How to Ecobalance a Garden Pond

Photo by Jan Goldfield

A water garden or backyard pond can be balanced ecologically so your maintenance can be reduced to about 10 minutes monthly. Ecobalancing is done with appropriate plant materials and a few goldfish. Everything works together because you have recreated how ponds work in nature.

Things You'll Need

• Backyard water garden or garden pond
• Submerged vegetation
• Floating vegetation
• Emergent vegetation
• Pump to circulate water and add oxygen
• Dechlorinator

Instructions

1. In the past, you could let pond water sit for a few hours or days and the chlorine would dissipate. Because chloramine is now added, you must have a dechlorinator. Follow the directions on the bottle to add the right amount to your pond.

2. Add anacharis or other submerged vegetation to your pond. One bunch per square foot of pond surface is necessary. You must buy it all at once, not a few bunches a week. When you get it, remove any rubber bands that might be holding the pieces together or any piece of lead attached to the bottom and throw the plant material in the pond. The submerged vegetation adds oxygen to the water so the fish can breathe. The goldfish eat it, but it grows faster than they can eat it. The goldfish exhale carbon dioxide and feed the plants. And everything works together.

3. Add floating vegetation to the pond to cover at least 60% of the pond surface. Some examples of these plants are water hyacinths, water lettuce, water clover, water poppies or water lilies.

4. Add emergent plants to your pond. Some of the emergent plants are Umbrella Grass, Louisiana Irises, Papyrus, Taro and Calla lilies. These help shade the pond and makes it beautiful at the same time.

5. Add a pump that circulates at least half of the water every two hours. This keeps mosquitoes from breeding and gives the goldfish oxygen to breathe.

Tips & Warnings

• Buy only goldfish, not koi. If you buy koi, you cannot balance your pond because you must feed koi. Koi also eat all your plant material. If you have koi, you have an outdoor aquarium, not a ecologically balanced pond.

• You may have one linear foot of goldfish per 25 square feet of pond surface.

• Use a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlet to plug in your pump. The GFCI will cut off electricity instantly if water and electricity mix.

Resources

• Pond Lady