10 steps to complete pond management

How to understand and manage your own pond. Your route to pond keeping perfection.

01. Creating the perfect pond environment.

We should never lose sight of the fact that koi are living organisms first, and living jewels second. And koi is just like any living thing in that they demand their own specific requirements for life from their environment. Throughout this series of looking at the . . . → Read More: 01. Creating the perfect pond environment.

02. Providing Koi with the best pond conditions

Having established the environmental requirements for koi in step one of the 10 steps to successful koi keeping, step two naturally progresses on to how we provide our koi with those conditions. At every stage, it will also be helpful to clarify why each of the . . . → Read More: 02. Providing Koi with the best pond conditions

03. How to keep koi. Koi Husbandry and Koi Keeping Skills

Good husbandry skills are an essential part of successful koi keeping and may involve less hands-on work than you may have first thought. Koi husbandry covers aspects of how we handle, interact and even observe our koi, and describes the full range of the control and . . . → Read More: 03. How to keep koi. Koi Husbandry and Koi Keeping Skills

04. Koi pond health disease

In the 4th part of the 10 steps to successful koi keeping we start to turn our focus on the koi themselves. So far we have looked indirectly at the needs of koi and how we can manage their pond environment to achieve success.

Basically, we have . . . → Read More: 04. Koi pond health disease

05. Koi diseases – Diagnosing and Treating In Koi Pond

Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that disease will inevitably affect every koi or goldfish pond at some time – making it necessary for us to diagnose and treat the disease effectively. We have already seen that it is quite natural for koi to carry . . . → Read More: 05. Koi diseases – Diagnosing and Treating In Koi Pond

06. Feeding koi goldfish in a backyard pond

As koi keepers, feeding koi is one of our most enjoyable activities. It represents the time when we are able to ‘connect’ with our koi, and partake fully in an interactive relationship with our dependents. I would even be as bold to suggest that koi keeping . . . → Read More: 06. Feeding koi goldfish in a backyard pond

07. Filtration biofilters for koi goldfish ponds.

Installing a bio filter is the price we have to pay for wanting to keep koi in an artificial pond. It performs the functions that occur naturally in a lake or river within a compact unit and is arguably the single most important factor that makes . . . → Read More: 07. Filtration biofilters for koi goldfish ponds.

08. Koi keeping success. Avoiding common problems.

The vast majority of problems in a koi pond a can be traced back to water quality. As this vital topic has been discussed in previous articles in this series as well as its impact on koi health (and how to respond to disease), it gives . . . → Read More: 08. Koi keeping success. Avoiding common problems.

09. Koi Pond Calendar Year

Koi have a fascinating physiology that responds to changes in their environment in a way that not only determines their behaviour, but also ours as their keeper. With a degree of certainty, we are able to predict when koi are likely to ‘hibernate’, grown and even . . . → Read More: 09. Koi Pond Calendar Year

10. Breeding Spawning Koi Successfully

Having followed the previous 9 steps to successful koikeeping, the final step – koi breeding, can prove a contentious topic amongst koi keepers. There are those of us who want their koi to breed, taking from it a degree of satisfaction that our koi are so . . . → Read More: 10. Breeding Spawning Koi Successfully

Cycling of nutrients in a pond.

A koi pond is a miniature representation of many processes that take place in the wider living world. It behaves in a similar way to many natural environments in that it interacts continuously with the adjacent environments and elements, causing its own characteristics to change to . . . → Read More: Cycling of nutrients in a pond.

Diffusion Osmosis in a garden pond

In this series on Total Pond Management that explores a number of processes that interact to produce an aquatic ecosystem (and give a koi pond its characteristics), we will meet many processes and phenomena that operate largely unnoticed. All of these are processes are vital for . . . → Read More: Diffusion Osmosis in a garden pond

Goldfish Koi Keeping For Beginners

A water feature can provide an additional dimension to the life of a garden. The sound of moving water dappling down a waterfall to the pond surface offers a worthy accompaniment to fluttering of vibrant flowers and shady foliage moving in the breeze.

Gardening horizons can be . . . → Read More: Goldfish Koi Keeping For Beginners

Good Pond Filtration Bacteria

The role of beneficial bacteria in maintaining a healthy pond.

Bacteria fulfil so many vital roles in shaping life on earth that we are still discovering new ways in which they affect the world we live in.

They are so adaptable that they are found in every ecosystem . . . → Read More: Good Pond Filtration Bacteria

Koi Pond Management – Overview

As an introduction to the new series called Total Pond Management, Ben Helm takes us through an overview of a behind-the-scenes exploration or the many natural processes and phenomena that help to maintain a healthy pond environment.

Ponds can be incredibly dynamic environments. Through this series, we . . . → Read More: Koi Pond Management – Overview

My pond’s pH is too low and unstable.

I became a koi keeper by accident two years ago when I bought a house, complete with koi pond.

It is approximately 15 ft long by 8 ft wide and by my reckoning holds about 2500 gallons. It seems quite easy to maintain, especially as it tops . . . → Read More: My pond’s pH is too low and unstable.

Pond filter in spring

Our gardens, and everything in them cannot avoid the seasonal variations in temperature – responding accordingly with periods of inactivity and growth in winter and summer respectively. As spring approaches, life within our garden and koi pond is not be able to resist nature’s call to . . . → Read More: Pond filter in spring

Pond Metabolism – How balanced is your koi or garden goldfish pond?

Every pond is faced with the task of processing products and materials. In so doing it can behave in a similar way to an animal that is shaped by the quality and quantity of food that it eats. By trying to balance the pond’s ability to . . . → Read More: Pond Metabolism – How balanced is your koi or garden goldfish pond?

Pond water changes

As koi keepers we are experts in keeping fish in an enclosed artificial environment that is stocked with an unnaturally high stocking level and fed a relatively large quantity of food.

Consequently, there will come a time when the pond’s ecosystem becomes unbalanced, requiring our input and . . . → Read More: Pond water changes

Ponds do need a regular partial water change

As koi keepers we are experts in keeping fish in an enclosed artificial environment that is stocked with an unnaturally high stocking level and fed a relatively large quantity of food. Consequently, there will come a time when the pond’s ecosystem becomes unbalanced, requiring our input . . . → Read More: Ponds do need a regular partial water change

Reducing pond maintenance

We are a nation of DIY enthusiasts, – Don’t take my word for it, ask Mr B & Mr Q. We are keen to impress others by how well we can tackle a problem, eager to roll our sleeves up and get stuck in. Part of . . . → Read More: Reducing pond maintenance

Stocking a new pond with fish. Golden Rules

Most pondkeepers have experienced some problems or have heard of other people’s experiences when it comes to stocking a pond with fish.

You have designed, purchased and installed a landscaped garden pond. It has been planted for a couple of weeks, the pump and filter are installed . . . → Read More: Stocking a new pond with fish. Golden Rules



Kill blanketweed and string algae.