The pleasure of water gardening
The pleasure of water gardening ........
A garden is a source of immeasurable pleasure for so many people. The colours, textures and relaxing environment created allows a total switch off from the hurly burly of every day life.
In addition to the above water gardening introduces life in the form of fish amphibians, a greater variety of insects and birds. Another dimension of sound is also created with waterfalls and fountains.
Water can be used to dominate any landscape, to create a focus point. And these days these effects are so very easy to create and maintain in sparkling fashion.
So many water gardeners once they have experienced the beauty and appeal of a pond or water feature want a bigger or better one. So be warned. Water gardening is by far the fastest growing sphere of gardening worldwide.
Just enjoy it. Become addicted. Teach yourself its secrets.
As Epstein LaRue points out ......"you may find yourself digging in the yard where no other man dares to dig."
Free pond calculator go to this page to download the pond calculator
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4. Spring is not too far away for our Northern hemisphere friends
Many ponds meet serious problems when weather starts to warm up as it does in Spring. The problems encountered are often bacterial disease problems such as ulcers (this is probably most common) identified by sores appearing on sides of your fish which even develop into holes. Treatment is difficult and expensive and often leads to other problems because antibiotics are involved.
There is only 1 product I am aware of that prevents this type of disease. It is called KoiZyme in USA and Genesyz in UK.
It does not cure diseases caused by aeromonas and pseudomonas bacteria (those responsible for many problems) but reduces their population to very very low and non-dangerous levels using a well known biological process called "Competitive Exclusion".
If you want to know more take a look at ww.genesyz.com or go and explore Dr Johnson's web site www.koivet.com and follow any links to KoiZyme.
By the way this is one of most important water gardening sites you will find anywhere.
Other problems to look forward to are green ponds - one simple reason if you have an UV - your lamp needs changing. These UV lamps do not last more than 8,000 hours (less than 1 year). They may still shine but they are not emitting UV in sufficient concentration to be effective.
Often with the increased feeding rate that will start to happen in Spring your filter may not be able to handle a sudden and large increase in ammonia. Do things gradually is the simple message.
I hope you have been feeding your fish during winter unless they were totally motionless in water below 8 degrees.
Next time we will discuss Spring in a lot more detail.QUICK TIPS QUICK TIPS QUICK TIPS QUICK TIPS
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Today's quick tips ..........
1. To correct pH problems in a pond use dilute solutions of vinegar, or lemon juice for high pH readings and baking powder for low pH readings. Make sure you do not add too much at once. The procedure is add some, wait, test again. It is important to always test at the same time every day since the natural pond cycle creates pH changes at different times of day. For example as carbon dioxide is released by plants the pH may well decrease, When the plants absorb carbon dioxide the pH could rise again. About 10am is a good time to test.
2. Testing pond water. This is straight forward and is done by using special kits.
Look out for expiry dates since chemicals used for testing are sensitive to time.
Do not get carried away with the test results. After all they are indications only.
The good reason for testing is to check stability or consistency and not absolute values. If your fish and plants are thriving and your pH for example is consistently on high side .......... so what? When you see a definite change then start testing.
3. Water has a maximum density at 4 degrees centigrade, about 39 degrees Fahrenheit so when a pond has a frozen surface the water at the bottom of the pond is normally at this temperature. Only in extremes of climate or in very shallow ponds therefore does a pond completely freeze solid. Koi will normally stop feeding around 8 degrees centigrade, 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Plants and algae in a pond compete for the available nutrients in the form of phosphorous and nitrogen containing chemicals. It follows that the more pond plants there are then the greater the probability of reducing algae blooms. Old well planted stable ponds as a result tend to suffer less from algae problems than newly created young ponds.
A list of quick tips is maintained at
http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/tiptrick.htm
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New articles published on our web site ...............
In case you are not aware of the articles we publish by leading experts in the water gardening field take a look at one of our main sites which covers all kinds of topics related to water gardening where you will see the list.
Peter May, one of the leading UK water gardens landscapers, is just starting his own website and maybe you would like to see what he has to say there. This is his web address where you will find the details: of the Perfect Pond Detective He would appreciate your visit.
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can ask questions we will try to answer ..............
Our water gardens gazette index page is here We will try to answer personally but if this proves to be not possible because of large volumes of e mail we receive we will certainly answer in future Gazettes.