Sunrise Landscape Designs

    With all the warm weather we’ve been having, it’s a great time to enjoy having a water feature.  But,how does the water look in your water feature right now?  It can get embarassing to show off a pond that is full of string algae or a fountain that is green and stinky.  Here are a few tips to have a water feature worth enjoying and showing to your friends and family.

  For a fountain, a bubbling boulder, or a pondless waterfall, maintenance is a snap.  Depending on whether or not you have any plants or fish in the water, you can “lightly” add bleach, swimming pool chemicals, or most any pond cleaning product.  

    To keep a pond clean, you need to discipline yourself to add your products at the correct intervals.  I have had great success with Algaefix and the beneficial bacteria called Microbe-Lift from Stoney Creek/Easy Pro Products.  About 1x/month I put SAB (String Algae Buster) from Aquascapes into the water.  It clouds the water for a day but does a great job of releasing the string algae from the rocks.  Be sure to scoop up the algae as it drops to the bottom of the pond or else it will just turn into fertilizer for future algae.  The leaf net will also need the algae to be cleaned out of it frequently for a day or two.  Call my office if you need any products.  We pick up supplies about twice a month and could pick yours up too.

    The very best thing you can do to keep the pond water clean is to have enough fish and plants to create a balanced ecosystem.  Once I put enough fish and plants in my pond and stream bed, the water cleared right up and has been looking great all season.  If you feed your fish, be careful that you don’t feed them too much.  I rarely feed my fish so they will consume more algae. 

    Many aquatic plants can be taken out of their pots and planted directly into the pond rocks.  They will be better able to naturalize the area (thin the plants if they get too invasive) and the plants will obtain their nutrients from the pond water and starve out the algae.  Keep large Cattails and Iris in a pot as they can be hard to thin without disrupting the boulder arrangement.  By using these techniques, you should have a great looking water feature!

The autumn leaves are falling along with the fruits of many trees. If they are falling into your pond and creating a mess, it’s time to put a net over the surface of the water. If you want to order a net, send me an email and I’ll let you know the cost. If you need help putting the netting over the water feature, let me know and we’ll take care of it for you for a nominal cost. The effort of putting on the leaf net is well worth the time saved on cleaning the leaves out of the bottom of the pond later.

It’s time to get the water features cleaned up and running for the new growing season. I know I send this out every year but just in case you need a reminder, here is the routine I use.

If you have a fountain, bubbling boulder or bubbling stump, clean the leaves out as best you can, scrub the fountain if needed, refill with water, and install the pump underneath. If the water looks dirty, pump the water off into the lawn, rinse, and refill. Add a little chemical to the water to prevent algae build up.
The Annual Pond Clean-Out

The annual clean-out is the only “major” pond maintenance chore required by our water garden. Considering the many hours of enjoyment our pond and waterfall provide throughout the year, this time of easy paced work is well worth the effort.

The clean-out should be performed before the water temperature gets above 55 deg. F – the temperature at which the beneficial bacteria begin to colonize. You don’t want to disrupt the natural balance.

Using a sump pump or the pond pump surrounded by protective screen (to restrict the fish), pump out much of the water -use as long a pipe as possible and direct the water to lawns, shrubs or other areas that would benefit from a nutrient-rich bath.

Before the pond level has lowered to twelve inches or so, fill two or three “holding tanks” (I use large plastic tubs) with the existing pond water and carefully net your fish into them. The fish are weak after a long winter, so the less stress they endure, the better – they may try to jump out of the holding tanks, so cover loosely with a lid on angle or other object. Limit the time in the holding tank to just a few hours and put a small bubbler in with them if the fish are large.

After removing most of the water, spray down the rocks with a pressure washer or garden hose and spray nozzle. Start washing from the top down, and run the pump to remove the dirty water. Also remove any leaves or debris in the pond. Washing the rock should take only a half hour or so.

Now is a great time to re-pot your aquatic plants. Place the water lilies deep in the pond as most of them prefer 1-2′ of water over their roots. Be sure to put a lot of aquatic plants in your pond and stream bed to help keep the water clean.

Remove the filter media and lava rock from the skimmer and biofalls, and hose it thoroughly…again about a half hour’s work. Clean out the skimmer box and any remaining debris at the bottom of the pond.

Now hook up your pump, reinstall the filter media and start filling your pond. If you have city tap water, you will need to add dechlorinator according to directions…fish will not survive in chlorinated water.

Finally, float your holding tanks and fish in the new pond water for 30 minutes to acclimate them to the temperature change. Then free your fish into the pond.

That’s it – not a bad job at all. This is a very minor price to pay for what we consider to be the best improvement we’ve ever made to our outdoor environment.

The leaves have already begun to change color and fall so it’s time to consider putting a leaf net over the water garden. By keeping the leaves out of the pond, your water quality will be much better and spring clean-out will be much quicker. Leave the net on the pond until the problem of heavy leaf debris is past. There are two methods to netting a pond:

• Pull the net tight across the top so the net doesn’t touch the water and secure the net along the ground with rocks or stakes. Most of the leaves will fly right past the pond. The disadvantage to this method is that the net is visible.

• Drap the net across the pond letting the netting rest directly on the water surface. This makes the net almost invisible except along the sides. When the leaves collect on the net, you will need to use your leaf catcher and scoop the excess leaves off as needed. If the net gets too heavy with leaves, it will sink and the fish may get caught up in it.