There are many ways to create your own unique backyard ponds or water gardens and we've some advice to help with making it a great and easy experience. Before creating your water fountain determine what your targets are. Are you attempting to attract local wildlife, like frogs, turtles and birds? Would you prefer to have a drinking water garden with a beautiful zen feel to it, offering lilies, lotus and additional aquatic plants? How about incorporating water into the design of your house? Remember you more than likely DO have space for a water fountain. They can be anything from a half-barrel to an enormous and deep pond in your back yard. Regardless of what your intentions are we can assist you to achieve them. The first rung on the ladder in creating your project is to pick a spot. You will desire a location where you can create some shade for your pond and it is also nice to look for a place where one can protect the water from having too many leaves or other particles from entering. Shade can be created in many ways. Water plants on the edge or in the pond will color the water, many ornamental trees are ideal provided that they do not drop way too many leaves. Backyard ponds can easily end up being overrun by this kind of debris. The next step is to start the design process. This includes choosing the actual form of the water feature, 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 will provide extra places for seafood and animals to move around and for placing various kinds of water vegetation. You can create your water fountain out of concrete, prefabricated tubs, or use pond liners. Pick the option that's best for assembling your project and spending budget. Concrete is commonly more expensive than a tub or a pond liner, but it may go longer if professionally installed. If you will be keeping Koi, Goldfish, Tadpoles or other styles of fish you might want to take time to think about protecting them from predators. Raccoons and Heron are voracious fish eaters. Among the best ways to protect your seafood and pets is to supply a way to allow 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 a hard time catching fish and pets at this depth or deeper. Filtration can be extremely simple or very intricate. It again depends on assembling your project. Drinking water Gardens with a couple small fish or no seafood at all don't need large filters. You may also make your personal filter out of a 5 gallon bucket, some hoses and a pump. It is extremely easy to do! If you are keeping koi, then you will need a system with an increase of flow and more mechanical filtration to remove waste. Koi are filthy fish and produce a lot of waste. UV sterilizers certainly are a good plan on any water feature. They destroy nuisance algae that turns the water green and also kill parasites that may 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 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 plants, regulate how high and wide they grow, how to prune them and what types of additional feedings they may require. You also have to know where around the water fountain your plants would grow the best. Some basically float on the surface, so you only need to protect them from being sucked up into filter systems or destroyed by waterfalls. Other plant life develop at different depths, which is why we suggest building your water fountain with many depths. You can add to the appearance and feel of your pond by picking local stones, or going to a local landscaping shop and purchasing stone that fits the feel of assembling your project. Many landscaping stores are actually starting to specialize in items for backyard ponds. Backyard ponds produce great set-ups for koi. There are some things you should consider. Koi get huge and produce a large amount of waste, so make sure you provide sufficient filtration. It is better to possess a system that is too large than one which is too small. It is costly and may be very difficult to upgrade a system later. It will always be best to do it right the first time. Plants can provide another unique problem when keeping koi. In other words, koi like to eat vegetation, swim through vegetation and basically just 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 right now there are many that are acceptable, just make sure you choose hard and tough plants 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 demands. The feeding practices of koi are directly linked to the water temps and months. In the Spring period you should begin feeding the koi with reduced color enhancing growth food. Through the summertime you can continue with a color enhancer, and offer multiple types of food. There are some great spirulina pellets, krill and other treats for your fish. As the water cools down again in the wintertime you should remember two things. One, cut way back on feeding. If your drinking water gets down to 50 degrees or lower you certainly do not need to feed the seafood at all. In the event that you will end up being feeding then go to a simple to digest Wheat Germ food. Backyard ponds can be a large amount of fun! We wish you enjoy developing and building yours!
