~ jan JJsPond. us wrote:
Incorrect. A wax toilet base seal has only momentary water flow
through
it when you flush the toilet. There is thousands of pounds of water
weight (pressure) sitting on top of the seal, constantly expanding
and
shrinking as the temperature changes in your pond. This expansion
and
contraction will result in a leak in the bottom drain fitting to
pond
liner connection over time and make your life complicated.

And just how do you think they've managed all these year with bottom
drains
in swimming pools that are of the liner type?

They were installed by professional crews that are properly trained.
Not by someone who wants a pond in their backyard and buys the
components and tries to build one themselves. You can only cut a hole
in a perfectly good liner ONCE. Not a practice I would advise to just
anyone. If you screw it up the project is done.


This is not true. Even with a perfectly operating bottom drain you
WILL
get an accumulation of muck and debris. That is unless you have NO
gravel or rocks on the pond liner bottom.

That's why it is recommended by the AKCA and many of us here (Google
for
Rocks or Not) for not rocking a pond.

However, most people have rocks and gravel

Not rocking a pond is a creepy sterile environment. If you just want to
eliminate maintenance fine then. I for one don't like to see a liner
when I look into the water and go to great lengths to hide it. See
pictu http://www.pondkoi.com/pond_gallery_008.htm#pondpic


Now this is where you are just plain inexperienced. Most people do
not have
rocks, and many who did, don't have them now.

You need to perform spring and fall
maintenance. (Start-up and Winterization)

Without rocks, with a bottom drain, there is no needed for such
muscle
straining work in the spring or winter. The work is only dealing with
the
filter.

It is very easy to put your fish in a kiddie pool for a few hours while
you drain your pond, rent a power washer (or buy one they are not that
expensive) and spray the rocks and gravel, then suck out the muck. A
very easy task that just needs to be done in the spring anyway.

1. I am not a marketing rep. I am a 55 year old retired engineer
from
the Federal Aviation Administration. I built the website for my
daughter and son-in-law at www.pondkoi.com.

You are representing a company (family owned) that deals in ponds,
are you
not?

I am not an employed marketing rep. I am a person who builds websites
and just happened to build one for my family members. Last I checked my
freedom to exchange topical information was still intact.


Regardless that your son-in-law doesn't work for Aquascape now, this
design
is #1 because of great marketing and people seeing the beauty and not
realizing the high maintenance needed. My club informs people that
they
MUST do the yearly recommended maintenance as they'll soon have a
cesspool
with this design. If draining and power washing their pond yearly
isn't
appealing, come on over to the AKCA way of doing it. They've been
doing and
giving advice far, far longer than the Aquascape design has been in
play.

You club is a good thing. You can gather people with diverse opinions
and share information. It is nice that you have a group of people to
network with. If your goal is to have NO pond structure maintenance
then you are on track. But you sacrifice the natural look of a gravel
and rocked in pond.


One thing I will say about AS, they have assimilated a lot more
people into
ponders, and this is a very good thing.

Congratulations on your first grandchild. I'm hoping my recently
married son will wait awhile (no matter how much I'd like one), as
he's in
the Army, based at Ft.Hood and has already done a year in Iraq. ~
jan


Thanks for the congrats. I applaud your son for his service to his
country and wish you and him well.