So, you’re thinking of buying a small water feature to enhance your outdoor living space? That’s a great idea! The soothing sounds of moving water can drown out traffic noise and turn any place into a tranquil oasis.
However, water features also tend to attract a certain small, winged nuisance. Which means that your next question is likely going to be, “How do I prevent mosquitoes in my water feature?”
Thankfully there are a few simple things that you can do to prevent those dreaded critters from breeding in your water feature. Here are a few:
Keep it Moving
Water will always attract mosquitoes, and they can breed in as little as a few millilitres of standing water. However, moving water is not nearly as attractive for breeding, and can prevent adult mosquitoes from laying their eggs. Moving water deters mosquitoes and they are more likely to go looking for somewhere a little quieter, darker and with still water.
Get Fish
Depending on the size of your water feature, you may be able to add a few small fish to the catchment area. Fish are voracious feeders and can mop up mosquito eggs and larvae in an amazingly short period of time. Thankfully, depending on the size of your water feature, you won’t need a lot of fish to keep your pride and job mozzie-free.
Cleaning and Maintenance
Regular cleaning of your water feature will remove debris or plant growth which would otherwise provide a hiding place for mosquito larvae. Remember, they only need the smallest amount of undisturbed water to flourish.
Mosquitoes are hardy and fast-breeding insects. In fact, it only takes between 10 – 14 days for a mosquito to develop from egg to adult, with roughly 2 – 3 days to hatch from pupae to adult. That leaves us with very little time to get rid of standing water, clean our water feature, or buy some hungry fish to handle the problem for us.
Whatever you decide, we’re sure that you’ll need some hardware and some advice for your new water feature.
Contact the Pool Spa team for more helpful information.
