Spring and your Garden Pond

The weather has been lovely over the last few days, although it is expected to go cooler again.

Ponds are starting to come to life, plants are shooting and fish are stirring from their winter rest.

Here are a few things you can be doing to get ready for the months ahead:

1 Tidy any debris around your pond.

Carefully trim back plants removing dead leaves etc. Be careful not to damage new growth.

2 Think about removing any excess waste from the bottom of your pond. Too many dead leaves and silt can cause problems through the warmer weather. You can do this with a net but if you have a much larger job you can hire a pond vacuum from our shop.

3 Pump and filtration maintenance.

Now is the time to check that everything is working properly. Pumps need to be stripped down and cleaned thoroughly. Filter systems can be cleaned too, make sure that you add a filter bacteria booster to get the denitrifying bacteria growing as the weather starts to warm.

4 UVC maintenance

Strip your UV unit down and maintain. The glass sleeve inside will need a good clean to allow it to work efficiently. Be careful as they are quite delicate and costly if broken. Check all the seals and replace the bulb every Spring. This means your UV unit will be working at full capacity when you need it most.

5 Check all of your fish

They will be starting to feed, so use this time to check that they have all come through the winter ok. Look for damage etc and treat if required. Make sure that you are using a good winter/spring food that is easy for them to digest until the water temperature becomes more stable.

At this time of the year the parasites are starting to become apparent, your fish may show signs. Things like lethargy, sheens or spots on the body etc can all be symptoms that something is not quite right. We have now introduced a Fish disease Diagnosis Service. Find out more here >>

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