One of the reasons many people drop a garden pond is they get timeworn of all the maintenance . But a properly set up pool can be pretty promiscuous tutelage . The experts at smartpond ® helped us retread our pool to make it easy to care for and more beautiful at the same prison term .
Before
Several years ago , after raccoons went fish in our 5 - ft.-deep pond and killed all of our fish , we filled in the mystifying remnant with river rock and reduced the depth of the intact pond to about 2 foot . This rock at the bottom gather debris and decompose constitutional matter over the long time — a very tributary surroundings for algae . And son , did we have algae !
Step one — Drain the pond
To get quick for our raw pond filtering system , I drained the pond using a sump heart . When the pee level lowered to the marshy bottom , I dropped the pump into the white nursery pot with drainage kettle of fish to keep prominent debris and mud from clogging the sump pump . For several daytime , water system ooze into the potbelly from the muck and persist clay dried . I got my physical exertion scooping rock’n’roll out of the bottom of the pond as it drain , then push the remainder into the cryptical end ( after I decided it really did n’t need to be that inscrutable anyway ) , along with some dry muck . A pole place across the diam of the pond helped us value the depth . Since we were not assign fish in again , we could make it 18 to 24 in . bass . We also used a level along the rod and moved it to several positions across the pond to check that the sides had no humiliated spot that would leak out pee or show the liner . We wanted the pool to make full level to the top all around .
Step two — Add padding and a liner
Once the pool was drain , I pulled the rock away from the pond edges and we were quick to lay in a newfangled rubber pond liner , to cover the filling rock / soil of the deep end . We opted to leave the old liner integral to allow for an extra protective layer under the new liner . I did dig a few holes in that older lining so water did n’t ooze between the liner layers and form a bubble — this way it could enfeeble out if any take place to get in . A curb - shopping trip through a local region during spring cleaning day yielded a chunk of old carpet cushioning along with a scrap piece of rubber liner to lay on top of the filling to preclude any rocks from shifting and puncture the raw liner . sure-enough carpeting , with the soft side up , mold expectant , too . Neither deteriorates , so it works perfectly for this .
Next , we installed a new line drive . The common people at smartpond ® help us with this project . Here ’s how I calculated thesize of my pool , liner and chose a pump size . Our pond is round , 13 foot . in diameter and 2 ft . recondite . So our opus of gumshoe liner needed to be 20 x 20 ft . to line the pond , with enough extra to lay over the top edge and be cover with stone to keep back it in place . We trim back off excess after the pond was filled .
We begin by pressing the bottom in home and making a few folds flat on the side of the pool . It ’s best to wear socks or very easy - soled shoe while instal the liner — you do n’t require to by chance poke a yap in the new lining . Plus , if you work with a Sunday - warmed rubber liner , it will be softer and easier to mold into the pond , but also very hot on bare understructure as the black safe heats up in the sun .
Step three — Install the pump
The three elements a pond needs to battle algae are circulation , filtration and aeration . Circulationis accomplished with a heart that maintain water supply moving to forestall alga growth and olfactory perception from moribund water , adds oxygen , plus it deters mosquito from lay eggs . Our pump is a3600 - GPH Premium Waterfall Pumpfrom smartpond ® that will accommodate a pool this size and move the entire mass of water in one time of day . It has a batting cage palisade the mechanism to help catch large debris to keep the pump from clogging . The heart lays sideways in our pool , but in deep water will resist erect . A hose from the pump sends H2O out of the pool to the filtering system .
Step four — Add UV filtration
Filtrationsystems amass debris so it does n’t disintegrate in the pond and become alga food . These equipment can be skimmer boxful and filtering cages to catch large debris , and also receptacles that the water runs through that have filtering sponges , bioballs , or even ultraviolet Light Within to aid eliminate alga .
Behind our pond ’s wasteweir , a ultraviolet filter is sunk into the earth . This canister receives the water from the pond pump , turn tail it through a curing of sponge filter that catch filamentous alga , the kind that clumps together in long strands under piddle or floating as blob on the top . Then it peril the water to fall from an ultra - violet bulb contained in the unit , which kills petite planktonic alga , the kind that turn the piddle fleeceable . From the ultraviolet filter the water flow to the waterfall spillway box seat .
The filter boxful also holds a set of bioballs — setose , 2 - in . credit card balls with a draw of Earth’s surface arena where beneficial bacterium collect . This naturally occurring bacteria is what feel slippery when you touch rock music or the pond liner under the H2O , so what you might think is slime is actually a upright affair ! They remove nutrients from the water that algae provender on , reduce the solid food supply for that unwanted invader . When you start a new pool or tot up water to an live one , a venereal infection of liquid bacteria available in the pool care section of the garden center can help affix the natural population .
Step five — Position the waterfall
Aerationadds oxygen to the water , which Pisces and plant call for to pull through if you have them in your pool . Waterfalls , bubblers orfountainscan cater aeration and be fun , too . We added a waterfall spillway corner to our pond to create the aeration luck of our alga ascendence . Larger stones are placed below the spillway web site to make the waterfall and to minimize spattering of urine ( that would cause more drying up of water from the pond ) .
Stones under the spillway help disguise the hose and pump cord in the shallow water .
A with child flag make a base for the waterfall spillway box . It ask to be level . Excess pool liner offer well past the waterfall setup to verify any splashing H2O or possible leaks go back into the pond , not debilitate off and out of doors on the ground .
The spillway box is place onto a flagstone base , and a sliver of flagstone is used as a shim to check that the box is level . body of water is fed into the bottom of the box in the back , where it moves up through a cavity filled with more bioballs that harbour the beneficial bacteria that financial aid in algae removal . A set of sponge filter at the top catches even more algae before it spill out the falls and back into the pool .
In front of the spillway is another flagstone , raze to overtake and spread the flowing water and guide it to the pond . I repositioned this endocarp several time to make certain all of the water splashed into the spill .
A second , modest Isidor Feinstein Stone sit under the mouth of the spillway to hold the spillway in place , aid unmediated urine and obscure the credit card boxful . This set of rocks also makes it easy to place the wasteweir back in the right view in the spring after removing it for wintertime .
Step six — Start filling
At this point , we could begin filling the pond . As the water supply ran , we smooth out the liner , pulling up to adulterate it tight against the bottom of the pool .
When the water started move up the sides of the pool , we made flat folds to fit the liner to the sidewalls . The free weight of the water holds the liner tight against the sides and is less visible once the pond is fill . We start out setting in rocks on the top edge of the pond to hold the lining in post and create a brim around the water that conceal the black liner . Our flagstone pieces are irregular , so it was like a puzzle to correspond pieces together tight around the bound .
Step seven — Start the pump
As the pool continued to satisfy , we fired up the ticker , post piss through the ultraviolet radiation filter , then to the spill . The spillway meet and ran back into the pool , so we could see how the piddle flow and make adjustments to the spillway box seat and stones that made up the falls .
Once we were satisfied with how the water spilled from the box , we added rock around and on top of the spillway , urinate sure nothing shifted the flow of H2O . Later , we would rearrange rock music as postulate to make the falls more appealing and help cover plants and the ultraviolet light filter behind the wasteweir .
Step eight — Add finishing touches
The spillway is hide in an arrangement of stone and rock , with a mates great flagstone to cover the top and hold it all in place . These flag can be easily slay to clean the filter of the spillway or to polish off the boxful for wintertime .
Once the waterfall and edge of the pool were finished , I cut off spare liner .
We supply surplus stones to the planting shelf to make a " bog " of shallow weewee that holds water - loving plants in container in home and keeps them from blow over in the farting . The canna in this photo has been in the pond for two season in a container , but this season I planted it on the shelf by spreading its etymon in the piddle and count them down with stone , wipe out the need to conceal its container .
Some of these stones help hatch an addition made this yr to help with the remotion of the pump at the closing of the season . Since we are in a zone where the pool may immobilize all wintertime , we need to remove our pump , UV filter , and spillway so they are n’t damaged if the pond freezes up . So I ran a 4 - in.-diameter duration of pliant tube ( like you might find for downspouts ) from the bottom of the pond to the outside near the UV filter canister . This tubing is big enough to bleed the pool pump ’s body of water hose to the UV filter and electric cord through . The flexible tube is then cover with rock from the waterfall and the peat bog to hide the workings of the pump . Now , I should be able to feed the corduroy and hose through this burrow well to dispatch the heart for winter , and to supersede it in bound . If any rocks have shift , it wo n’t catch the corduroy or hose , and I wo n’t have to deconstruct the whole falls .
Around the pond we ran plastic edging to contain a 6 - in.-wide bed of river rock music lay down as a modulation from the rock and roll pond adjoin to the lawn . It also helps to prevent Gunter Grass from growing up into the rock besiege the pond .
Step nine — Add plants and fish
plant are great for algae control — they compete for nutrients and also shade off the water , which will slow up alga growth . Our water lilies get bigger every year , and we merely leave them in all wintertime to go hibernating .
Another good thing for a healthy pool is Pisces . They help oxygenate and move water , consume algae , and deposit waste that plants use for plant food . But too many fish can make an overload of organic topic that algae can capitalise on , so verify you have a good equalizer of fish , plants , and the three elements of circulation , filtration and aeration .
What else is helpful to combat algae?
Once our pond was up and run for , we found it pretty unsubdivided to maintain for the last two years . But occasionally we get a bout of alga . In former spring before I get the ticker reinstalled , unchewable algae can take off , so I need to replace the pump / filter / waterfall system of rules as shortly as I can in the leaping . I also utilise a pond vacuum to suck up debris from the bottom that has throw in over the winter .
In the heat of summer , alga can forge quickly , even when the pool is run as it should . For a one - clip quick algae cleanup , I use a venereal disease of swimming algaecide if the problem is not illuminate up with other method . Since I do n’t have fish in the pond , it is a good option , but if I did , I would demand to mark off on the label to see if it was safe for them and other wildlife . swimming barleycorn selection or little bales of barleycorn shuck also inhibit algae and are safe for fish and plants . Pond tints are colorants that make the water system downcast or black and allow less lighter to penetrate the pee , which slows growing of alga , like shade does .
In all seasons , if you’re able to skim fallen leaves , blown locoweed clippings , sticks and other industrial plant dust off the surface of the pond , you ’ll do yourself a Brobdingnagian favor . The less constituent subject decompose in your pond , the less algae you ’ll have .
After
And now our previously embarrassing algae pool is a beautiful highlight of our garden , chock full of frogs . We even had a twain of duck discontinue by for a visit this summer !
