Having a backyard water feature can create a zen spot to enjoy solo or the ultimate entertaining space to enjoy with friends, family, and neighbors. Part of keeping your water feature in optimal condition, however, means learning how to keep it clean. This is especially important for larger features like a backyard pond.
While the water might be clear, there are still factors that go into making sure your backyard pond water feature is running smoothly. Staying on top of simple water feature maintenance cuts down on the overall time you need to spend keeping it up. Let’s take a look at how to keep a backyard pond clean so you can enjoy your water feature to the fullest!
Learning How to Keep a Backyard Pond Clean
After you’ve spent time deciding where to put a water feature in a yard and why backyard ponds are the right types of water features for you, it’s time to think about how to keep a backyard pond clean. After all, you want your new water feature installation in Albany, Saratoga, Colonie, Schenectady, or the surrounding areas to shine! Truthfully, maintaining a water feature after installation isn’t terribly difficult or time consuming as long as you stay on top of it.
Your water feature can add value to your home and give you your own personal oasis to enjoy without any headache. A few easy tips to follow for how to keep a backyard pond clean are:
- Remove debris from your pond
- Make sure you’ve got the right size water feature pump and filter
- Landscape around your water feature to provide oxygen and shade
- Have the right amount of fish for garden ponds
- Don’t overfeed backyard pond fish
Remove Debris to Keep a Clean Water Feature
The first, and most obvious, step for how to keep a backyard pond clean is to remove any debris as soon as possible. This doesn’t mean you have to watch your backyard pond installation like a hawk 24 hours a day, but be mindful of glancing at it to see if there are any leaves, twigs, branches, or other debris that has made its way into the water. Removing this debris before it begins to decompose or cause a threat to any pond fish is not only a method for how to keep a backyard pond clean for functionality, but also makes your backyard look nicer overall.
Decaying debris, combined with fish waste and leftover fish food if you have backyard pond fish, can lead to spikes in ammonia levels. High ammonia levels can be very dangerous to your fish and should be corrected right away.
Pro Tip: A pond skimmer may do most of the job for you, but having a simple backyard pond net makes the rest of the debris easy to remove, as well.
Have the Right Size Water Feature Pump and Filter
One of the most important aspects of how to keep a backyard pond clean is having the right size water feature pump and filter in place. Learning how water features work highlights the importance of having the right pump and filter to circulate water effectively and keep your feature clean.
For water feature pumps, you should make sure your backyard pond is circulating its water volume at least once every hour. Water feature pumps are labeled by the gallons of water they pump per hour (GPH). Factors to determine which pump you need for how to keep a backyard pond clean include variables like the size of your pond, the height of any waterfall feature, and the overall water volume it holds. A waterscape design professional will know exactly which pump you need, depending on the size and design of the installation. You’ll also need to ensure you’re clearing out any debris to keep your water feature pump from being impeded.
Just like the pump, water feature filtration is also crucial for how to keep a backyard pond clean. You need to make sure your filter matches the size of your backyard pond. Unfortunately, this is one of the common downsides of DIY outdoor water features homeowners come across when trying to install one themselves. Having the wrong size filter for your outdoor residential water feature can be harmful to the overall landscaping and any fish you may have in your pond.
Furthermore, remember that water feature filters are based on ideal scenarios. This means you may want to up your filter size to ensure it’s able to function at optimal levels no matter what. Mechanical filters, called skimmers, help remove surface debris from your backyard like leaves and sticks. Biological filters you may have as part of your water feature use bacteria to break down pond wastes and convert them into less harmful compounds. These compounds can then be absorbed as fertilizer by your aquatic landscaping.
Choosing the Right Water Feature Landscaping
Another factor in how to keep a backyard pond clean is to find the right balance of plants for water feature landscaping. Ideally, you’d want to have roughly 40 to 60 percent of the surface of your pond shaded by water feature landscaping (or covered, if you prefer surface plants in your backyard pond). Not only does this plantlife serve an aesthetic purpose, but it helps provide essential oxygen for any pond fish as well as maintain safe water temperatures. This makes good landscaping for Capital Region water features super important to beat the summer heat!
Plants in and around a garden pond also help function as natural filters, feeding off excess nutrients that may have otherwise resulted in algae growth in your water feature. As important as these plants are, it’s simultaneously crucial to not overdo it. Too many plants can actually lead to deficiencies in your pond that could be hazardous to fish. Our water feature installation professionals will know the right amount of plants to help with how to keep a backyard pond clean in your space.
The Right Amount of Fish for Outdoor Water Features
When you’re installing residential water features, consider that most people love having fish in their pond. Certain fish will help with how to keep a backyard pond clean as they feed on algae. Having too many fish, however, can be detrimental to your backyard pond ecosystem and result in poor water quality. Experts agree that the optimal amount of fish for your backyard pond is 10 inches of fish per 100 gallons of water.
The most common fish for backyard ponds are koi fish. These koi ponds offer bursts of color and don’t require a large amount of maintenance to keep them healthy.
Don’t Overfeed Backyard Pond Fish
Last up on our list of simple methods for how to keep a backyard pond clean is simply to not overfeed the fish! Having fish in your backyard garden pond can add to the serenity of your space. In fact, fish are a common element of Japanese garden water features.
To keep fish healthy, you need to feed them! Overfeeding fish, however, can be bad for your water feature ecosystem. Uneaten food sinks to the bottom and may lead to buildup on your water pump. Don’t feed your fish more than once per day, and give them no more than they can eat in 2 to 3 minutes. You should also consider getting fish food that floats on the top, instead of lower-quality food options that may sink to the bottom.
As you can see, learning how to keep a backyard pond clean doesn’t have to be difficult. Staying on top of simple backyard pond maintenance lets you spend less time playing catch up and more time enjoying the space! Our water features installation professionals can help you choose the right backyard pond design for your space and tell you how to keep it clean with ease. Contact us and let’s get started!
For more ideas and inspiration for your backyard water feature, check out these resources:
