There are many ways to create your own unique backyard ponds or water gardens and we have some advice to help with making it a fun and easy experience. Before creating your water feature determine what your targets are. Are you attempting to attract regional wildlife, like frogs, turtles and birds? Would you'd like to have a water garden with a beautiful zen feel to it, showcasing lilies, lotus and additional aquatic plants? What about incorporating water in to the design of your house? Remember you more than likely DO have room for a water feature. They could be anything from a half-barrel to a huge and deep pond in your yard. Regardless of what your intentions are we can assist you to achieve them. The first step in creating your project is to pick a location. You will wish a location where you can create some color for your pond and it is also good to look for a place where one can protect the water from having way too many leaves or other debris 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 as long as they do not drop too many leaves. Backyard ponds can quickly become overrun by this kind of debris. The next thing is to start the look process. This consists of choosing the actual form of the water feature, any waterfalls or other drinking water features, filtration, and where and in the event that you will be planting about the water. It is highly advisable to include 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 different types of water plants. You can create your water feature out of concrete, prefabricated tubs, or even use pond liners. Choose the option that is best for your project and 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 types of fish then you may want to take time to consider protecting them from predators. Raccoons and Heron are voracious seafood eaters. One of the best ways to protect your fish and pets is to supply a way for them to move away from the predators. The easiest way to do this is to supply at least 3 feet of depth in the pond. Heron and raccoons have got a hard time catching fish and pets at this depth or deeper. Filtration can be quite simple or very intricate. It again depends on assembling your project. Drinking water Gardens with only a couple small fish or no fish at all do not need large filters. You can also make your own filter out of a 5 gallon bucket, some hoses and a pump. It is extremely easy to do! In case you are keeping koi, then you will need a system with an increase of flow and more mechanical filtration to eliminate waste. Koi are dirty fish and produce a lot of waste. UV sterilizers certainly are a good plan on any water feature. They eliminate nuisance algae that turns the drinking water green and in addition 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 backyard would. You will have to research your plant life, regulate how high and wide they grow, how exactly to prune them and what forms of additional feedings they could require. You also need to know where around the water fountain your vegetation would grow the very best. Some just float on the surface, so you only need to protect them from becoming sucked up into filters or destroyed by waterfalls. Other plant life grow at different depths, which explains why we recommend building your water fountain with many depths. You can add to the appearance and feel of your pond by picking local stones, or likely to a local landscaping shop and purchasing rock that fits the feel of your project. Many landscaping stores are now starting to specialize in products for backyard ponds. Backyard ponds help to make great set-ups for koi. There are some things you really need to consider. Koi get huge and produce a lot of waste, so make sure you provide adequate filtration. It is best to possess a system that's too large than one which is too little. It is costly and can be very difficult to upgrade something later. It will always be best to do it right the first time. Plants can offer another unique problem when keeping koi. In other words, koi love to eat plant life, swim through plants and simply tough them up. Your koi might just destroy the vegetation and cause a large mess in the pond. If you do use vegetation, and right now there are many that are appropriate, just make sure you pick hard and tough plant life or place them in areas where the koi cannot get to them. Feeding your koi is simple so long as you are aware of their wants. The feeding practices of koi are straight related to the water temperature ranges and periods. In the Spring time you should start feeding the koi with a premium color enhancing growth food. Through the summer months you can continue with a color enhancer, and provide multiple types of food. There are several great spirulina pellets, krill and additional treats for your fish. As the water cools down once again in the wintertime you should remember a couple of things. One, cut in the past on feeding. If your water gets down to 50 degrees or lower you do not need to feed the seafood at all. If you will become feeding then head to a simple to digest Wheat Germ meals. Backyard ponds can be a lot of fun! We wish you enjoy developing and building yours!
