To Salt or Not to Salt Your Pond

•Fish Health in Hot Summer Heat
 by: Brett Fogle Summer is over, but for many of us - the heat remains. Here a couple of things to do to keep your fish healthy and your pond clear going into winter. First, remember to keep your pond well aerated. This is very important to your fish because the pond water actually holds less oxygen at higher pond temperatures. So if it's still hot in your part of the country, keep those waterfalls and fountains running! This will keep your pond water full of oxygen, and reduce stress on...

•Winterizing Your Pond
 by: Brett Fogle For many parts of the country, it's getting to be that time of year again. Time to start thinking about getting your fish and plants ready for old man winter... Every year, as the weather gets colder and we start heading into winter, many of our customers ask us how to prepare their ponds for winter. Pond owners should be aware of several simple things to do in preparing their ponds for colder months. Fish and plants need very different things in the winter, but can be...

•The String Algae Blues
 by: Brett Fogle Now that Spring is upon us and things are coming back to life in your pond with the warmer weather, many of us are battling with string algae. String algae is caused primarily by a combination of the buildup of organic nutrients in the water, and sunlight. What happens is that during winter, when things slow down and many of us turn off our filters, decaying leaves and other organic matter (including fish waste) begin to break down in the pond. The result is an excess...

•Wildlife in Winter Ponds
 by: Brett Fogle This may seem contradictory, but you want to leave a little bit of debris in the pond when preparing it for winter. Some water gardeners net out the fish, completely drain the water and scrub out the pond, refilling it with fresh water. Frogs, tadpoles, snails and microscopic pond life need to burrow down into mud and leaves to survive the winter. Fish also hibernate on the bottom, settling in around a bed of leaves and mud. I remove about 90% of the leaves and silt...

•How to Choose between Goldfish and KOI
 by: Brett Fogle Many people have asked us over the years Should I add goldfish or KOI (or both) to my pond? The answer is it depends. Goldfish are better suited to smaller water gardens and ponds, in the 50 - 500 gallon range. Goldfish are extremely hardy and easy to care for, which makes them the perfect choice for the new pond owner or water gardener. KOI Feeding KOI, on the other hand, require a little more knowledge and better water quality in most cases, than goldfish and are...

•Overwintering Pond Fish
 by: Brett Fogle The metabolism of koi and goldfish is controlled primarily by water temperature. As the water cools, pond fish require less protein in their diet. When koi and goldfish are fed high-protein food in cool water, the excess protein is excreted as ammonia from the gills. The microscopic organisms that make up the biological filter (and consume ammonia) also slow down in cooler water. Improper seasonal feeding can lead to a build-up of toxic ammonia, which stresses fish and...

•Summer Pond Tips
 by: Brett Fogle Use an oxygen tester and air stones to keep your available oxygen level to at least 7.0 parts per million of dissolved oxygen in 90 degree F. water. Koi and goldfish start showing signs of stress at oxygen levels of 4.0 ppm and will start dying at 3.0 ppm. The higher the water temperature goes the less oxygen that's available. Water temperatures over 90 degrees will also affect fish health so keep the temperature under control by providing shade during the hottest parts of...

•Maintaining Oxygen Levels in Fish and KOI Ponds
 by: Brett Fogle Severe environmental stressors are the most frequent causes of sudden fish death in garden ponds or other fish habitats, and the lack of oxygen in the water is the number 1 stressor of all. Two major factors contributing to fish-pond oxygen loss concern blooming algae. During daylight hours, algae make oxygen; during the night,however, the plants take oxygen. If algae are profusely blooming, the plants deplete all the pond’s oxygen during the night, which in turn, causes...

•Building Liner Ponds
 by: Brett Fogle Surprisingly enough, it is usually in mid-summer that many gardeners begin to think about installing a small pond or water garden. Ponds don't need to be weeded or watered, and they can supply exuberant color in the form of water lilies and bog plants. The sound of a splashing fountain or waterfall is more appealing than weeding a flower bed or mowing that section of lawn. Best of all, no matter how hot or wet it gets, the pond just keeps on blooming! At this point you...

•External vs Submersible Pumps Which one should you Use
?  by: Brett Fogle For many people, it's never been a question of whether to use a submersible pump vs. an external pump because most people have smaller ponds and are used to just using a submersible pump. They're easy to install, and are pretty reliable - so why even consider an external pump? There are a couple of reasons... But before we go into that, let's briefly talk about the benefits of submersible pumps first. For obvious reasons, a submersible pump is named as such because it is...