Pond Maintenance for Ponds w/ Fish & Plants

You’ve just installed an “Aquscape’s Pond System” and the key to a low maintenance water garden is to keep your new system in balance.

Here’s six key elements work together to keep your natural pond working beautifully:

• *The filtration system (your Biofalls and Skimmer)
• *The circulation system (your pump and plumbing)
• *Rocks/gravel in and around the pond (even on the bottom)
• *Beneficial bacteria
• *Aquatic plants
• *Aquatic animals and fish

These elements work together as a team to make up your ecosystem and they must all be present in order for the system to work properly. Eliminate any of them (like the gravel in the bottom for instance or the fish) and you’re out of balance and asking for trouble.

Now these things must not only be present but they must be cultivated in proportion in order to work properly. In other words, it is entirely possible to have too many (or too few) fish, plants, gravel, or bacteria in your pond. And if you do your pond will be out of balance.

Every pond is unique to its surrounding environment so sometimes a little trial and error is needed. Your pond and its maintenance can be affected by nearby woods and trees, neighborhood and nature’s animals dropping by, and sometimes weather conditions and temperatures. Even humans enthusiatically overfeeding their fish can be a factor to maintenance. Be sure to keep on eye on your new pond for the first few months to observe its individual requirements and call us if you have any concerns..

Once you establish a balanced ecosystem it basically boils down to weekly or bi-monthly checking of the skimmer net for debris and tossing in a little bacteria (not chemicals) into your pond. That’s it. During the extreme heat of the summer and depending on whether your pond waterfalls and streams cause water evaporation you may have to add some water here and there once in a while. Now you are no longer a slave to your pond…you can relax and watch the fish swim by.

**With your pond you received an Owner’s Manual and Guide plus a new video and one season’s supply of bacteria. Make sure to take the time to read it and please do not hesitate to call us with any questions regarding your new pond or to order more supplies. We also offer our new customers a springtime pond cleanout service for those who don’t want to bother with it…call us during the fall or winter for scheduling and rates.

Maintenance for Pondless Waterfall or Pond Without Fish & Plants:

For those who choose not to have fish & plants in their water feature, maintenance is fairly simple. Similar to treating a swimming pool you can use chlorine tabs once to twice a month for instant clarity. Continue running your system as long as temperatures permit. Sometimes an initial double dose of tabs is needed for startup purposes or if the unit was shut done for a period of time. You should see results within 24-48 hours of treatment. Occasionally in the fall you may have to remove leaves and debris from the streambed to maintain proper water flow.

If you choose to shut down your system for any period of time, be sure to empty any pools of standing water in the top biofalls unit to avoid algae accumulation from stationary water. Remove any debris from streambeds and areas at the top and bottom of the water feature. If shutting down for the winter then remove any pumps and store them in a bucket of water to keep parts from drying out & cracking over the next few months until you reinstall the pump & start the system up in the spring.