It’s that time of year where we are all spending, or planning to spend, more time outdoors just kicking back. That means it’s a time when you’ll really appreciate the many wonderful things your pond or water feature adds to your outdoor living space – the sound, the movement, the relaxing effect of cool water and, if you’ve planted yours out, the beauty of aquatic flowers. To get the most from your pond or water feature and keep it looking at its best at this time of year there are a few simple things you can do. It’s also the perfect time to look at taking your feature to the next level with some awesome additions.

Care

Keep it clean

It’s not unusual to find a build-up of fallen leaves or even sludge in your pond at this time of year. There are a couple of reasons for this. Many of the evergreen shrubs and trees, such as most of our native plants, don’t have a big annual leaf fall period the way deciduous trees do. They do however often shed older leaves after a spring growth surge. As it doesn’t happen in one big dump this can often go unnoticed.

For most features cleaning out these leaves is easy enough, just reach on in there and pull them out. They can just be scattered around the garden.

If you have any pond plants these can add to this leaf matter too as often their foliage from last season will die back as they throw out new seasons leaves. Pull out any leaves that are separated from the plants and just be careful with any that remain attached. Tugging on them may damage plants or pull them from their pot or pond bed so trim them off close to the base with some suitable pruners.

Sludge is a build-up of natural, organic material which hasn’t fully decayed. It is to be expected in every pond and is really only a problem when it becomes excessive and smelly. This can then start impacting water quality.

To deal with normal levels of sludge just use nature! Add some beneficial bacteria as they will actively consume excess sludge and fish waste. The easy way to do this is by adding AQUAPRO Pond Booster Balls. They are clear, spheres containing millions of beneficial bacteria, like a probiotic for your pond. Just drop them in your pond and you’re done!

A more immediate treatment is to use AQUAPRO Bionatural Sludgeaway. It’s comprised of all-natural ingredients designed to quickly breakdown sludge deposits. Simply mix it up as directed and add to your pond water at the suggested intervals.

If you wish to physically remove sludge there’s an easy way to do that without draining your pond or feature. The AQUAPRO Little Pond Sucker is a venturi-like device that you click onto your garden hose and you then just suck up and discharge all that sludge. Run the outlet hose to your garden areas where it will work like a liquid bio-fertiliser.

Pond plants

If you have any pond plants, such as water lilies, chances are they are growing like mad at this time of year. And hopefully flowering too.

As mentioned above in ‘keep it clean’ make sure you carefully trim off any damaged, dead or dying foliage from your aquatic plants. This doesn’t just keep them tidy, it can often trigger new growth.

If you haven’t re-potted or fed any of your pond plants for more than 12-months then you can do this without having to lift them. You’ll find specialised water plant fertiliser tablets or plugs, such as Osmocote for Water Gardens & Aquatic Plants, are readily available. These can just be pushed in around the roots and feed for months.

When you add any pond plant fertilisers it’s good practice to add some probiotic pond bacteria, such as AQUAPRO Pond Booster Balls, too as these little critters will consume any excess nutrients.

Algae

Warmer weather and all that extra sunlight is the perfect recipe for your pond to develop algae. The main types you’ll see are ‘green water’ where the water goes a soupy green colour or string, often called blanket, algae which attaches itself to just about everything in your pond forming long strings and, in the worst case, you guessed it…blankets.

If you’ve found algae starting to form, then treatment is easy with a variety of water treatments from AQUAPRO.

• AQUAPRO Bionatural Barley Straw Solution is an all-natural way to deal with string/blanket algae.
• AQUAPRO Algaway is a broad-spectrum treatment that will control a wide range of pond algae.
• AQUAPRO Bionatural 3-In-1 Solution treats string/blanket algae, suspended greenwater algae and will also deal with pond sludge.

Just match the right product to your needs and then apply as directed.

Barley Straw Solution and 3-In-1 are also ideal as preventative products, applied monthly, to keep your pond sparkling clean and prevent algae outbreaks. Another handy solution is the AQUAPRO Bionatural Feature Pond Block. One block works in up to 1,000L of water and will last for 3-months. It will prevent algae growth and it contains a mosquito-repelling ingredient to stop mozzies laying in your pond.

Next level additions

Have you added any extras to your pond or water feature? Here are a few ideas for you.

Plants – Now is the perfect time to be selecting and adding pond plants. Many, such as waterlilies, will be in bloom so you can select the colour that works for you.

Pumps – No pump? Then add one now! To keep things simple, and give you perfect pond water, look at the AQUAPRO All-In-One pumps. In one unit they have a prefilter sponge block to filter out larger material and create a home for beneficial bacteria, a dedicated bio-filter to allow nature to do the cleaning work for you and a UV sterilising unit that will neutralise algae as the water passes through.

Lights – Want to really make your pond come alive? Then add some submersible lighting to add a new dimension to your feature after dark. AQUAPRO have a range of white and coloured, low-voltage, energy-efficient, LED light kits that will add serious ‘Wow!’ to your pond once the sun goes down.