Fall Pond Maintenance & Koi Pond Care
It's my favorite time of the year in September when the nights get cool. It means winter is right around the corner!
Doing your pond fall care is likely not high on your list of things to do but the BENEFITS of performing a few simple chores on your pond are big!
Save money, time and energy next spring when you do your Fall Pond Care according to schedule.
Ensure that your pond will look amazing for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year's Day while providing a healthy habitat for your koi and other pond inhabitants over the winter months.
Thinning out your aquatic plants in the Fall is much easier to do before the winter too! Did you know during the winter your aquatic plants focus all of their energy on their root system mass!
Consider these 5 HELPFUL POND MAINTENANCE TIPS to keep your pond ecologically balanced through fall, and winter - ultimately your holiday season.
1. Switch to COLD TEMPERATURE Beneficial Bacteria (dose as directed for your size pond). Once your pond stays below 60 degrees for the winter we recommend switching to our Cold Water Beneficial Bacteria. Beneficial pond bacteria plays a key role it Koi pond and water garden care. Our Cold Water Beneficial Bacteria will eat away at sludge on the bottom of your pond during the winter and help keep your pond crystal clear and healthy.
2. Reduce your fish feeding regimen As your water temperature drops below 65 degrees the metabolism of your fish slows down. Start feeding your fish just a couple of times a week. Our Cold Temperature Fish Food is specially formulated for the spring & fall. LOW PROTIEN and HIGH CARBS are a must at this time of the year. Stop feeding your fish completely when water temperatures fall below 50 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer for your pond, for goodness sakes, get one!
3. String Algae Make pond maintenance easy, you can use Pond Balance once a month as preventative pond care to help control undesirable string algae. Pond Balance will assist in the breakdown and reduction of debris in your streams, waterfalls and pond, thus reducing your pond maintenance needs. Dose as directed on the container for your size of pond. It is a must that you dissolve the Pond Balance in warm water to activate it before adding it to your pond or you'll be throwing your money away.
4. Use Barley Straw Extract The effect of barley in your pond is an eco-friendly way to keep your pond in balance. Why use barley bales or barley pellets when it takes 4-6 weeks before it becomes effective? Use Barley Straw Extract treatmenst for fast results.
5. Trim your perennial aquatic plants that begin going dormant as the weather cools. Your aquatic plants aren't dying, but they may turn yellow or brown as they go dormant. You should trim back the yellowing leaves to prevent the fall out debris from building in the bottom of your pond. This simple trick will make your fish pond cleaning responsibilities easy.
This is a good time of the year to lightly clean out your biological waterfall filter and service your skimmer box and pump. Most of the material you read from pond equipment manufacturers suggests that you only service your biological waterfall filter once a year.
However, we have found that here in California with our extended season, a light cleaning of your biological waterfall filter at this time of the year is highly beneficial. With these helpful fish pond cleaning hints and just a little preventative pond care it will help to reduce algae problems and extend your enjoyment of your water feature into the Holiday Season.
By now you know, that Exotic Aquatics is not your ordinary Landscape Contractor; we are full-blown water feature super freaks! We are constantly striving for excellence in our field, including pond maintenance, with continuous training, research.
Our research and development in the water garden industry enables us to make educated improvements on our product line, thus helping you with the maintenance and health care concerns of your pond and itís inhabitants.
Call to find out about converting your pad and lava rock filtration system to the Revolutionary Hybrid Koi Pond Filtration System; If you are interested in never removing your prized Koi fish from your pond each spring or never draining your pond again just to clean the gravel. Eco-System Pond Maintenance doesn't get any easier! If you retro-fit your pond this winter, you can start saving money on spring clean out costs next season!
There are important biological reasons for fall and winter fish pond maintenance from mid October through the end of November. If you would like to have a technician from The Pond Digger team perform these services for you, call our headquarters at 800-522-5043.
You can find all of the pond products you will need for your fall pond maintenance at our construction headquarters in Yucaipa or at Daryl's Pet Shop in Redlands (909)793-1788. If you are out of the area, please call our construction office at (800) 522-5043 and we will gladly ship you any pond supplies that you need or better yet shop us on-line at for all of your pond supply needs.
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