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PondScape has been INSTALLING and SERVICING ponds for 12 years. We are not a basement company simply running a computer site while shipping all of our orders direct to bypass any overhead costs. PondScape employees a full time service and installation crew as well as a large retail outlet. Each pond we build relies on certain COMPONENTS to make it all work. These COMPONENTS have been broken down to the best of our ability help educate you, our customers. GROUP 1: WATER GARDENS: By far the largest group listed here. A WATER GARDEN pond is a CLOSED SYSTEM which recycles its contained water supply via a pump and plumbing. Any series of filters and components may be used in this system. Water gardens are meant to be a BALANCED ECOSYSTEM utilizing fish, plants, rocks, gravel, beneficial bacteria and filtration to create a natural looking pond with little or no exposed equipment. These ponds have the liner completely covered and all pipes and plumbing out of site. The COMPONENTS below are typical to a basic WATER GARDEN installation. Skimmer Filter: Deposits surface debris in easy-to-remove bag and breaks the surface tension for a cleaner pond. Skimmers "skim" the surface removing leaves and debris before allowing it to waterlog and sink to the pond bottom to decompose. Skimmers hold you pump, keeping the pump hidden from view while removing large debris MECHANICALLY before it can clog your pump. Skimmer filters are know as a means of mechanical filtration and can be cleaned as often as necessary without the fear of disrupting a biological balance. When choosing a skimmer be sure to get the correct size face plate (water intake opening) to coincide with the size pump you will use. Most skimmers will list their GPH (gallons per hour capable of flowing) rating in the specs. Most skimmers are installed outside of the pond. They are dug into the ground and the lid/cover is set at ground level. The pond liner is seamed to the skimmer's opening where it draws in the water. Some skimmers can be used inside the pond for difficult installations such as concrete or preformed ponds. Standard Skimmer Type
Pump: Your pump is the heart of the ecosystem. You have many choices when purchasing a pump. Most WATER GARDENS use a SUBMERSIBLE PUMP inside a skimmer filter. Most pumps are priced based on their electrical efficiency. In other words, you either pay for the pump, or you pay the electric bill. Some cheaper pumps are great for a lower budget but remember that these cheaper pumps will consume more power and usually have a shorter life. External pumps are usually not used in water gardens but are discussed in greater detail below with HYBRID PONDS. Most water gardens use mag-drive pumps, asynchronous pumps or direct drive pumps. Mag-drive pumps generate flow by ways of an electro-magnetic impeller and are extremely
Plumbing: Be sure to choose the correct size tubing/piping applicable to your pump. Here is a break down of flow rates through individual tubing sizes: Max Flow (GPH) Tubing (inside Dia.) Tubing is available in several types. Vinyl tubing is the least expensive and is only to be use on very small pumps running small fountains and ornaments. Kink-free tubing is a popular type used by most do-it-yourselfers. It is easily cut and secured to connections using clamps. Flexible PVC piping is the choice for most pond professionals. It is secured to connections by the use of special PVC cement and resists the drag of friction loss and multiple fittings. Rigid white PVC pipe can also be used but is frowned upon in most installations due to the amount of fittings used to make turns and connections. This causes probable leak points and back pressure resulting in slower pump flows. UV Clarifier: This unit is used to clear green water. An ultraviolet bulb is housed in a stand-alone unit encased in a test tube (quartz tube). Water flows through the unit around the test tube and the ultraviolet light is emitted though the glass. This UV light kills most invertebrates that pass through the tube but is mainly aimed at destroying filimentacious algae. This form of algae is what makes up green "pea-soup" water. UV clarifiers are very effective on unbalanced ponds and those with continuous suspended algae problems. They are NOT effective against string algae and blanket weed and will only work on the micro-organisms that actually flow through the unit. Do not confuse UV clarifiers with UV sterilizers (used in the aquarium industry). UV sterilizers kill ALL micro-organisms that pass through it (not just algae). For this to be true in a pond, a much larger and higher wattage UV unit would be needed. Underlayment: When installing a rubber liner of any type, be sure to fist line the area with UNDERLAYMENT PADDING. Typically, 6oz needle-punched underlayment is the choice for Pro's. Underlayment will cover all of the pond, not just the bottom like sand. Remember, sand will not adhere to pond walls. Underlayment is fairly cheap around 30 cents a sq.ft. Liner: Pond liner is available in several forms such as EPDM rubber, polypropylene, polyethylene or PVC liners. EPDM rubber is by far the most popular pond liner. EPDM (ethylene propylene diene terpolymer) Rubber in the pond industry is fish safe and should not be confused with roofing liner. Roof liner is cured at the factory in a different process, some which may use chemicals harmful to aquatic life. EPDM is very flexible, very elastic and forgiving. It is fairly inexpensive and easy to use. EPDM is available up to 50'x100' but is very heavy in larger sizes. It is available in 45mil and 60mil thicknesses. One "MIL" is 1/10 of a millimeter or 0.1254 millimeters. 45mil EPDM rubber liner is the most popular used in all ponds by far. The 60mil EPDM is rarely used but only asked for in heavy duty waterfall applications. PVC liner is very flimsy and can be found at most hardware stores for different projects and is not recommended for most ponds. Polypropylene and polyethylene liners are typically used in larger lakes where EPDM is not large enough or is too heavy to work with. Rocks are an important component in installing a water garden. Rocks will cover the vertical walls of the pond liner and will hide and protect the rubber liner. Rocks will also grow microscopic colonies of beneficial bacteria aiding in debris decomposition and overall water quality. Although rocks are very appealing in a BALANCED WATER GARDEN, they can actually trap debris in an incorrectly, unbalanced water garden or HYBRID KOI POND. Gravel plays the same role as rocks in a WATER GARDEN by covering the horizontal surfaces and locking it all together. The same bacteria will also colonize throughout the gravel. A thin layer is recommended in a balanced system only! Fish are actually a component in a balanced ecosystem! Fish nibble at plants and release waste in the form of ammonia. Ammonia is toxic at certain levels but is consumed and transformed by beneficial bacteria in your biofalls and gravel. As the bacteria consume the ammonia, it is converted to nitrite which is then consumed by other bacteria and transformed into nitrates. The nitrates (also harmful at high levels) are released back to the water where the...
GROUP 2: KOI POND: These ponds are also constructed using a closed system like the water gardens above. However, koi ponds rely on hi-tech filtration, UV sterilizers, usually straight drop-off pond walls and exposed liner. Koi ponds may be lined with pond liners or concrete. The idea of MOST koi ponds is to have absolute perfect water parameters for means of breeding and raising top quality fish. This of course does not mean that any of the other types of ponds listed here are not capable of raising koi and other fish. However, it is the primary objective for this style pond. MOST koi ponds will have unattractive plumbing, pumps and liner showing since hiding these components is not a priority to MOST koi ponds. Some newer developments are mixing the KOI POND style with the traditional WATER GARDENS listed above. We like to call these "HYBRID KOI PONDS". The COMPONENTS below are typical to a basic KOI POND installation.
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Skimmer Pressure Filter Gravity Filter Pump Bottom Drain Plumbing Solids Filter UV Sterilizer Aerator GROUP 3:Concrete Ponds: Older ponds are traditionally made of concrete. This building method is rarely seen in new pond construction but was once popular before all of the new pond technology began to develop about 15 years ago. Concrete ponds are difficult to maintain by relying on a natural balance. This type of pond should use different chemicals, specialized filtration and moderate maintenance to thrive.
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Pump Plumbing Filter GROUP 4: Preformed Ponds Pump Plumbing Filter GROUP 5: Mud Ponds / Dirt-Bottom Ponds & Lakes: We often refer to retention ponds and farm ponds simply as LAKES. Because this is not a CLOSED SYSTEM, it is very difficult to keep them sparkling clear like a water garden. However, we do offer products to keep these systems healthy and attractive with little maintenance. A LAKE or MUD POND does not use any means of liner. Water may seep into the soil or flow out down streams if equipped. Some may have drainage lines or streams that flow into them. This is called an OPEN SYSTEM, which means the water is constantly being flushed out and replenished. Even a lake pond without streams is still considered OPEN, as water will slowly seep out into the ground.
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Pump Plumbing Filter Aerator Fountain Lights
GROUP 6: Preformed Ponds:
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Pump Plumbing Filter Lights
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In Pond Type
Biological Waterfall Filter: Disappears from view by becoming a waterfall! Bacteria live inside, cleaning the water. Requires only yearly cleaning. The bacteria grow and reproduce within any form of BIO-MEDIA, such as lava rock, bio balls, bio spheres, etc. Choose a biofalls filter based on the width of your waterfall desired as well as the GPH it can handle. Be sure its large enough to hold enough bacteria to BIOLOGICALLY filter your pond size. 
energy efficient and are great for low-head (not far lengths of tubing). Mag-drive pumps are typically used on small fountains, small waterfalls and spitting statues. Because they quickly lose their "lift" power, we do not recommend these pumps for most waterfalls in water gardens. Asynchronous pumps are great for average waterfalls and are also very energy efficient. These pumps rely on a wet-rotor design which allows the motor to be cycled through different voltages regulating the flow. They are not as powerful as a direct drive pump but have become increasingly popular in most applications under 3000gph. Direct-drive pumps are the most popular for water gardens. These pumps incorporate an oil or air-cooled motor (sealed watertight) and a volute housing an impeller assembly. Basically the motor is directly attached to the impeller though a means of shafts and seals. They can pump massive flows and have little pressure loss when compared to the previous two pump styles. Direct drive pumps are becoming more and more energy efficient with new technology. 
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