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 drinking water garden with a beautiful zen feel to it, offering lilies, lotus and additional aquatic plants? What about incorporating water in to the design of your home? Remember you more than likely DO have space for a water feature. 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 are able to help you achieve them. The first step in creating assembling your project is to pick a spot. You will need a location where one can create some shade for your pond in fact it is also good to find a place where one can protect the water from having too many leaves or other debris from entering. Shade could be created in many ways. Water plant life on the advantage or in the pond will color the water, many ornamental trees are ideal so long as 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 various other drinking water features, filtration, and where and if you will end up being planting about the water. It is highly advisable to include into the design a number of different depths and slopes around the pond edges. This will provide extra places for fish and animals to move around and for putting various kinds of water plant life. 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 spending budget. Concrete is commonly more expensive than a tub or a pond liner, nonetheless it may last longer if professionally installed. If you will be keeping Koi, Goldfish, Tadpoles or other types of fish you might 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 get away from the predators. The easiest way to do this is to provide at least 3 foot of depth in the pond. Heron and raccoons have trouble catching fish and pets as of 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 fish or no fish at all do not need large filters. You can even make your very own filter out of a 5 gallon bucket, some hoses and a pump. It is extremely easy to do! If you are keeping koi, you then will need something with an increase of 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 fountain. They destroy nuisance algae that turns the drinking water green and in addition kill parasites that can attack your fish. Ideally you will place a UV sterilizer on the return line following the filter. Adding plants to your backyard pond can be rewarding and gorgeous. Water gardens need much of the same care as any home plant or other backyard would. You will need to research your vegetation, determine how high and wide they grow, how to prune them and what forms of additional feedings they may require. You also have to know where around the water fountain your plants would grow the very best. Some basically float on the top, so you only need to protect them from getting sucked up into filters or destroyed by waterfalls. Other plant life develop at different depths, which explains why we suggest building your water fountain with many depths. You can add to the look and experience 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 stores are actually starting to specialize in items for backyard ponds. Backyard ponds produce great set-ups for koi. There are some things you really need to consider. Koi get large and produce a large amount of waste, so be sure you provide adequate filtration. It is better to get a system that's too huge than one that is too little. It is costly and can be very hard 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 plants, swim through vegetation and basically just rough them up. Your koi might just destroy the plants and cause a huge mess in the pond. If you do use vegetation, and now there are many that are suitable, just be sure you pick hard and tough vegetation or place them in areas where the koi cannot get to them. Feeding your koi is easy so long as you are familiar with their wants. The feeding habits of koi are directly related to the water temperatures and months. In the Spring time you should begin feeding the koi with reduced color improving growth food. Through the summer you can continue with a color enhancer, and provide multiple types of meals. There are some great spirulina pellets, krill and various other treats for your fish. As the drinking water cools down again in the wintertime you should remember a couple of things. One, cut in the past 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 lot of fun! We wish you enjoy developing and building yours!
