Looking After Your Pond: A Guide

As a homeowner, it is easy to install a pond into your home and then forget about it. However, leaving your home to the elements can cause it to become damaged and unhygienic for both your garden and for the animals living within it. To make sure that you can keep your pond up to top standards, here is a handy guide for what you need to do.

1. Call Out Professionals

The first step that you should take if you feel unable to look after your pond by yourself is to call out professionals who have many years of experience in pond care. They can troubleshoot the most common issues for garden ponds, such as leaks, and ensure that your pond can quickly look brand new again. Not only this, but at water-garden.co.uk, they can help you to replace features such as pumps and filters, which can help to keep your pond healthy for a long time to come.

2. Clean Your Pond

Although this may sound obvious, the most effective step that you can take in caring for your pond is to keep it clean. To do this, you should drain your pond with a pump and remove any wildlife that you find to a holding tank. You should then remove the silt on the bottom of your pond so that you can reach the liner, which you should wash and clean with a brush. You can then replace the rainwater in your pond and turn the pump back on, returning the animals to their natural habitat.

3. Watch For Algae

Algae is every pond owner’s nightmare as it can prevent sunlight from reaching the depths of your pond and make the water grow stagnant. Not only this, but algae can also be harmful to the wildlife that is living within your water feature. You can prevent algae by installing a large filter, planting several water plants within your pond, such as lilies and lotuses. You should also make sure that you do not have too many fish in your water, as these excrete nutrients can increase algae growth if it is not controlled.

4. Look After Nearby Plants

The plants that are growing near your pond can be a blessing, but they can also be a curse, particularly if they are overhanging your pond, creating decay, or generating algae growth. They may also damage the foundations of your pond or leave it looking messy. You should then regularly cut the plants growing near your pond back to prevent them from causing problems within your pond.

5. Know What to Do if it Freezes

If your pond freezes, your fish will use the remaining oxygen under the ice’s surface, which can create waste within your water and leave your fish to become ill. You should then make sure that you manage to de-ice your pond if it freezes over by holding boiling water over its surface. It would help if you considered installing a pond heater to ensure that this does not happen again.