Water Gardening: 10 Malignant Misconceptions Finally Put to Rest

There was a time when garden ponds were a pain, a maintenance headache, a drain on the old bank account. And for those reasons ponds were a phenomenon mainly enjoyed by the rich and the famous who could afford to hire maintenance workers to do daily battle with algae, leaks, and the predators who’d occasionally pay the fish a visit.

But with 21st century innovation, garden ponds have become user friendly, financially accessible to normal folks, and done right, they require very little maintenance time and effort from their owners. Regardless, in some circles ponds suffer from years and years of bad press, and misconceptions abound. In any case, here’s a list of the top ten pond misconceptions, along with the real facts to set them straight. Check them out.

1. Small water features require less work
In reality, just the opposite is true. The bigger the body of water, the more diluted any problem becomes, which makes it easier a bigger pond is to care for.

2. Algae should never make a home in your pond
Algae is a part of Mother Nature and as such is part and parcel of all ponds. The goal is not to eliminate algae, but to minimize it. And minimization is achieved by having plenty of aquatic plants (lilies, water hyacinth for starters) in your pond that will compete with the algae for the available nutrition. The less available nutrition there is, the less the algae problem becomes. You effectively starve it out of existence.

3. Water gardening is a maintenance headache
It used to be a headache. On the other hand if you work with Ma Nature, keep your aquatic ecosystem in balance with plenty of aerobic bacteria to transform debris into nutrition, and aquatic plants to soak the nutrition up, Mother Nature does almost all of the heavy lifting. Don’t ever mess with Mother Nature, especially in a water garden.

4. Daily water testing is required if you are going to succeed in water gardening
Mother Nature never tests here water, and if you keep your garden pond in balance, you won’t either. The whole trick is to cooperate with Ma Nature, and avoid competing with her. That’s a mistake every time.

5. Koi keeping requires a pond at least three feet deep
Millions of happy, healthy koi live in ponds that are only 24” deep. That being the case, three feet of depth is obviously unnecessary overkill.

6. Mosquitoes and water gardening go together like ham and cheese
Stagnant water attracts mosquitoes. But moving water in a pond with a skimmer and a biofalls system is not very attractive to mosquitoes. But if they find their way to your pond and come close to the surface your fish or your dragonflies will have a feast. Worry not about mosquitoes around the pond. They’re not a problem.

7. Water gardening is just plain hard work
Water gardening is hard work in an unbalanced aquatic ecosystem. In that case you’re working against Mother Nature and not with her. But if you understand the basics of a naturally balanced aquatic ecosystem, and follow her rules, Mother Nature does the work for you.

8. Water gardening is very expensive, thus accessible only to the wealthy
This used to be the case, but the millions of middle income families all across North America is a testimony to the financial accessibility of garden ponds today.

9. Predators will get to your fish
The best antidote to predators, be they heron or raccoons, is a fish cave. Install one in your pond and your fish will have a place in which to hide from their enemies. It’s a simple, inexpensive antidote. Not only that, but it works.

10. One contractor is as good as another when it comes to pond installation
If you believe that then one football player is as good as another. One electrician is as good as another. One parent is as good as another. Actually, if you have the instructions and the physical capacity (mainly a strong back) you can build it yourself. But if you’re hiring it done, make sure and check our your installers credentials including his certification and his happy water gardening customers. If he checks out then you’re probably in good hands.