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What is carbonate hardness? Why is carbonate hardness like life insurance for your aquarium? What is the difference between it and general hardness and how does carbonate hardness work in your aquarium?

The care of your garden pond depends on the season. In spring you have other jobs than in autumn. But what needs doing in summer?

If you take proper action now, by reducing the nutrient input and the existing nutrient sources, you can prevent algae problems in the coming year.

Maybe you’ve felt like this: nothing works, the pond looks disastrous and you just don’t know what to do.

Die Sonne knallt auf den Teich und Sie füllen täglich Wasser nach? An manchen Tagen fragt man sich, „ist das wirklich normal und nur die Verdunstung“?

Is your pond clear – with no algae in sight? Perhaps you were just lucky or you have completed an algae treatment successfully. In either case there’s one thing you don’t need: algae!

A JBL community member contacted us with following question: ”The KH in my pond is very high (e.g. 18 °dKH). The dilution through rainwater alone is not enough to solve this problem. Can this be harmful for koi and goldfish in the long run?"

Granted, nobody really enjoys testing water. It’s time-consuming and sometimes you’re not sure which colour on the chart your water result matches. But water testing really can be lifesaving – at least for your fish!

Many aquarium owners think that the general hardness represents the total of all minerals and the carbonate hardness only a part of it. Then how can the carbonate hardness sometimes be higher than the total of minerals?

A few algae in the pond do not pose a problem and even form a component of a healthy pond. But once the water turns green or „blanket weed“ algae become rampant, you then have a problem which needs fixing. Effective and longterm algae control consists of three steps.

While the title of the well-known book series may suggest the opposite, these books are actually full of excellent explanations for complicated facts. And that’s exactly what we also want to try and do, because the subject of water test/water chemistry puts a lot of people off.

Instead of comparing the colour change of the water on a colour scale, a second measuring glass with the aquarium water is put on the colour field of the colour chart.

It’s a hard life for a pond: It is exposed to all weather conditions, it gets unwanted rainwater and it has to digest leaves, flower pollen and any particulate matter that enters.

It can affect every pond owner. But if you are careful you can avert problems before they occur. In the following article we would like to introduce you to the different types of algae you may meet in the garden pond:

Today I would like to give you an idea of what happens to koi in our dealers’ basins. Since our koi have just arrived half starved from Japan it is first the duty of our dealers to put the new arrivals in quarantine. First of all their general health is checked.

Here, for anyone who may have missed it or who wasn’t able to visit us there, is a short report of our successful trip to Japan.

This is an association but it is also the name of what is probably the most important koi show worldwide. The show takes place every year in the Tokyo Ryutsu Center, where 80 professional adjudicators evaluate about 1500 koi. It is here that the Shinkokai Grand Champion is selected.

I have talked about KH and pH with a lot of koi dealers, experts and professionals in the past few weeks.

People often ask me what I think about water testing when I am out on my rounds, because most of my contacts respect my opinion.

In the aquarium scene we often hear people talking about “accurate” and “inaccurate” tests. But mostly they mean a rougher or finer scaling of the output values.

The water in your aquarium is outstandingly significant because it is a life-giving element for fish and plants.

Professional water analysis sounds very expensive. But the professional water testing in your aquarium or pond at home also works on a high level and above all it is simple and inexpensive.

The water level can drop by up to several centimetres a day. This means it has to be refilled once a week at the latest.

There has been plenty of heavy rainfall in Germany in the last few days. The ponds are full to the brim and the garden - and more - is under water.

We are constantly being asked by pond owners for advice about how to deal with the problem of algae carpets on the water surface.

The flowers are blooming and the allergy sufferers know it only too well: the pollen count! We can see the powdery yellow coating on our cars and on the forest paths. The pollen count and small leaves are floating through the air and reaching our ponds in huge amounts.

Many pond owners don’t realise this. That’s why they don’t react to algae growth until it’s too late. This is not only annoying, it makes it harder to achieve clear water for your dream landscape.

Pond owners need to start preparing their ponds in autumn for the coming winter. Only by doing this can you be sure that your pond will continue to bring you pleasure next year and that your fish will be healthy.

As a pond owner in autumn you not only have to deal with getting the pond ready for winter, you also have to struggle with heavy and frequent rainfalls.

It’s getting cold slowly and the pond season is coming to its end. The leaves of the water lilies are dying and the sunshine hours are getting shorter. But in the pond there is still a lot happening. We will show you how to make your pond fit for the winter.

It happens every year. The algae arrive. What can you do to prevent it? For a healthy basis the pond needs to be filled with sufficient plant mass. This applies to ALL ponds.