There are many ways to create your own unique back garden ponds or water gardens and we've some advice to help make it a great and easy experience. Before creating your water fountain determine what your targets are. Are you trying to attract local wildlife, like frogs, turtles and birds? Would you prefer to have a water garden with a beautiful zen experience to it, offering lilies, lotus and additional aquatic plants? How about incorporating water in to the design of your house? Remember you probably DO have area for a water fountain. They could be anything from a half-barrel to an enormous and deep pond in your yard. No matter what your intentions are we can help you achieve them. The first step in creating assembling your project is to pick a location. You will wish a location where you can create some color for your pond in fact it is also good to find a place where you can protect the water from having way too many leaves or other particles from entering. Shade can be created in lots of ways. Water vegetation on the edge or in the pond will shade the water, many ornamental trees are ideal so long as they do not drop way too many leaves. Backyard ponds can quickly end up being overrun by this kind of debris. The next step is to start the look process. This includes choosing the actual shape of the water fountain, any waterfalls or other drinking water features, filtration, and where and if you will end up being planting around the water. It really is highly advisable to incorporate into the design several different depths and slopes around the pond edges. This provides extra places for seafood and animals to go around and for placing various kinds of water plants. You can create your water fountain out of concrete, prefabricated tubs, or even use pond liners. Choose the option that is best for assembling your project and spending budget. Concrete tends to be more expensive when compared to a tub or a pond liner, but it may last longer if professionally installed. If you will be keeping Koi, Goldfish, Tadpoles or other types of fish you might want to take time to think about protecting them from predators. Raccoons and Heron are voracious seafood eaters. One of the best ways to protect your fish and pets is to provide a way for them to move away from the predators. The easiest way to get this done is to provide at least 3 foot of depth in the pond. Heron and raccoons possess trouble catching fish and animals at this depth or deeper. Filtration can be extremely basic or very intricate. It once again depends on your project. Drinking water Gardens with only a couple small seafood or no seafood at all do not need large filters. You may also make your own filter of a 5 gallon bucket, some hoses and a pump. It is very easy to do! In case you are keeping koi, then you will need something with more flow and more mechanical filtration to eliminate waste. Koi are dirty fish and create a lot of waste. UV sterilizers are a great idea on any water feature. They destroy nuisance algae that turns the drinking water green and also kill parasites that can attack your fish. Ideally you will place a UV sterilizer on the return line following the filter. Adding plant life to your backyard pond could be rewarding and gorgeous. Water gardens need much of the same care and attention as any home plant or other garden would. You will have to research your plant life, determine how high and wide they grow, how to prune them and what types of additional feedings they could require. You also need to know where around the water feature your plant life would grow the very best. Some just float on the surface, so you just need to protect them from getting sucked up into filter systems or destroyed by waterfalls. Other plants grow at different depths, which is why we recommend building your water feature with many depths. You can include to the look and feel of your pond by picking local stones, or going to a local landscaping shop and purchasing rock that fits the experience of your project. Many landscaping shops are actually starting to focus on items for backyard ponds. Backyard ponds make great set-ups for koi. There are a few things you really need to consider. Koi get huge and produce a large amount of waste, so make sure you provide sufficient filtration. It is better to have a system that is too huge than one that is too small. It is costly and can be very difficult to upgrade something later. It is usually best to do it right the first time. Plants can provide another unique challenge when keeping koi. In other words, koi love to eat vegetation, swim through plant life and simply tough them up. Your koi might just destroy the plant life and cause a large mess in the pond. In the event that you do use plants, and now there are many that are appropriate, just be sure you choose hard and tough vegetation or place them in areas where the koi cannot get to them. Feeding your koi is simple so long as you are familiar with their needs. The feeding practices of koi are directly linked to the water temps and periods. In the Spring period you should begin feeding the koi with a premium color enhancing growth food. During the summer season you can continue with a color enhancer, and provide multiple types of meals. There are several great spirulina pellets, krill and additional treats for your fish. As the drinking water cools down once again in the winter you should remember two things. One, cut way back on feeding. If your drinking water gets down to 50 degrees or lower you do not need to feed the fish at all. If you will end up being feeding then head to an easy to digest Wheat Germ food. Backyard ponds could be a large amount of fun! We hope you enjoy creating and building yours!
