How to Monitor Your Pond For Common Issues
Having a pond in your backyard is a wonderful delight. Whether you're a seasoned pond owner or a newbie, you might have realized that like most things, it takes a little bit to maintain a beautiful water feature. We have a few simple steps to make sure keeping a pond does not become an overwhelming task.
Enjoy It Often
This sounds wild, but taking the time to enjoy your water feature often is going to help your maintenance. You will be more likely to notice the subtle changes that indicate a problem may be around the corner, and you can catch it before anything gets out of hand. Also, the more you take the time to enjoy something, the small amount of time you need to devote to maintenance will be well worth it!
Do a Water Test
From time to time, it is helpful to test the water in your pond to see what is really going on at a level beyond what the eye can see. Often times, local fish stores will do a free water test for you if you bring in a small cup of your pond water. You can also keep a water test kit at home and find your own results. Water tests will let you know if your pond needs more aeration, beneficial bacteria or another water treatment, or even a partial water change. Often times, if there is an imbalance in water quality, there could be several contributing factors. Maybe there is something you need to do differently moving forward to prevent imbalances, such as not overfeeding fish, provide more shade for your water feature, and finding maintenance solutions that work for you.
Find Maintenance Solutions That Work for You
Keeping maintenance of your pond realistic and suited to work with your lifestyle is so important. One big game changer is adding a UV Pond Clarifier which targets algae at a microscopic level. No more green water! Other quick maintenance checks can be done bi-weekly. Consider picking a day of the week where you maintain your pond one week on and one week off. Maybe in the off week you even take that time to do a relaxing activity near your pond. Bi-weekly maintenance can be as simple as checking if the water flow coming out of your filter has declined and a rinsing the pads is necessary. Regular maintenance water treatments such as Barley Pond Clarifier and Pond and Fountain Cleaner Tablets should be dosed bi-weekly or monthly. If you are more of a person who would like to do major cleaning less frequently, consider the use of a pond vacuum when you go to maintain your pond. If you need help tracking maintenance, download our pond maintenance log.
However you decide to maintain your feature, make sure you are out there enjoying it. We think you will find that making small changes in your routine will have a huge impact on value you will get from your pond.