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How To Install And Maintain Your Water Garden

A water garden is a beautiful landscaping feature that adds beauty and tranquility to your backyard.

Apart from providing aesthetic pleasure water gardens are also great for the environment and are miniature ecosystems in themselves. As water flows through a water garden it releases negative ions that are great air purifiers in the atmosphere.

You must have experienced the freshness in the atmosphere after a rainstorm or felt the difference in the tingling fresh air near a waterfall. This is the effect of the negative ions. Similarly, your water garden is a continual source of negatively charged ions that constantly act for removing toxins and impurities from the air.

Your water garden is home to gold fish and a variety of aquatic plant life. While installing a water garden you must take a variety of factors into consideration. For example the climate of the place where you plan your water garden will impact its size. In temperate climates the minimum depth of the pond should be two feet. In cold climates the depth of the water should be at least 12 to 18 inches below the freeze zone. Your water garden is one part of your overall garden structure and should be commensurate to its size. A large pond will look out of place in a small sized garden.

Sunlight is another factor that needs consideration because water plants need sunlight to survive and grow. It is therefore best to install your water garden where it receives a good amount of sunlight otherwise the choice of plants for the water garden may be severely limited. The water garden should not be built near trees as falling leaves, twigs and other debris may fall in the water, which will harm the aquatic plants of the water garden.

A beautiful water garden is like a piece of art to be enjoyed by all who view it. You should install it at a place where it can be viewed easily from the windows and terrace of your home

The water garden will also need regular maintenance, as it will contain plant and animal life. Maintaining a water garden will require pumping and filtering the water to clean it and prevent algae formation. Algae reduce oxygen in the water, which can lead to fish dying. Pond pumps supply oxygen-enriched water to the garden to allow plant and animals to thrive. You must also install pond filters to remove impurities that include metabolic remains left behind by the animals living in the pond. These pollute the water and make it dirty. Installing ultra violet clarifiers or UVCs will prevent algae formation.

Exposing pond water to the UV light source contained within the UVC will make the algae in the water clump together to form larger particles which can then be filtered out as they pass through the pond filter. Other than reducing the oxygen content of the water, algae also dirty the water making it green and murky. UV treatment of the pond water will also reduce fish disease causing organisms in the water.

Proper installation and maintenance of your water garden will keep it in top shape making it something to enjoy for a long time.