The primary concern of any koi pond keeper, indeed of any fish pond keeper, it to maintain the pond water at a high level of cleanliness. This basically means that you have to keep the nitrate and ammonia levels down. However, the fish will not help in this endeavour, and nor can they, since they live and defecate in their environment, the water. You could rightly say that the live in their own toilet bowl.

Therefore, it is up to you, as their patron, to keep their water as clean as possible. This is actually not so difficult and much or the cleansing process can be automated, leaving you, the owner, to only have to carry out routine, weekly checks.

The first check that you should carry out can be made on a daily basis if not more often, when you give food to your fish, does the water look clear? Is it green? Are there lots of leaves floating around in it? If it is clear enough to see the bottom of the pond, you are probably doing OK, but do not rely on that, wait for the weekly chemical check up.

Do you like the sound of moving water? Do you find the sound soothing? Well, you can easily produce the sound of running water in your own garden. You can put in a fish pond or a water garden. So, if you think that your garden requires landscaping, it might be a good idea to consider a fish pond or water garden.

People think that a fish pond takes lot of looking after, but that is not necessarily true. The fact is that the larger the fish pond, the less effort you have to put into it. This is because a large pond can create its own ecosystem, whereas a small fish pond needs assistance.

The ways that you can help a small fish pond be a decent environment for your fish are as follows:

Pond Filters – use a pond filter with a good pump. Do not forget that you could get a solar powered pump. It will save on the environment and on your wallet. You should use a pond filter on a small pond, because the ecosystem cannot deal with all the plant waste of a small ornamental pond on its own. A pond pump will supply the filtration system and a waterfall or fountain if you wish.