I've just finished my new pond and dont really know what to do now, lol.
Its been filled for a while and just got all the pumps going the other week. So its been circulating for a bit now. Do you have to cycle them like an aquairum?
Shall I just leave it till spring now till I put fish in?
Also, when can you put plants in? obviously not now as no stores have any?
Just wait til spring until you put any fish in it, you can cycle with fish or clone some of the benefecial bacteria in the filter media in your tropical tanks into the ponds sponges etc. Have you got a thermometre in the pond at all? The floating ones are quite good.
You can put plants in right now but as siamesefighter said they won't grow for a while yet, although IMHO now would actually be a good time of year to put new plants into the pond since they will be dormant and so you aren't gonna cause any stress to the plants by moving them etc.
Lillies are good for ponds as their large spread of large leaves help prevent algae blooms in the pond and also offer cover/protection the fish and help cut down on evaporation in the pond etc, plus their flowers look great
. Tall leafy plants and bullrushes and things will attract lots of insect life to the pond like damselflys and dragonflys while full aquatic plants like oxygenating weed/anacharis will offer cover to underwater bugs and insects and things like tadpoles etc- of course though the more fish and the larger the fish you have in the pond the less wildlife is likely to survive, but these sorts of plants still look very good
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When you buy pond plants they often come in small containers filled with soil, people often put too much soil in too smaller containers for pond plants and all the nutrients in the soil may contribute to algae problems in the pond- pond plants need very nutrients to survive and thrive in comparison to land plants, i've often found pond plants thrive best when you buy them a larger container than what the plant comes in and put about 60-70% gravel or stones and 40-30% low fertility soil in the pot before putting the pond plant/s back in it (if you get many plants in the same pot them its best to space them out apart from each other when you put them in their larger pot so they can grow to their fullest potential). Pots/tubs designed for pond plants are the best, they have lots of small holes in them which help prevent aneorobic bacteria building up in the pot and allow the plants roots to grow properly etc.
