There are many ways to create your own unique backyard ponds or water gardens and we've some advice to help make it a fun and easy experience. Before creating your water feature 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, featuring lilies, lotus and additional aquatic plants? How about incorporating water into the design of your home? Remember you more than likely DO have area for a water feature. They can be anything from a half-barrel to an enormous and deep pond in your yard. No matter what your intentions are we are able to assist you to achieve them. The first step in creating your project is to pick a spot. You will wish a location where one can create some color for your pond and it is also nice to find a place where you 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 shade the drinking water, many ornamental trees are ideal provided that they don't drop too many leaves. Backyard ponds can easily become overrun by this kind of debris. The next thing is to start the look process. This includes choosing the actual shape of the water fountain, any waterfalls or additional water features, filtration, and where and if you will end up being planting around the water. It is highly advisable to include into the design several different depths and slopes around the pond edges. This will provide extra places for fish and animals to move around and for putting different types of water vegetation. You can create your water feature out of concrete, prefabricated tubs, or even use pond liners. Choose the option that's best for assembling your project and spending budget. Concrete tends to be more expensive than a tub or a pond liner, but it may go longer if professionally installed. In the event that you will be keeping Koi, Goldfish, Tadpoles or other styles of fish then you may want to remember to consider protecting them from predators. Raccoons and Heron are voracious fish eaters. Among the best methods to protect your seafood and animals is to provide a way to allow them to move away from the predators. The simplest way to do this is to supply at least 3 foot of depth in the pond. Heron and raccoons possess a hard time catching fish and animals as of this depth or deeper. Filtration can be very basic or very intricate. It once again depends on assembling your project. Drinking water Gardens with a couple small fish or no seafood at all do not need large filters. You can even make your personal filter out of a 5 gallon bucket, some hoses and a pump. It is very easy to do! In case you are keeping koi, you then will need something with more flow and even 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 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 vegetation to your backyard pond could be rewarding and gorgeous. Water gardens need much of the same care as any house plant or other backyard would. You will have to research your vegetation, regulate how high and wide they grow, how exactly to prune them and what types of additional feedings they could require. You also need to know where around the water fountain your plant life would grow the best. Some just float on the top, so you just need to protect them from becoming 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 appearance and feel of your pond by picking local stones, or likely to a local landscaping shop and purchasing stone that fits the feel of assembling your project. Many landscaping stores are now starting to specialize in 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 lot of waste, so be sure you provide sufficient filtration. It is better to possess a system that's too large 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 offer another unique problem when keeping koi. Simply speaking, koi like to eat vegetation, swim through vegetation and basically just tough them up. Your koi may just destroy the plant life and cause a large mess in the pond. In the event that you do use plant life, and generally there are many that are suitable, just make sure you pick hard and tough plants or place them in areas where the koi cannot reach them. Feeding your koi is simple so long as you are familiar with their needs. The feeding behaviors of koi are straight linked to the water temperatures and periods. In the Spring period you should start feeding the koi with a premium color enhancing growth food. During the summer time you can continue with a color enhancer, and provide multiple types of food. There are some great spirulina pellets, krill and various other treats for your fish. As the water cools down again in the winter you should remember two things. One, cut in the past on feeding. If your water gets right down to 50 degrees or lower you do not need to feed the fish at all. If you will be feeding then head to a simple to digest Wheat Germ meals. Backyard ponds can be a large amount of fun! We hope you enjoy designing and building yours!
