Why I installed an AD system . . .

As a new ponder (and DIY guy), I sought all the info I could. Everyone I
talked to had a different idea as to the 'best' approach. [Ping this NG on
the subject, and see all the different configurations you get back]. When I
talked to dealers, they all recommended the system THEY had installed. I
had 100 pieces of advice, all of it different, and it was overwhelming.

The only place I could find a full description of what I needed -- with a
guarantee that it would work together was on AD's website. It walked me
through the process and clearly spelled out what I was getting myself into.
They had a local dealer who was friendly, knowledgeable, flexible and easy
to work with. I also web-searched all the components, and found AD to be
fair on everything but the liner. I therefore purchased that at
justliners.com.

I'm sure every system has its pros and cons, whether as a kit or cobbled
together. AD at least made it user friendly enough for a novice to take it
on, and be successful.

Next time I may do it differently. The main thing is, I was successful the
first time around. Thumb your nose and call it "good marketing of a bad
system" if you like -- but being user friendly was valuable to me.

"Glenn" wrote in message
s.com...
Just searching through the internet to see where we are listed, I came
upon this interesting topic.

I find it interesting that someone would include $ signs when referring
to our business and what we do. First of all we have been involved in
watergardening for over 14 years, before it became a "fad". We have
the background and knowledge to create, install and service our
watergarden clients in a professional manner. That means having a
truck and enclosed trailer that is basically a travelling warehouse
that allows us to service the clients in a timely manner.......pricetag
over $80,000.00. So do we charge our clients for our investment in
knowledge, equipment and service, you bet.

As far as cleaning the AD ponds out each year, another great old mens
tale. Yes Greg recommends you may need to clean the pond out each
year, but it is not necessary. We have not cleaned our AD
watergardens out for three years now and they continue to be crystal
clear and all of our Koi are healthy and I can assure you that Greg
does not clean out his 1 million gallon watergarden at his house each
year.

The biggest challenge to watergardens are the clients we install them
for who insist on playing with the plants, fish and streams which
really don't need to be adjusted if you just let Mother Nature take her
course. One client we had was constantly checking the pH of her pond
and adjusting and she asked me how often we check ours..........we
don't, I told her, as long as the fish are happy , I'm happy.

The biggest challenge to a healthy watergarden is clients overfeeding
their fish. They can survive on what is in the pond and don't need to
be fed and if you insist on feeding them you will either need to be
frugal in your feeding or introduce a lot of plants to help filter your
pond.

Watergardening is not rocket science as some people try to make
it.......as Greg says, Kiss it simple stupid...........People laughed
at Edison and Ford and now people cannot accept the success of Greg's
company and would rather belittle his concept to justify theirs instead
of accepting the fact that there may be more than one answer......if it
were not for AD there would be a lot of people still cleaning out their
silly little pumps with the sponge intake "filter"........

Instead of being in these chats..........enjoy your pond, accept
improvements and celebrate the passion of watergardening.
~ jan wrote:
*I'm gonna snip some and add a few comments after Joe's.

Regarding the AS system my only negative reaction to it is rocks IN
the
pond, at least on the bottom of it.

Wlucas4 wrote:
The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system on the
market. The
whole pond system is really poorly designed.

Joe reply: Whoa, calm down a notch.

Wlucas4 how long have you had your pond? Joe, sounds like they just
got
done cleaning it and found out what a JOB it is... but then I have to
clean
out my lily pond in a similar way and it takes 6 hrs and many days
of
painful muscles. ;o) So I can relate to the rant. I don't power wash
it,
cause I want the algae on the sides, and I don't have fish to worry
about
as the little guys that make it through winter are moved to a holding
tank
to grow out and trade to the LFS.

-Adding rocks to the bottom of the pond is absolutly horrible.
All of the
fish waste, all of the leaves and plant debris gets caught on the
bottom of
the pond and can never be cleaned out. It is just a giant
breeding ground
for aermonus bacteria

Yep, you got that right. Do a search in Rec.ponds from Google looking
for
Subject: *Aquascape and similar ponds* and read that discussion,
especially
the post from Gregory Young.

-How are you suppost to clean the 'biofalls'? If you pull the
filter
material out and wash it with a city tap hose you will kill all of
the
bacteria that was growning on the filter material.

I believe you simply slam the filter on some hard surface a few
times. Works
for me.

The only problem I have with whopping floppy things on to hard
surfaces is
the whopper usually gets as mucky as the whoppee. ;o)

In the system there is
no way to clean out the dirty water in the biofalls after you pull
the
filter material out.

Turn off the pump and siphon it or use a pail.

A shop vac is very useful for this application.

-Draining out the entire system and powerwashing it is a very bad
idea too.
All of the good bacteria will be killed from the clorinated water
and you
will be stuck with the new pond symdrome year after year. It
could take
months depending on your fish load to come back online. It is
very bad for
fish to have a high amonia and nitrite level.

Joe replied: I've never heard anyone saying to do this.

It's in the owner's manual of the AS system. Every spring, (and thi$
i$
what Glenn Rieker'$ www.gardenhaus.com maintenance crew doe$), you
pump
out the pond and power wash it. One has to remember though, the AS
system
is meant to be a WATER GARDEN not a Koi Pond. So the fish load is
suppose
to be low, to very low, and the vegetation VERY high. If this is
followed,
and you don't live in a dust storm prone area, it can work. I still
would
not recommend rocks on the very bottom, the ones on the side you
could wash
away much of the muck.... but, all one has to do is lift one rock to
see
how much muck is getting left behind. Once you refill and adjust the
temp
and pH to the holding tank, adding dechlor if needed, you can put the
fish
back. One should have not been feeding the fish before doing any of
this,
and ideally pump as much old clean water into the holding tank(s) to
pump
back into the pond when finished. Lastly I'd have a big bottle or
better
the dry powder of Amquel on hand and watch my ammonia closely for the
next
3 weeks and check the KH & pH right away, ask if you don't know why.

(I don't have a pond designed by
Aquascape but I do have a skimmer and bio type falls. I think they
work
fine)

-It is impossible to keep the rocks clean
Yes...

and not having sting algae growing
all over the rocks in the pond.

..no. I have some algae on the rocks. If someone building a pond
expects not
to have algae on submerged rocks, they are in for disappointment. I
suggest
this is a problem not unique to Aquascape.

The problem with power washing every spring, besides being a BIG job,
is
the pond never matures.

Since adding a skimmer and bottom drain to my koi ponds, in the
spring all
I do is fill the out-of-the-pond filter with dechlorinated water,
open the
plugs from the pre-filter to the bio-filter and turn on the pump. The
ponds
are perfectly muckless on the bottom because 1) I shop vacced the
muck out
of the bottoms (without draining and removing the fish) in the fall
and 2)
I put a screen over them afterwards that stays till I turn on the
filter.
Totally no stress for the fish and especially for ME. ;o) Plus, the
pond is
mature so I don't ever have a spring algae bloom nor String Algae,
because
of the nice coating of fuzz algae that isn't washed way on the sides
of all
inner surfaces. ~ jan

See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website *
--
Glenn
Always root for the underdog....always!
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