| Picking your filter is very important if you want to | | | | pond maintenance for you! Bacteria actually grows |
| have a successful pond with hardly any pond | | | | on everything, which is why its important to use |
| maintenance. If you do not use the best filtration | | | | a bio filter that is filled with something with plenty |
| setup, more than likely you will be constantly | | | | of surface area. If building your own, you can use |
| doing pond maintenance. Your water will be filthy, | | | | scrubby pads or even straws cut up into small |
| green and most likely full of string algae. | | | | pieces. |
| What is the key to minimal pond maintenance? | | | | If you do not setup your filter correctly, the |
| Well there is some tips you can follow to ensure | | | | worst part of your pond maintenance will be |
| that you won't be doing pond maintenance | | | | removing string algae. This is a result of your |
| everyday. We want to keep maintenance to once | | | | biological filter not functioning properly or |
| every couple weeks. It depends on the size of | | | | sufficiently. If its early spring or summer, its |
| your pond and the quantity of koi. The more koi | | | | possible your bio filter has not developed yet, it |
| in your pond, the more the filter has to work, and | | | | takes about a month to 6 weeks. You should add |
| the more pond maintenance you'll have to do if | | | | some bacteria in the beginning of the spring to |
| your filter can't handle it. | | | | start your biological filter early and avoid having to |
| When choosing your filter setup, you need to | | | | do so much pond maintenance. |
| have the following types of filtration, mechanical, | | | | Another part of the filtration is UV. It is simply a |
| biological, and you should use UV sterilization as | | | | UV light inside a filter that kills algae and gets rid |
| well. A skimmer filter is a good mechanical filter | | | | of green water. It is only about $100 and will save |
| for removing floating debris, and you should use a | | | | you the cost of buying algae killing products every |
| bottom drain as well for the stuff that sinks. This | | | | couple weeks. |
| will surely minimize the level of pond maintenance | | | | These are the key factors you need to consider |
| you have to do, especially early in the season | | | | when building your pond. Remember the goal is to |
| when starting it up again. | | | | have a pond to look at, not to do pond |
| The most important part of your filter is the bio | | | | maintenance all the time! Get the right materials |
| filter. It contains beneficial bacteria which do your | | | | and save the headache. |