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 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.