There are many methods 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 goals are. Are you trying to attract local wildlife, like frogs, turtles and birds? Would you prefer to have a drinking water garden with a lovely zen feel to it, showcasing lilies, lotus and other aquatic plants? How about incorporating water in to the design of your house? Remember you probably DO have space 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 spot. You will wish a location where you can create some shade for your pond and it is also great to look for a place where one can protect the water from having too many leaves or other particles from entering. Shade could be created in many ways. Water plants on the edge or in the pond will shade the drinking water, many ornamental trees are ideal as long as they do not drop too many leaves. Backyard ponds can easily end up being overrun by this kind of debris. The next step is to start the look process. This consists of choosing the actual form of the water feature, any waterfalls or additional 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 putting various kinds of water plant life. You can create your water fountain out of concrete, prefabricated tubs, or even use pond liners. Pick the option that's best for your project and budget. Concrete tends to be more expensive when compared to a tub or a pond liner, but it may last longer if professionally installed. In the event that 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 methods to protect your seafood and pets is to supply a way to allow them to get away from the predators. The easiest way to get this done is to supply 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 simple or very intricate. It again depends on your project. Water Gardens with only a couple small seafood or no seafood at all don't need large filters. You can also make your very own filter out 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 a system with more flow and more mechanical filtration to remove waste. Koi are filthy fish and produce a lot of waste. UV sterilizers are a great idea on any water feature. They eliminate nuisance algae that turns the water green and in addition kill parasites that can attack your fish. Preferably you will place a UV sterilizer on the return line following the filter. Adding plant life to your backyard pond can be rewarding and beautiful. Water gardens need a lot of the same care as any home plant or other backyard would. You will have to research your plants, determine how high and wide they grow, how to prune them and what forms of additional feedings they may require. You also need to know where around the water feature your vegetation would grow the very best. Some basically float on the top, so you only need to protect them from becoming sucked up into filter systems or destroyed by waterfalls. Other vegetation develop at different depths, which explains why we recommend building your water fountain with many depths. You can include to the look and feel of your pond by picking local stones, or likely to a local landscaping shop and purchasing stone that fits the experience of your project. Many landscaping shops are actually starting to specialize in items for backyard ponds. Backyard ponds make great set-ups for koi. There are some things you should consider. Koi get large and produce a large amount of waste, so make sure you provide sufficient filtration. It is best to possess a system that is too huge than one which is too little. It is costly and will be very difficult to upgrade something later. It is always best to still do it the first time. Plants can provide another unique problem when keeping koi. Simply speaking, koi like to eat plant life, swim through plant life and basically just rough them up. Your koi may just destroy the plants and cause a huge mess in the pond. If you do use plants, and generally there are many that are suitable, just make sure you choose hard and tough vegetation or place them in areas where the koi cannot reach them. Feeding your koi is easy as long as you are aware of their wants. The feeding habits of koi are straight linked to the water temps and months. In the Spring time you should begin feeding the koi with reduced color enhancing growth food. During the summer season you can continue with a color enhancer, and offer multiple types of meals. There are some great spirulina pellets, krill and other treats for your seafood. As the drinking water cools down again in the wintertime you should remember a couple of things. One, cut way back on feeding. If your water gets right down to 50 degrees or lower you certainly do not need to feed the seafood at all. If you will be feeding then head to an easy to digest Wheat Germ food. Backyard ponds can be a lot of fun! We wish you enjoy creating and building yours!
