The summer is the best season of the year to sit in the garden with your favourite ice-cold drink and gaze at your fish and the rest of your garden. It is the liveliest period of the year for both your pond and your garden flowers and the birds and the bees are at their most lively too.
If you would like to keep on enjoying your garden and pond into the evening, you can position exterior lighting at strategic points to draw attention to the best bits. However, despite wanting to just relax in the warmth, there are still some chores that you will have to do to care for your fish pond during the summer.
The first thing you have to do is ensure that you fish are getting enough oxygen. The trouble is that warm water contains less oxygen that cold water, so you must take extra precautions in the summer. This is quite easily rectified by mechanical, automatic means. There are three basic methods of aerating fish pond water.
The most important way is the use of a fish pond filter. Try to have the water pumped several feet above the pond water level. The water is then passed through the filter and it should drop down a few steps back into the water. Every time the water falls, it will pick up more oxygen, which it will take back to the pond.
The second way is also the most impressive – the fountain. Most fountains have a couple of settings to allow various water patterns. All the patterns will oxygenate the water. A high, single jet of water will make the most noise when it returns the pond, while a pattern of say, ten less-powerful sprays will scarcely make any noise at all.
The third means of aerating the pond water is the ‘bubbler’. This device sucks air from above the waterline and releases it below the water line – it is the type of aeration device that indoor fish tanks utilize, but on a larger scale.
The use of these three techniques in the summer will ensure that your fish always have enough oxygen no matter how warm it gets.
The next consideration is feeding. Fishes’ metabolism increases during the summer. They also have to build up fat, because they will not eat much during the winter. You can make certain that your fish get plenty of insects to eat by fitting a light by the water side. You can either take a line off the pond pump or you could place a solar powered light there in stead.
The insects will be attracted to the light and fall into the water. The fish will soon learn about the insects. Insects are fishes’ natural food, so this is the best means to fatten them up without running the risk of putting too much food into the water which could rot and adversely affect the properties of the water. Lighting up your pond in the evening is also a great way of getting more pleasure from your pond.
This is the last task that you have to carry out in order to care for your fish pond during the summer – keeping the water clean. There will be a build up of algae which has to be cleaned out, but basically, you are now set to get pleasure from your pond for the summer months.
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is at present involved with visual comfort lighting. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Outdoor Wall Lamps.