THE CLEANEST AND HEALTHIEST POND YOU’VE EVER SEEN!
By: Inzo Valdevieso
Imagine being able to gaze at colorful waterlilies, watch fish gliding through the water, and listen to frogs serenading you with their evening choruses – all without even leaving home! While an outdoor pond is an amazing addition to any yard, it does take some work to keep it looking beautiful and functioning as a healthy environment for plants and animals.
Of course, all beautiful things require a sense of care to make it clean, healthy, and paradise-like for our “water babies”! By following these tips, your pond will stay clean and clear, allowing you to enjoy the underwater world to the fullest.
Tip #1: Install the Right Filtration System
Having a good filter is absolutely essential for keeping pond water clean and clear. The filter serves as the pond's recycling plant, continuously removing debris and cleaning the water so it can circulate back into the pond sparkling fresh.
The first part of the filter you need is called a mechanical skimmer. This works kind of like a little pool skimmer, scooping up any leaves, twigs, or other yucky stuff floating on the surface of the pond before it can sink and rot on the bottom. The skimmer has a basket or net inside to catch all that debris.
Filters also have a biological part that uses special bacteria to help break down fish poop and decaying plants. These beneficial bacteria take those waste products and turn them into nutrients that fertilize the pond plants instead of polluting the water. Pretty cool, right?
Without a good filter, your pond would quickly turn into a murky, smelly mess. So, if your pond's water is looking less than crystal clear, the filter is probably the first thing you should check.
Tip #2: Keep That Water Circulating
While filters are hard at work cleaning the pond water, you also need pumps to keep that freshly cleaned water moving and circulating throughout the entire pond. Ideally, you want a pump system strong enough to circulate all the water at least once every hour.
Having that constant water movement does a couple really important things for the pond. First, it helps pump oxygen into the water, which is critical for keeping fish healthy and breathing easy. Pumps also prevent stagnant water from developing those gross surface scum problems.
If your pond didn't have any water circulation, it would be sort of like a bathtub with the drain closed – before long, it gets murky, smelly, and covered with a film of grossness. The pumps are what keep the whole system continuously refreshed.
Another neat thing about pumps is that they usually power awesome water features like fountains, waterfalls, or bubbly streams running into the pond. Those make your backyard so peaceful and pretty!
Tip #3: Be Mindful of Fish Overpopulation
Of course, one of the best parts of having a pond is getting to watch curious fish swimming around. However, you must be careful not to overload the pond with too many fish, as they create a lot of waste.
A good rule of thumb is to have no more than 10 inches of fish for every 100 gallons (about 378.54 L) of water in your pond. So, if your pond holds 300 gallons, you could have around 30 inches of fish, which equals about 15 goldfish that are each 2 inches long.
Having too many fish leads to too much fish poop, which throws off the whole pond environment and makes the water dirty and unhealthy. If you have a big fish obsession like many kids do, you'll need to add an extra filter called a wetland filter to handle all that extra waste.
But don't worry, a properly sized pond can still have plenty of fish for you to enjoy watching!
Tip #4: Cultivate an Underwater Garden
While filtering systems and pumps are hard at work behind the scenes, one of the biggest factors in maintaining a naturally clean and balanced pond is simply filling it with aquatic plants! Plants are the pond's best friend.
For starters, having plants take up 40-60% of the surface area provides much-needed shade and shelter for fish. On hot summer days, you'll probably notice your fish happily hanging out under those big lily pads to stay cool. The plants also give fish little hideouts to feel safe from predators.
But that's not all plants do. Their roots also play a huge role by soaking up excess nutrients and minerals from the water that would otherwise fuel thick algae blooms and mucky buildup. Plants literally starve algae out and keep the pond transparent!
Some good plant options for the average backyard pond include hardy water lilies, lotus plants, rushes, cattails, and floating gardens of water lettuce or hyacinth. With the right mix of plants, your own little underwater garden will flourish.
Tip #5: Bye Bye, Dead Leaves
Speaking of plants, it's important to keep an eye out for any dead leaves, spent flowers, or other decaying plant matter that may accumulate. When plants start to die off, get that detritus out of the pond as quickly as you can before it has a chance to rot and pollute the water.
This is one of the main reasons that mechanical skimmer in your filter is so crucial – it can continuously remove most of those dead plant bits from the surface as they fall. But you may still need to pluck off some pieces around the edges by hand before they can sink.
By keeping that detritus from building up, you prevent it from decomposing and creating a sludgy buildup on the pond bottom. That thick sludge would quickly deplete oxygen levels and threaten the health of both plants and fish, so staying on top of plant litter maintenance is a must! Trying a sludge remover could really be your gateway to riding of this pesky problem.
Tip #6: Mind the Water Temperature
As summer temperatures start climbing, keeping a close eye on your pond's water temperature also becomes more important. When water gets too warm (over around 75°F), it can't hold on to enough of that life-giving oxygen that fish and plants rely on.
If you notice your fish gasping and hanging out near the surface trying to breathe, that's probably a sign the water is too warm and oxygen-depleted. A quick solution is to install an aerator, which is sort of like an underwater fan that whips air into the water and replenishes oxygen levels.
An aerator can really help during those peak hot months. But doing what you can to provide plenty of shade from plants and ensuring good pump circulation will also go a long way in moderating pond temperatures. A little preparation makes sure everyone stays cool!
Tip #7: Supplement With Beneficial Bacteria
Our final tip for keeping your backyard pond a balanced, low-maintenance ecosystem is to regularly treat it with additions of beneficial bacteria. These are special types of bacteria that help consume fish waste, extra fish food, decomposing plants, and sludge - all that gross stuff that makes ponds dirty!
By establishing a healthy population of these bacteria buddies in your system, they'll continually work on breaking down those pollutants into simpler nutrients that your aquatic plants can absorb. It's sort of like a natural recycling and composting process.
You can purchase bottles or boxes of concentrated beneficial bacteria products at most pond supply stores. For smaller ponds, you may just need to sprinkle some in every few weeks during warm weather. Or for larger ponds, you can install an automatic dosing system that distributes the right bacteria dose on a timer.
Using beneficial bacteria gives your normal filters an extra boost and helps keep organic waste from accumulating out of control. It's an easy, natural way to keep your pond clean!
Yes, you can have the cleanest and healthiest pond you’ve ever seen!