Established 1995
consulting
 

I often perform consults for clients to assess what has been done and make suggestions on what they can do to improve their pond

It's important to note that it is quite easy to come in after a job is complete and criticize. It is extremely difficult to build a good pond, let alone a prefect one. To the trained eye, there will always be a couple of "should haves"

I consider this service, which I perform personally, to be our most valuable. Its very easy to spend a lot of money on what amounts to a crappy pond. My job is to step in and make sure that doesn't happen to you

   consulting overview
Our consulting service is a one on one discussion at the location of the proposed site or existing pond. Information and advice is given to provide you with all the options in order for us to arrive at the proper solution for you. Remember, every choice has advantages and disadvantages but it is your requirements and expectations which dictate the paths to take

Existing Pond
The impetus for many consults is a frustration with poor water quality and excess maintenance. At the root of this is improper pond design coupled with a lack of filtration. Unfortunately most of the filters available at the typical nursery are low capacity, overpriced and require too much work . Because of a lack of information and proper advice, many begin in this hobby with poor performing equipment and end up dissatisfied with the maintenance requirements and performance of their pond

Consults on existing ponds often include our complete chemical and physical 5 page report as we assign a number or grade for your water quality, equipment and pond design

New Pond Build
These consults involve recommendations and discussion of options so that a pricing estimate can be prepared. Because their a plethora of options and site logistics vary, its hard to template this pricing based on proposed pond size. For example, a 10 x 15 pond could cost as little as 9K or closer to 20K predicated on equipment chosen and the specifics of the site
   taking you through a real world consultation
I visited this pond in the Summer of 2007. The customer was frustrated with poor water clarity and a leaking problem. I believe if memory serves, there was a previous disease state which wiped out a number of fish. The pond looked pretty impressive and liked the design

Apparently I was the third "pond expert" to visit and discuss the situation. I was quite interested and inquired as to what was offered by my competitors. Some advice was sound, some was not and I explained why

Leaving, I was unsure whether I was to be the one chosen to undertake this reclamation project
   The positive
The pond was quite a grand undertaking and was visually impactful. It had good size and the stone work was solid and well arranged

The pond had a skimmer which functioned well, feeding a filter up by the head of the waterfall. Water quality tested fine, due to the low stocking rate rather than the existing box filter

The fish stock, mostly goldfish with a few Koi, where doing well. Unfortunately, this was about it for the upside - this pond really had a lot of fundamental flaws

   poor filtration
The filter chosen for this pond was not only inadequate unto itself, it was vastly undersized for this volume of water

When you add the fact that it is ridiculously overpriced while providing very little actual filter media, this filter represents a total waste of money and time

I actually added up the value of the media, there was $15 worth of bio balls and a $20 piece of Japanese matting

 
This filter if so poor its difficult to find something positive to say about it. Even cleaning is difficult
   negatives
Stone Work
As mentioned, the first impression of the stone work is positive. On closer examination, we can see that the stone is not set into the water and liner is visible. Stone will look so much better when it is submersed in water. It's not really bad in this case, it could just be better

River Rock
Although river rock looks great after it's freshly installed, it soon becomes covered with algae and debris negating its impressive look. Unfortunately, it traps debris and makes cleaning the pond all but impossible. It certainly had an impact on the water clarity issues with this pond

I also suspect that the planting soil was getting into the water column from the fish picking at the plants, this also causes a brown turbid appearance

Anit-Kink Hose
I'm not sure who brought this product to the market but it has caused a lot of grief to many a pond keeper. First, connecting and disconnecting this hose is extremely arduous. As mentioned on other pages, we use rubber coupler and flex hose which make coupling and uncoupling a snap. The photo illustrates a rubber coupler connection albeit with vinyl tubing. The ridges in the anit-kink hose prevent the reliable use of rubber couplers with it

Perhaps worse, is the fact that the anti-kink hose is quite thin and prone to splitting and then leaking. Avoid this product at all costs
   Pond Design Issues
Despite the ponds adequate surface area, it was lacking in pond depth being less than 5 feet, probably more like 4. Although the fish have survived a couple of years without incident, this depth is far from optimal. Water temperatures will fluctuate more rapidly and fish don't feel as safe in shallower ponds. These issues add stress. Of course there is also less tolerance for Winter survival and greater chance of predation. In the final analysis 4 feet is not bad - its just not good either

Naturally there was no bottom drain so this pond is far dirtier than it needs to be and cleaning it will consume a day. This is the prototypical landscaper pond - a skimmer feeding a "filter" and returning the pond
   Recommended and installed Solution
Short of doing a complete rebuild, we needed something that would provide quick results, fit into the existing system and possess a small foot print. The answer was obvious - a bead filter would meet these requirements. They are perfect at polishing water as they have the capacity to remove small particulate that is too light to settle out of suspension in the typical vortex

We left the existing filter installed and operating - it wasn't great but it was more work to remove it and it does provide some filtration. We installed a second pump in the skimmer which fed the new 2.2 cubic foot bead filter. There are still fundamental problems with the lack of a bottom drain and depth, but I found on a follow up email that the pond had become very clear and the client was pleased. This upgrade will travel well and can be utilized in a new build if it ever takes place

The Leak on the other hand presented some real problems. The lower pond could be evaluated, but the middle section was not watertight to the lower section. As a result, it would drain into the lower pond once the pumps were turned off. The big question was, did it also leak out of the system at that point ? Given the logistics, this was impossible to ascertain. Considering the amount of loss which was not substantial, the easy answer is to install an auto refill to maintain the system at a proper working level (a fairly tight tolerance of less than 2 inches). A large leak however really requires rectification because a large influx of water will eventually undermine the structure
     


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Last Modified : February 11, 2008
Created December 2007
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