The Importance of Maintaining Your Pond Equipment In Summer

The summer months are prime time for your ponds to be working most effectively. It’s when threats like algae blooms, lack of oxygen, murky water, and fish disease and death are most common. That’s why maintenance of your equipment during summer is so important. The equipment needs to be functioning at the optimum level 24 hours a day during the warm weather to make sure it maintains a healthy ecosystem.

A well working pond usually requires a combination of a good quality filtration system, a powerful pump, skimmer fish net, aeration system, and ultraviolet clarifier. Each piece of equipment serves its purpose in helping the pond remain healthy by keeping oxygen levels up and avoiding the dreaded algal blooms.

The UV Clarifier eliminates microscopic organisms that end up becoming algae with Ultra Violet technology. As the water passes over the bulb it cleans the green out of the water leaving it crystal clear. An Ultraviolet Clarifier (UVC) lamp should be replaced annually as its efficiency diminishes after approximately one year.

Circulation is an important design element of a pond and the water pump ensures appropriate movement and flow by pumping water in and out of the pond. The filtration system also helps with circulation while collecting debris that can be harmful to aquatic life. During the summer months, fish are most active, which leads to an increase in feeding and waste production. It is a good idea to maintain your pump and filter regularly in the summer to ensure the filtration system can keep up with the increase in waste. This increase can also lead to more frequent blockages so it is important to check and clean your filter and pumps as soon as you notice a drop in water flow. Be sure to remove dying leaves and flowers with the skimmer fish net so they don’t clog up your filters and pumps and decay in the warmer water. This decay uses dissolved oxygen to decompose and when there is a surplus it will deplete the oxygen levels in the pond resulting in excess nutrients like phosphate and nitrogen, which is the perfect breeding ground for algae.

During summer, there is often a lack of dissolved oxygen in the water, which makes aeration imperative to the survival of fish and pond life. Aeration pumps can do a great job of increasing the gas exchange of oxygen in the water but waterfalls, streams, fountains, and even spitters play a huge part in adding oxygen back into your pond. They also add a decorative touch to enhance the natural beauty of your water garden.

The final and most important reason to maintain your equipment during summer is so you can spend more time relaxing and enjoying your pond.