The Pond Contractor - About Fish Part 1

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Now that you have the pond you have always wanted it is time to think about providing the ecosystem it deserves. This will not only keep your water garden clean and promote a self-maintaining pond; it will provide a healthy habitat for fish, turtles, butterflies, birds, frogs, newts and salamanders, aquatic plants, and dragonflies (which help to control the mosquito population!). Let's cover the basics to ensure vibrant fish in an ecologically sound habitat: your pond!

Clean, healthy water is critical to fish health. A proper filtration system includes the use of mechanical and biological filters.

The Mechanical filtration removes particles and is, for our customers, primarily handled by the Aquascape Skimmer™ (see Ecosystem). This will not only pre-filter the water and house the pump, it will also skim the water's surface to prevent the accumulation of organic materials on the pond floor.

Biological Filtration reduces and keeps the fish from swimming around in their own waste. Plants are key to your pond's Biological Filtration ( water hyacinths are great for this, but all aquatic plants will contribute) as is the beneficial, aerobic bacteria.

Aquatic Plants are Mother Nature's best filters - from a filtration perspective they are second to none. Thriving from the excess nutrients in a pond and depriving the algae of its food source, the aquatic plants in a water garden, given proper coverage, are critical to the overall ecosystem. It is not a good idea to keep more than one pond plant in its container (and none for ponds 8'x11' and smaller) because aquatic plants need to stretch their roots in order to thrive, and because those roots will help to reduce bio-solids, or sludge.

Aerobic bacteria are very efficient in breaking down waste products. The aerobic bacteria that Jefferson Landscape introduces after we install your pond, colonizes in the rocks and gravel. These are tremendous surface areas for the bacteria to break down excess nutrients in the water and dissolve organic debris (like fish waste) on the pond floor. The bio-waste from the bacteria is then taken back up as nutrition by the plants.