After a hot summer, your pond will need a little bit of maintenance and preparation for the warmer periods.
After a bright, warm summer, September is a good time for pond keepers to start planning for the colder months.
Preventative
• Be prepared. With trees getting ready to drop their leaves, a pond cover net should be installed to prevent most of the tree’s debris. Fallen leaves can decay in the pond and increase the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. This could cause harm to your fish and fuel the next year’s algae growth.
• A skimmer net should be used to remove leaves that evade the cover net.
• Continue the war on algae. The more nutrients that can be removed from your pond the better and reducing the blanketweed in your pond is important. Whether it overwinters or breaks down to release these nutrients, short-circuiting this process is vital.
• September is the start of the colder weather and darker nights. To prepare for the beginning of autumn, check the quality of your water with either the Tetra Pond Test 6-in-1 or the Blagdon Pond Health Test Kit. A few minutes now will potentially save you a lot of time. An imbalance in the pond can cause a massive algae bloom, discolouration, or fish death.
• Purchase a PondXpert Floating Thermometer to monitor the temperature of your pond. When the temperature drops below 8-10 degrees C, you should stop feeding your fish and you have the option of removing your filter.
Maintenance
• Now is the best time for a thorough cleaning, as temperatures are high and life cycles of fishes and amphibians are at their most convenient. This means thoroughly cleaning the insides of your pond pump, pond filter, fountain pumps, air pumps, and any other pieces of equipment you have on your pond.
• Consider a pond vacuum – little and often hovering can save a lot of work with hands-on cleaning. Pond vacuums are exceptionally useful at removing the debris from the bottom of the pond; particularly the bits that your pond pump may miss during the warmer weather. For the seasonal clean-outs there’s nothing to match the convenience.
• If you have any left over blanketweed from the summer, manually remove it and treat the pond with a treatment like the PondXpert Blanketweed Eliminator. A lot of our customers like to use the PondXpert Swap Net; a handy two in one tool that includes a 1.8m / 6ft pole, a skimmer net, and a blanketweed brush.
Fish
• Your fish should start slowing down as the temperature cools; so, try to feed your fish less food to avoid a build up of sludge.
• Once the pond temperature drops below 10-12 degrees C, change your feed to a low protein food like the Winter Wheatgerm Pellets.
Plants
• This is a great time to introduce new plants to the pond. They may be starting to look a little tired, but marginals and lilies added now will be far larger than new ‘fresh from the nursery’ stock in spring. They might be reduced at the end of the season, so it’s hard to ignore the logic, especially if you repot them now.
• Continue to trim overgrown plants and make sure to remove any plant debris that is starting to decay. The Velda Duo Pond Scissors & Grabber is a handy tool for doing this.
You may also find the below blogs useful:
• Pond Calendar
• Autumn Pond Care
• Pond Plants Blogs
• Aeration Blogs
• Why is my Pond losing water?
• Why do chemicals in the Pond fluctuate?
• Pond Problems
If you need any further assistance, please email us on info@pondkeeper.co.uk.