|
Pond
Maintenance
One
of the biggest misconceptions about ponds is that they are high
maintenance. In fact, healthy ponds are much less demanding then
a lawn of equal size. The amount of time you need to spend on upkeep
for your pond depends on the design and system you are operating.
High efficiency systems will usually perform better water filtration
with low cost. Further, the more often you perform routine maintenance
on a filter or pump, the less difficult it will be to clean each
time. The area of your pond that requires the most work is the mechanical
or pre-filter. This is usually some type of screen or pad designed
to clear the water of debris before it can enter the pump. Technically,
this is the only part of the system to be cleaned regularly. Biological
filters are much different than mechanical filters, though sometimes
are combined as one. In a biological filter you would find some
type of substrate, such as lava stone or plastic spheres, used for
growing nitrifying bacteria. It is important that this filter is
not cleaned regularly because the bacteria growing here is the filter!
The
biggest benefit of a pond ecosystem is that it is self-sustaining.
The waste materials that accumulate and decompose within your pond
are simply recycled back into the water as plant food via your biological
filter. This system is completely natural, and only requires that
you have plants in the pond. Unlike other gardens, the plants in
your water garden will never need to be watered or fed! In fact,
they are most content when left alone. The best way to maintain
a perfect natural balance is to monitor the water quality using
testing kits. Understanding these few tests and making them routine
(every 2 weeks or so), will be your best guidance to a successful
pond.
|
