Welcome to DIY Doctor's blog

Knowing which fish can go in your pond will mean that you won’t get it right by trial and error, and end up with heartache when you unwittingly kill a fish. Knowledge is power, so arm yourself with the right information and get it right first time.

Fish, just like plants, are all part of your pond’s eco system so you need a balance of the right fish for your pond.

Which Fish Are Right For Your Pond?
Shubunkins are a beautiful fish that have a variety of different colours, from grey to red, and can be flecked with spots of each colour. They look very similar to goldfish, and like goldfish they are easy to keep in a pond.

Goldfish can vary from red to a very light orange. They breed easily and will probably reach about twenty centimeters given the right conditions. Sarasa Comets are in the same family as goldfish but are white with red patches.

Koi carp are, along with goldfish, very common fish for people to have in a pond. They do look amazing as they have different colours and patterns. They must be kept in bigger ponds with a depth of at least a meter, as they can reach 90 cm.

Tench are bottom feeders, and they often disappear to the bottom of the pond to feed upon the uneaten food that might be left there by other fish. It is quite unusual to be able to spot them as they are an olive green colour that blends well with the bottom of the pond, though a gold variety may be available.

Golden Orfe are another common garden pond fish. They need to be kept in big ponds as they prefer to live in shoals and can grow up to 40 cm. They are surface feeders and need plenty of oxygenated water to live in.

Keeping Your Pond Oxygenated
Many pond fish need plenty of oxygen in the water to thrive in your pond. You can create an oxygenated pond by installing a pond pump. You must make sure that the pond pump is at the right pressure for your pond as it may end up flowing too fast for the size or not fast enough and there won’t be enough oxygen in the water for your fish.

There are a wide variety of pond pumps for sale, available online from All Pond at a price that suits you.

Tweet

Share via email

With lots of the population doing a lot of travelling over the next couple of weeks, we thought we would put together a list of essentials to make sure you have in your car.

• A decent ice scraper and de-icer
• Hazard Triangle to warn other drivers if you have had an accident.
• Torch – a small LED torch is great or consider a wind up torch in case the batteries fail.
• A blanket or sleeping bag for warmth if you have to spend time in the car due to a breakdown.
• Tow-rope (one that should stay in the car all year round maybe!)
• A shovel and possibly even a small bag of rock salt in case you get stuck.
• First aid kit (plus, very importanty if you are travelling far, a supply of any medication you need to take on a regular basis)
• Extra warm clothes in case you break down – hats, gloves, extra socks and wellies are a good idea.
• Make sure if you have a mobile phone that it is fully charged in case you need to call for help.
• Drinks and snacks! Stock up on a few muesli bars and some dried fruit in plastic containers will keep you going. Also, pack a flask with a hot drink or some high-energy drink.
• Roadside assistance membership is also obviously recommended in case you get stranded.

Although we would naturally store this emergency kit in the boot of the car, in actual fact as many accidents involve a rear collision, it would be better yo keep it in the car preferably in the passenger footwell if possible.

Tweet

Share via email

A call to all the DIY Doctor users -

Does anyone have contact details for two tool companies:

Wolf Electric Ltd (Wolf) and British Mower Company (BMC)

If anyone can help, please email office@diydoctor.org.uk or leave a comment on this post,

Thank you!

Tweet

Share via email

For a long while DIY Doctor has been trying to combat the effects of Cowboy Builders in our industry. We have published articles on Cowboy Builders and how the country loses millions of pounds because the majority of tradespeople in this country do not have any form of insurance to protect their customers.

We have now joined forces with Quotatis who will not allow tradespeople to join their data-base without the relevant insurances. They are also thoroughly vetted and references are followed up to ensure you only receive free quotes from the best of the bunch.

Click into any of our project pages or look at our Find a Tradesman page to be sure to beat the cowboys.

Tweet

Share via email

DIY Doctor presented 15 demonstrations on skim plastering, repairing burst pipes, basic plumbing, How to use a DIY toolkit and DIY Comedy at the National Home Improvement Show at Earls Court last weekend.

Over 30,000 people wandered past the stand to watch and listen to advice from tradesmen on how to complete their DIY projects at home. The feedback was fantastic and as soon as the show was finished we were booked to appear again next year.

Big thanks to Chelmer Heating Services for standing in at the last minute and presenting 3 great seminars on Renewable Energy.  Take a look at their site here http://www.chelmerheating.co.uk/

As far as we can tell DIY Doctor is the only advice site which actually reaches out to it’s users to show them how to create DIY projects safely and to a professional finish. All the other “ME TOO” websites sit back, copy the DIY Doctor content and reword it. If there was a single tradesman amongst them, he would make himself known.

Plagiarism is a huge problem on the web. Content is taken from a hardworking site, run by professional people with integrity. The words are switched round and it is published on another site. Watch the content on DIY Doctor. WE publish a page and 10 minutes later 3 copycat sites have the same information on theirs.

We prove we can do the work we talk about by appearing on Radio, TV and at exhibitions in person…Others sit back drawing pretty pictures of jobs they wish they could do.  We wonder how many schools they were thrown out of for copying their classmate’s homework!

That’s my gripe for today. We showed again at the Home Improvement Show that DIY Doctor is real. Real Tradesmen giving real advice in real situations. Not wannabe pretenders with all the integrity of a Cowboy.

Take a look at the videos of the show here http://www.improveyourhomeshow.co.uk/ and see if you can spot “The Doctor”

Tweet

Share via email