construction materials that state they are safe for use in the water garden for the best results. Weed killers and pesticides are another problem that you could be faced with if you use them in or around the water garden. Avoid using these products around the water garden unless absolutely needed, as they will cause health issues for your fish.

Naturally, you will find your water will be green or slimy looking every spring. This is because the water was frozen, the fish were hibernating, and the plants were dead. As the spring season continues, you will find your water will clear up. You should not try to balance your water or add anything to your water for the first four to six weeks in the spring as the plants and fish ‘come back to life’.

Testing your water in the spring, in the summer and then again in the fall will ensure that both your fish and your plants are living under the best conditions possible. PH tests are inexpensive and easy to do. You just take a sample of the water by leaning over the pond. You should be looking for the Nitrate level and the pH levels. Most all-testing packets will tell you exactly how to read the test results.

If you have not been testing the water for levels of pH, you can still see signs of high or low levels of pH in the water. Your fish will be sick more often. The fins on the fish are known to turn reddish colors when the water is high with levels of pH. Even your plants will show signs of pH problems. Plants will be very slow growing and possibly die off when the levels of pH are too high.

For ponds that are too acid, the build up of fish waste is becoming too high, your peat or plants are decomposing in the water. Partially changing the water will help. Adding new rocks that are high in calcium and magnesium will help fight high levels of acid and just adding more plants to the water garden can balance out the chemical activities somewhat.