As long as the correct measures have been taken regarding spring maintenance, summer should be the time when you can sit back and enjoy your pond. However, with some simple checks the summer months will be trouble-free.

As the temperature will now have stabilised, the bacteria in the filter will be active and so the water quality will have levelled out. This also means that parasites and pests will be active so fish should be monitored closely. As this is also the spawning season, the more active the fish become, the more likely they are to harm each others, so again, regular checks should be carried out. Fish spawn and frog spawn, can also encourage protein froth (see Spring- Feeding) which is an ugly foam on the water surface. This can be easily removed using Hozelock Cyrpio from Away.

It has now become peak time for insects. If there is a lot of insect life living in your filter, water clarity may suffer. This is because insects can consume the waste collected in a filter. While this may sound like a good thing, it means that your filter cannot mechanically mature and, therefore, will not work effectively.

One of the most important elements of pondkeeping during the summer months is aeration. Pond plants do give off oxygen in the day, but this process is reversed at night when oxygen is used up and carbon dioxide produced. This is why Hozelock Cyprio always recommends keeping a standby pump to be used in the event of main pump failure. Regular water changes, approximately 10% per month are also recommended to help re-oxygenation, and also to remove the nitrates produced by biological filtration. Regular sludge removal is also necessary as the waste that gathers on the bottom of a pond can also produce carbon dioxide.