Q: I love the look of a fountain but does it provide sufficient aeration for my pond?

John – Wapakoneta, OH

A: Sitting out on the deck and viewing a beautiful fountain display as well as hear that relaxing sound of water is pond enjoyment to us. Having a fountain in your pond is a great way to add tranquility to your home. What more could you ask for?

Many people are drawn to a fountain’s show-stopping appeal, but will they aerate a pond as well? The answer to this really depends on a couple factors: the pond’s depth and the type of fountain pattern.

Pond Depth: Fountains can be great aerators when the pond has less than 6′ of depth. The reason for this is because the best way to aerate is to circulate the whole body of water at the same time. A fountain will only draw water from the top of the water column, which is water that already contains oxygen from the air to water oxygen transfer. The pond’s bottom will remain untouched if it is deeper than 6′. If your pond is less than 6′ deep, then all you have to worry about is the spray pattern.

Fountain Spray Pattern: The spray pattern of a fountain makes a huge difference in how much aeration is produced. Usually the more decorative the spray pattern, the less likely it is to aerate your pond properly. This is because more energy is spent on creating the decorative pattern than there is moving the water. The best spray pattern to use for a fountain is a “V” patterned fountain like the Kasco VFX series fountain.

Because of the varying fountain choices there are some rules of thumb to go by. When using a fountain for aeration purposes, you want around 1.5HP per acre. If using a fountain only for decoration, go for 1 HP per acre.

If your pond is deeper than 6′ of depth, than the best method of aeration is an Airmax® Aeration System. The Airmax® Aeration System will pump air to the diffuser plate located at the bottom of the pond, and the resulting column of rising bubbles lifts and aerates the water. By starting from the bottom, this will ensure that the whole body of water is properly circulated as well as aerated. Airmax® Aeration Systems have lower operating costs than running a fountain 24-7.

Pond Talk: What type of aeration system do you have?

Q: Now that water temperatures are warmer, what should I feed my fish?

Martha – Clifton Forge, VA

A: After their long winter nap, just imagine how ravenous your pond fish must be! Now that water temperatures have climbed to a relatively toasty 55 degrees Fahrenheit, your koi and goldfish are wide awake and ready for some serious grub packed with muscle-building protein and energizing carbohydrates and fats.

When choosing a food for your finned pals, you have several options:

FOR GOOD OVERALL NUTRITION …

Looking for an all-purpose pond food? Check out Pond Logic® Ponstix and TetraPond® Pond Sticks. They’re nutritionally dense and well-balanced fish diets that contain digestive enzymes and amino acids for optimal fish health. Both are economical choices to feed to your fish every day.

FOR VIVID COLOR ENHANCEMENT …

Do you want your koi’s rich reds, pearly whites and deep blacks to shine? Pond Logic® Growth & Color, TetraPond® Koi Vibrance® and CrystalClear® Koi Food are enhanced with vitamins, natural color intensifiers and chelated minerals to transform your koi into the most colorful swimming jewels they can be.

FOR THE SMALL FRY …

Spring brings spawning, which is something your koi and goldfish might be doing right about now—especially with the nutritious food you’re feeding them. Though the little guys will gobble algae and underwater plants when they’re very young, they’ll quickly graduate to fish food like CrystalClear® Goldfish Mini Pellets by summertime, so be sure to have some handy.

In the meantime, make sure the fry have safe spots to hide while they grow, like a Spawning Incubator. Made with polyester fur and fine mesh, the incubator protects them from being consumed or lost in your filtration system.

Pond Talk: What are your fishes’ favorite summertime treats?

Q: Now that temperatures are getting warmer, algae keeps growing. How do I stop algae from taking over?

Jeremy – Clinton, IA

A: It sure doesn’t take much for algae to grow out of control! Combine warm sunshine with some algae-loving nutrients and, before long, you’ll have a pond full of pea soup. When it’s thick and dense, those tiny plants can then suck all the oxygen from the water, leaving your fish gasping for air. Plus, it looks bad and can cause some major stink.

For the health of your fish and your lake, you must regain control. Here’s a two-pronged approach that works to eliminate the green stuff and prevent it from taking over.

TREAT THE GROWTH

First, you need to get rid of the algae blooms. For floating algae and chara that’s less than 3 feet deep, use Algae Defense®. The aquatic algaecide comes in a fast-acting liquid formula that can be directly applied to your lake with a pressurized sprayer. If you’re dealing with chara that’s deeper than 3 feet, use Cutrine®-Plus. Its granular formula sinks to the bottom of your lake and destroys the algae.

Once the algaecides start working to kill the blooms, don’t forget to remove dead algae from the pond with a tool like the Pond Rake. If you leave the dead foliage in the lake, will start to break down and become nutrients—or algae food—for new blooms. It’s a vicious cycle!

TREAT THE SOURCE

Now that you’ve got the algae under control, it’s time to get proactive and prevent its future growth. Begin by adding PondClear™ & MuckAway™. These products contain beneficial bacteria that gobble through excess nutrients like suspended organic waste and muck in your pond. The result: Clean and clear water with no noxious odors.

Next, shade the water with pond dye. By preventing the sun’s rays from penetrating the water, you’ll starve the algae of sunlight, which it needs to thrive.

ONE-STOP SHOPPING

Looking for an easy solution? Check out the ClearPAC® PLUS. This all-in-one algae destroyer contains everything you’ll need to kill the algae and prevent future growth. It contains algaecide, beneficial bacteria and pond dye to fight algae and suspended debris all season long.

Pond Talk: How do you prevent excess nutrients from entering your pond or lake?

Q: I am building a pond with a waterfall. With so many pump choices, how do I know what to choose?

Linda – Broomall, PA

A: Fun springtime project ahead! As you’re discovering, building a pond with a waterfall involves some planning and careful consideration—which includes selecting a waterfall pump. Your choice is important because it’ll determine how high you can make your waterfall and how much water will flow down it.

You want more than a trickle, right? Before you go pump shopping, crunch these numbers first:

1. Head Pressure

How high will your waterfall be? This measurement is your head pressure, which is the total number of feet from the top of your waterfall to the top of your pond’s surface. If you’re building a 5-foot-high waterfall, for instance, your head pressure is 5 feet.

Pro tip: If the tubing from your pump to the waterfall is longer than 10 feet, add 1 foot of head pressure for every 10 feet. So in the example above, if your tubing is 14 feet, the head pressure would be 6 feet.

2. Flow Rate

How much water do you want pouring over the falls? This number is your flow rate. The average flow rate is 1,500 gallons per hour for every 1 foot of waterfall width. If your 5-foot-high waterfall is 1 foot wide, you should go with a pump that moves around 1,500 GPH; if it’s 3 feet wide, you should go with a pump that moves 4,500 GPH or so.

Pro tip: If you prefer a lighter water flow, calculate 1,000 GPH for every 1 foot of waterfall width. For a heavier flow, use 2,000.

Going Shopping

With those numbers in hand, you should have a pretty good idea what kind of waterfall pump you’ll need to buy. To make the chore easier for you, we recommend:

For lower-flow waterfalls: If you’re designing a smaller waterfall, check out The Pond Guy® MagFlo™ Pump and The Pond Guy® SolidFlo™ Pump. The MagFlo™ line includes 290, 460 and 590 GPH models with maximum head of 6½ to 7½ feet; the low-profile SolidFlo™ line includes 600, 1,200 and 1,600 GPH models with maximum head of 8 to 11½ feet.

For higher-volume waterfalls: If you’ve got a mini-Niagara Falls in the works, you’ll need a beefier pump, like The Pond Guy® RapidFlo™ or the ShinMaywa® Norus® waterfall pumps. The RapidFlo™ comes in 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 GPH models with 20 to 32 feet of maximum head pressure. The Norus line includes 3,300 to 11,000 GPH models with maximum head of 19 to 48 feet.

Pond Talk: What advice would you give to someone choosing a waterfall pump?

Q: I think I have duckweed or watermeal. How do I know? And how do I treat it?

Richard – Fishers, IN

A: Duckweed and watermeal are both pond pests. Dense colonies of these prolific plants can completely cover the surface of a lake or fish pond, causing dissolved oxygen depletions and fish kills. These tiny invaders need to be managed before they take over.

But before you control them, you need to get to know them. Let’s meet these troublemakers.

Watermeal

The smallest seed-bearing plants in the world, watermeal is a very tiny (less than 1 millimeter) light green free-floating rootless plant that resembles green cornmeal. They prefer quiet water that’s undisturbed by waves, and they’re often associated with colonies of duckweed and mosquito fern (azzola). Unchecked, these plants can be aggressive invaders.

Duckweed

Duckweed is another very small light green free-floating plant, but unlike watermeal, duckweed has a single root and one to three leaves, or fronds, that measure 1/16- to 1/8-inch long. Like watermeal, duckweed tends to grow in dense colonies in quiet water that’s undisturbed by wave action. Duckweed colonies provide habitat for micro invertebrates, but if it completely covers the surface of a pond for an extended period, it will cause oxygen depletions. As its name implies, duckweed is often gobbled by ducks, which also transport it to other bodies of water but you cannot count them for keeping the weed in control.

Stop the Invasion!

To control these aquatic bad guys, you’ll need a herbicide. Clipper™ and Ultra PondWeed Defense® are both selective plant killers that will attack watermeal and duckweed. They’re a short-term solution for both—be sure to apply as directed.

For long-term control of duckweed, you’ll need something a bit stronger. We recommend Sonar™ A.S.. It’s formulated to control stubborn aquatic weeds all season long. Don’t forget to add pond dye, it protects the Sonar™ A.S. from being quickly degraded by the sun.

Pond Talk: Tell us about your experiences with duckweed and watermeal. Do you have any additional management tips to share?

Q: My pond was clean but now it’s starting to turn green. What should I do?

Cynthia – Richmond Hill, GA

A: First of all, don’t panic! Let’s begin by taking a look at the three main causes of green water: too many fish, inadequate filtration and not enough plant coverage.

Control Your Fish Population

A booming population of goldfish, koi or other pond fish means an overload of fish waste, and all those excess nutrients actually feed the algae that’s turning your water green. To keep that waste in check, we recommend one 6- to 8-inch fish per 10 square feet of surface area. If you have too many finned friends, consider giving some away.

Provide Adequate Filtration

If your fish are family members and you’re not quite ready to bid them adieu, you’ll need to pump up your filtration with an AllClear™ PLUS filter. Adequate mechanical, biological and ultraviolet filtration will remove the excess waste from the water and help control the prolific green stuff.

Shade the Water

Algae are plants, and plants need sunlight to grow. A third way to control algae is to shade the water with plants like water lilies and water hyacinth. We recommend that you shade 40 to 60 percent of your pond for best results. The plants also provide all-natural biological filtration and make your water garden look great. Not sure what kinds of plants to get? Start with our Aquatic Plant Package, which includes a great selection of cultivars for your pond size.

Give It Time …

Most importantly, try to practice some patience. If you’ve just done a major cleanout, your biological filtration may need some more time to get established and working. Give it a kick-start with some beneficial bacteria like Nature’s Defense. The microorganisms will get to work digesting those dead organics.

If you control your fish population, adequately filter and shade your water, and boost your biological filtration by adding bacteria, your pond will be clear again before long—and you can stop singing those green-water blues.

Pond Talk: If you’ve had to give away some of your fish, how do you find new homes for them?

Q: My fish population is growing rapidly, but how do I know if my fish population is balanced?

Dennis – Rock Island, IL

A: A balanced fish population in your pond is key for a healthy, thriving ecosystem. The best way to start figuring out your fish population is to know what you already have in your pond.

Start by sampling the population you already have by using a fish trap, or fishing out a sample population of fish and inspecting them for size and type.

Next, figure what might be needed to keep the population in check if something is out of balance. When sampling, if you notice you are only pulling out prey fish such as bluegill or perch, then your pond is either on the verge or already overpopulated with prey fish. To keep them in check, either fish out the prey fish or add more predators such as bass. Conversely, if you are only pulling out small bass, then your pond is in need of stocking prey fish.

If your pond is balanced, you should notice a population of fish relatively the same size, and the ideal ratio of about three prey fish to one predator fish.

When introducing the right balance, be sure there is a safe habitat for the fish, especially if you are introducing small fish with an already present population of larger fish. The Porcupine Fish Attractor Spheres are perfect for this. Release feeder minnows at one end of the pond to attract larger fish and introduce new, small fish at the other end or near a habitat so they have a chance to hide in the pond. Feeder minnows should be stocked every season as they provide good stock food for larger fish, and they reproduce quickly to maintain a living food source.

Pond Talk: How often do you check your predator:prey ratio in your pond?

Q: My lilies are growing outside the pots! How do I divide my water lilies?

Susan – Centreville, MI

A: Lackluster growth or blooms on your water lilies last season is and indication that it’s time to divide them. Early spring is the best time to divide your water lilies but most varieties of hardy water lilies can be divided anytime during the growing season.

For easiest access, you may want to divide your water lilies during your spring cleanout. Hardy water lilies should be divided every 2-3 years to ensure your lilies are producing beautiful blooms season after season. Dividing lilies may seem complicated, but our step-by-step process will explain exactly what you need to do.

Step 1: Remove lilies from pond or container. Carefully move the plant to a workspace and remove from its container. You may need to cut open the basket depending on how root bound your lily is.

Step 2: Rinse off any old soil and remove roots that are not attached to the plant. Split the crown of the plant with a sharp knife to cut through the creamy white rhizome, saving the youngest parts of the clump, typically around the outside edge, for repotting.

Step 3: Cut the tuber down to size. You can safely cut the tuber down between two to three inches on the growing part with a sharp knife. This can be increased to five to six inches on longer plants. Remember to also cut off new buds and older leaves, so that the new root system has a chance to grow.

Step 4: Use Plant Bags or Plant Baskets to replant your water lilies. Plant each tuber with the growing tip facing outward. Fill in around the tuber with aquatic planting media, such as Microbe-Lift, making sure the roots are spread well and the crown is sitting just below the soil surface.

Step 5: If using a plant basket, place in shallow area of pond to encourage faster growth.

Step 6: Once new leaves have reached the surface, lilies can be moved deeper into the pond.

Don’t forget to fertilize your water lilies monthly during the growing season to keep your plants healthy and gorgeous. Remove spent blooms and old leaves to encourage new growth.

Pond Talk: How often do you divide your water lilies and other aquatic plants?

Four Handy Pond Tools to Keep Around

Who doesn’t love tools? They’re cool to look at, fun to play with – and, the best part, they help make chores easy. When it comes to maintaining your pond or lake, tools of all shapes and sizes will come in very handy, particularly these four must-haves, below.

Pond Rake

A pond rake pulls, gathers and removes dead debris from the surface or the bottom of a pond.

Debris on the surface of a pond, like algae or fallen leaves, can sink to the bottom and start to decay, adding to the muck and detritus that’s already there. All that debris degrades water quality, compromises fish health, provides a nutrient source for nuisance plants, and can even affect chemical treatments’ ability to work.

A floating/sub-surface pond rake, like the Pond Logic® Pond and Beach Rake, or a sub-surface pond rake, like the Jenlis Weed Raker™, lends a long helping hand. Elongated by rope so you can easily get the deep-water growth, both rakes work by removing submerged lake and pond weeds by their roots, slowing their spread.

Weed Cutter

A weed cutter, like the Pond Logic® Weed Cutter and the Jenlis WeedRazer®, mechanically slices through weeds at their stems so they can then be raked out.

The 28-inch, double-sided Pond Logic® Weed Cutter features a two-piece, rust-proof, powder-coated aluminum handle that’s 11 feet long. It’s great for removing floating aquatic vegetation, marginal weeds and cattails that extend past the pond’s edge.

The V-shaped Jenlis WeedRazer® clears a 4-foot-wide path in pond weeds by sinking to the bottom and slicing through submerged weeds like watermilfoil, cattails and lily pads as you pull it across the pond. The razor-sharp tool weighs just 8 pounds, making it light enough to toss 30 feet or more yet heavy enough to sink straight to the bottom.

Sprayer

A sprayer makes pond chemical application easy. Most liquid chemicals are more effective when they’re sprayed over the target weed, and a tank sprayer, like The Pond Guy® Specialty Pond Sprayer, is designed just for this purpose. The 2.75-gallon pond tool features a wide-mouth fill top that minimizes accidental spills, a brass corrosive-resistant handle, and a high-pressure tank that allows you to spray hard-to-reach weeds.

Invest in a separate sprayer just for pond chemicals. If you use lawn and garden chemicals in the same sprayer that you use on your pond, doing so can be toxic to fish and other aquatic life as residue could be left behind. Keep your fish and pond plants healthy and happy: Use a different tool for the job.

Granular Spreader

The final must-have tool is a granular spreader, which helps you disperse granular herbicides evenly over your target area – and that means a more effective weed kill-off. The rust-proof Earthway® Granular Hand Spreader holds 10 pounds of material in a large hopper and features an application adjuster that lets you control how much product is released with its smooth-action hand crank.

Pond Talk: If you could only have one pond-care tool in your toolbox, what would it be? Why?

Q: My stream is already accumulating algae! Is there anything I can use to help clean it up?

Kate – Grove City, OH

A: Yep: It’s algae time! As the spring sunshine melts away ice and snow, the sun’s warmth and light reach underwater to give algae growth a little nudge along. When combined with all the extra leaves (also known as algae food!) that have blown in on windy days and a filtration system that isn’t up to snuff with bacteria, they create a perfect environment for algae accumulation.

So how do you get rid of it when water temps are too cold for bacteria and traditional algaecides?

Step 1: Spring Cleaning

If you haven’t already, consider doing a spring cleanout and starting fresh. Check out this blog post for step-by-step instructions for preparing for and giving your pond a thorough spring cleaning. If you’ve already gotten dirty this season, however, and have found that the algae is unwilling to give up its happy home, move on to step 2.

Step 2: Oxy-Lift™ Defense® to the Rescue

For controlling stubborn algae, pull out your Oxy-Lift™ Defense® pond cleaner. The product’s ingredients have no temperature restrictions, so you don’t have to wait for warmer weather to treat the green nuisance. Simply turn off your stream and, while the algae-covered rocks are still wet, sprinkle on the Oxy-Lift™ powder. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Before long, you’ll see the algae bubble and break free from the rock. Then turn the stream back on, and use a hand net to scoop out the debris or allow your filter to catch it.

Of course, don’t forget to stick to the basics—particularly as pond season kicks off! Keep your filter running and add the natural bacteria once temperatures are suitable to keep algae growth under control.

Pond Talk: What’s your favorite spring cleaning tool to use in the water garden?