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Dear Craig:

I have a new pond and I was told you might be able to help me with the proper way to set it up for fish and plant life. Are there any tricks to help make the pond better?

Casey in Sun City

Dear Casey:

Congratulations on your new pond. More homeowners are adding water features to their landscape and their popularity has surpassed that of swimming pools. The most common complaint I hear from pond owners is that their pond isn’t big enough, so I hope you’ve made yours a good size.

The first thing you’ll want to do is dechlorinate the water. All cities use chlorine to help purify drinking water and it is perfectly safe for us, but not for fish and water plants. You can purchase a chemical for this or let mother nature help you out. Chlorine will dissipate on its own in one or two days.

Once your new pond is chlorine‑free, you’ll want to adjust the pH level. Everything works better in a properly pH‑balanced pond. You want the pH to be at 7.0, or as close as possible. Levels between 6.3 and 8.5 are acceptable for maintaining plant life and fish. You can use a pool test kit for this and may want to check your chlorine level at the same time to be safe. Pond testing kits have really advanced in recent years. If you’d like to invest in one, I recommend the “Quick Dip Pond Test Kit” which consists of a treated stick that is submerged in the water and then held up to a color chart on its container. Various colored spots let you check your nitrates, nitrites, hardness, alkalinity, and pH all at the same time without having to measure water and count drops.

Since you haven’t added fish or plants to your pond yet, you can lower your pH with swimming pool acid. When using this procedure, you’ll want to wait a few days before adding any fish or plants. If you’ve jumped the gun and already put living organisms into your pond, use some white vinegar to lower the pH level. I recommend adding one gallon per thousand gallons of water every other day until your pH is at the proper level. Do not lower your pH more than 1 point within a 24‑hour period if your pond contains fish.

To determine the gallons in your pond, use this formula:

Length x width x depth (or average depth) x 7.5

Now that you’ve got your pond balanced, you need to add some salt to buffer and stabilize the pH swing. This is only added once during the life of the water. You can purchase expensive aquatic salt, but I use non‑iodized table salt. Add at the rate of one pound per thousand gallons.

Finally, you’ll want to add bacteria to your pond. Beneficial bacteria removes toxic nitrates that are harmful to fish and dissolve organic matter from plant material, fish waste, and plant litter that falls into your pond.

Now comes the fun part of adding fish and plants. You don’t want to overpopulate your pond with fish, so plan on one inch of fish per each five gallons of water your pond contains. Koi are a wonderful addition and are considered pets by many pond owners. You can even train them to eat out of your hand. Before investing in Koi, however, you may want to make sure your pond is fish‑safe by adding a few goldfish. Not only will you be sure that your water is balanced, you’ll get a good idea if there are any predators in the area. Herons, bobcats, and raccoons are just a few marauders that can clean out a Koi pond overnight.

There are pros and cons to adding mosquito fish. These tiny fish are great for devouring mosquito larvae. You can get them free from many places, including Desert Tranquility’s Carefree Gardens.

Be forewarned that they are carnivores, so if you want to raise baby goldfish or Koi, it is almost impossible with mosquito fish in your pond.

Finally, you can add some pond plants. I like to have a pond contain 50 percent vegetation. Lilies are a must. Not only do they provide beautiful flowers and greenery, they help to shade the water and keep the temperature a little cooler. Hornwort is a great oxygenator and helps with filtration. It stays on the bottom of your pond and gives your fish a hiding place. For a marginal, I prefer irises. They are tall and spiky, adding some design elements to your pond and have the added benefit of flowers. Stay away from invasive plants such as cattails and pennywort. Many other marginals can become invasive, so I advise keeping them in their containers. If they start to become overgrown, you can easily lift them out of the water, trim away unwanted growth, and drop back in.

Following these tips will get your pond off to a good start and give you many years of enjoyment.

Craig Allison has over 30 years of landscaping and nursery experience. He previously held positions as a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University’s School of Landscape Architecture and taught design at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. Craig has over 50 published articles and has made appearances on ABC 15’s”Sonoran Living Live” and on “Your Life A to Z” KTVK ch3. Listen to Craig Sunday mornings from 8 to 9 am Sunday mornings on KFNX 1100 am talk radio.

If you have landscape or garden questions you would like answered email your questions to AskCraig@carefreegardens.net or fax your questions to Carefree Gardens “ask Craig” at 623‑742‑7216. Past articles can be found at www.carefreegardens.net.

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