​How to look after your pond when you’re on holiday…

Over the past year many of you have become first time pond owners and until recently haven’t had the opportunity to leave home. Since restrictions have eased we’ve been asked for advice on how to look after your pond when you are on holiday. So our experts have collated a list of top recommendations to ensure you come back to the same healthy pond you left.

Feeding

Fish will not starve if you are away for the weekend as they can feed from natural foods in the pond.

However, if you are away for longer, you could ask a neighbour to pop in but remember you’d need to educate them on not overfeeding your precious fish because the last thing you want is unwell pets or algae problems. So if we’re honest, it’s probably a lot simpler to set up an automatic feeder which, as the name suggests, provide a handy scheduled feeding system.

Maintenance

Before you head off make sure everything is in order. Give your filter a clean and a once over to prevent this suddenly stopping when you’re away. Check your water levels, as they may need topping up from evaporation and troubleshoot any leaks. And it is worthwhile buying a test kit to check pH, Nitrite and Ammonia levels, to see if anything needs rebalancing. You can pick a Pond Health Test Kit up in one of our stores nationwide.

Plants

As part of your check, we’d advice you spend time removing any dead or rotting organic matter such as flowers or leaves in your pond. You can do so with a net or with a Pondovac, which will clear your waters in no time! If you haven’t used one before, here’s a FAQ which you may find handy.

Check oxygen levels

While you’re away it maybe hot at home (typical!) so it is important to remember that your pond life requires oxygen-rich water to remain healthy but will be starved from it during the heat. Add aeration to your pond by adding an oxygenator.

Safety

If you have fish, make sure your pond is heron safe - we’ve actually written a separate blog on this which you can read about here.

For further advice please visit us in store and one of our experts will be more than happy to assist. Happy holidays!