You've dug the hole in your backyard. You've installed
the liner, and all of the pipes and filters are in place.
You've filled your new pond with water. But now what? Should
you add plants or fish to the new pond? Well, before you
do that, you'll need to season the pond. Similar to an indoor
aquarium, certain nitrifying bacteria need to be in place
to help promote the proper environment for plants and fish
to grow and thrive. When I first set up our aquarium, the
pet store gave me a bag of water with some of the sludge
from their filters. The water looked disgusting, but it
contained bacteria that was necessary for the fish to thrive.
These nitrifying bacteria do not exist in a new pond, and
need to grow. Instead of simply adding plants and fish to
a new pond, you'll need to give the pond time to develop
these bacteria, but there are some steps that you can take
to help the bacteria develop.
When you install a new filter in your pond, it is void
of any bacteria. These bacteria do not grow if the water
is too cold. So, in the spring, when the water starts to
warm up, you can add enzymes to your pond to promote the
growth of this bacteria. Do not do any backwashing for about
a month, to allow the nitrifying bacteria a chance to grow
in the filter. After a month, you can backwash as directed.
If you have a UV filter, keep it turned off for the first
month to give the bacteria a chance to build up.
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