Spring Start-up

10 Springtime Start-Up Tips for Your Water Garden

With the onset of warm weather, now is the time to get outside and begin enjoying the water gardening season. Your pond has been dormant all winter and needs a little care to make it beautiful. Follow these ten simple steps to prepare your water garden for success.

• Inspect your pond. Check to see what affect the winter weather has had on the pond liner, skimmer or biological filter. Make repairs as needed.
• Make a water change and clean-up winter waste build-up. Remove string algae, dead leaves and debris that have accumulated in the bottom of the pond. CrystalClear® AlgaeOff® works great for lifting debris off rocks and bringing debris to the surface for easy removal. Water changes are also helpful in eliminating dissolved organics that have built up over the winter. You should make a 15 to 25 percent water change over several consecutive days to reduce stress to your fish. Add Muck Tablets to digest the excess mulm you couldn't clean out.
• Condition your tap water. When doing a spring start-up water change, don’t forget that you need to eliminate chorine and chloramines found in municipal water. Even small traces of chlorine will irritate fish and damage their gill tissue, and large amounts can be lethal. There are several products that are capable of removing these toxins such as: CrystalClear® Vanish™, Ultraclear Dechlorinator.
• Start the biological filter. Clean or replace filter pads, begin adding CrystalClear® Spring & Fall Prep natural bacteria to boost biological activity.
• Test pond water. It is not possible to know the condition of your pond water without testing. Test kits offer a quick and accurate way to evaluate pond water quality and stop problems before they occur.
• Inspect your fish. If you see torn fins, blood streaks and/or ulcers are a sure sign of stressed fish. CrystalClear® KnockOut™ PLUS, CrystalClear® WipeOut™ or Arbordale Pond Salt can help relieve stress in both koi and goldfish and can help prevent bacterial infections and parasites.
• Feed your fish a low-protein food. As the temperature of your pond water approaches 42° F (6°C), your fish will start looking for food. Sakana Spring & Fall Cool weather food is recommended as a good low protein, high carbohydrate, vitamin-enriched diet, specially formulated for all pond fish when water temperatures are between 42° F and 70°F.
• Provide your fish with essential electrolytes. Pond Salt provides all the essential electrolytes fish need to stay healthy and vibrant.
• Care for pond plants. Root bound plants should be divided and re-potted. Fertilize plants with season long Agsafe Aquatic spikes to provide the essential nutrients for strong growth and early spring blooms. Adding floating plants such as water hyacinths, water lettuce and elodea will provide your pond with shade and remove excess nutrients reducing algae growth. It is also a great time to add pond snails to begin consuming algae keeping your pond clean.
• Keep your pond clean, clear and healthy all season. Digest sludge, reduce dissolved organics and keep you pond filter working its best with the all-in-one CrystalClear® EcoPack™.

Request a Spring Pond Opening from Arbordale Pondkeepers