What Do You Love About Your Pond?
We pond owners have many reasons we value our ponds, and depending on its function, those reasons will differ. I have a small, 1/2 acre pond stocked with bluegill, large mouth bass, and yellow perch. I love to take the kids fishing and catch a Friday night fish fry. My pond also has a small island that was made when it was dug and I built a small log cabin bunk house where we can camp and enjoy nature on a moment’s notice. My reasons for loving my pond may differ from yours, and my pond’s purpose may differ from yours, but there is one thing I can safely assume all pond owners agree on: we LOVE clean water and a healthy pond ecosystem.
The Key to Keeping Your Pond Clean & Healthy
No matter what the function or purpose, a clean, healthy pond enhances its enjoyment and makes it an asset rather than a problem. While there are nearly as many ways to address pond issues as there are pond uses, a key ingredient is water circulation. Moving water is healthy water
As simple as it sounds, keeping water moving can keep ponds healthy. Moving water will help maintain uniform oxygen and temperature throughout the water body, which will allow fish and other organisms to thrive no matter where in the pond they are situated. It will also help prevent common water quality problems like stagnant water, foul odors, take over by floating plants and algae, and everyone’s favorite summer enemy, the mosquito. Mosquitoes require stagnant water for part of their life cycle. Simply removing stagnant water areas can limit reproduction.
How I Keep My Pond Healthy
As for my pond, I utilize a Kasco RA1-PM diffused aeration system. My main goal was winter circulation to prevent a winter fish kill here in northern MN. However, it runs 24 hours a day, year round to help with summer water quality as well. In the summer, the benefit is cleaner looking and better smelling water. It also helps the naturally occurring bacteria to process the organic inflow from leaves, runoff of any fertilizer from my neighboring wildlife food plots and the variety of waterfowl that frequent the pond. It has also proven effective in helping my stocked fish grow quickly and increasing the pond’s carrying capacity by allowing more “usable” area in the pond.
No matter your ponds purpose, we all have reasons to love (or hate) our ponds. Utilizing the simple concept of moving water can eliminate those reasons to despise your pond and turn your pond into a place of enjoyment.
Tell Us About Your Pond!
Tell us about your pond and why you love it. We enjoy seeing healthy ponds and the people who are proud to call them their own. Send us your photos, reasons you love your pond, and what you do to ensure your pond is healthy and happy. We will use them in our social media posts to inspire other pond owners. Send us an email at mail@azponds.com or message us on social media.
Written by Joe Holz, Kasco International Sales Manager