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Things to remember throughout the seasons:
- Don't overcrowd your pond, especially if it is new.
- Don't overfeed your fish. It only leads to more ammonia for the pond
to handle.
- Avoid temperature fluctuation because it affects water chemistry and
causes more adjustment problems for inhabitants.
- Your filter bed is like a breathing organism, when it's functioning
properly it consumes a considerable amount of oxygen. Keep good water
circulation to assure production of aerobic (beneficial) bacteria.
- Your substrate is an important factor in nitrification (beneficial
bacteria adhere to the surface of substrate).
- Do routine (25%) water changes and test pond water often to maintain
good water quality.
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Water quality is the key to success with any water garden no matter what
the season. To establish good water quality, a pond must be "cycled",
or rather go through the natural process if establishing its biological
cycle with the introduction of a few fish and plants. When starting or re-establishing
this biological cycle, cloudiness may occur and is perfectly natural. This
is a bacterial bloom and is a sign that your beneficial bacteria is developing
as your first few fish and plants inhabit your new pond. This beneficial
bacteria is naturally present in your pond and breaks down the decayed fish
waste, food and plant matter producing ammonia and other substances. To
help boost the natural biological cycle in your pond, use Pond Clear-Zyme
blocks or concentrate. The primary source of ammonia occurs when fish dump
waste from their gills into the water in the form of ammonia. The ammonia
and other toxic substances during the process will eventually be converted
by beneficial bacteria. If you are worried about the high ammonia levels
at the beginning of the process, you can do a water change using Pond Start
and add Pond Ammonia Chloramine Remover. There are two major groups of bacteria
naturally found in an aquarium, heterotrophic and autotrophic. The heterotrophic
bacteria convert the detritus to ammonia. The autotrophic bacteria, nitrosomonas,
oxidizes the toxic ammonia into nitrite, which is also toxic. The autotrophic
bacteria, nitrobacter oxidizes the toxic nitrite to safe nitrate, which
is used by plants. If you don't have plants in your pond, you will need
to do water changes using Pond Start to reduce the amount of nitrates in
the pond. As the beneficial bacteria change toxic ingredients into non-toxic
elements and nutrients for plants, you will need to monitor the ammonia
and nitrite levels in your pond until the it is biologically balanced and
shows signs of good water quality. The pond water should eventually clear
of its cloudiness and the high levels of ammonia and nitrite should diminish.
Use Jungle Pond Quick Dip Test Kit to test your pond water during "cycling",
as well as routinely to assure over time that your pond remains biological
balanced. If testing indicates high ammonia levels, use Pond Ammonia Chloramine
Remover. For adjusting pH levels, use Pond pH Decreaser or Pond pH Increaser
as needed.
Cloudy water in an established pond can be the result of any of the above
factors listed, especially overcrowding, overfeeding and improper water
changes. Also, occasionally, bacteria blooms may add to this problem, but
generally will clear up with increased water changes. Use Pond Water Clear
to keep established ponds clean and clear of cloudiness.
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