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Old 15-03-2003, 09:08 PM
~ jan
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

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
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Old 20-03-2003, 02:44 AM
Fringe Ryder
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

~ jan sez:
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.


Wifey and I go to most of the local Home &/| Garden Shows (not too far from
you; we hit the Seattle and Tacoma shows in the last six weeks.) Most of
the Aquascape exhibits have very large koi in them. I agree with
everything you wrote, but they don't ADVERTISE it as a non-fish
environment.


  #3   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2003, 04:47 PM
Registered User
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Nov 2003
Posts: 1
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

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.
Quote:
Originally posted by ~ jan
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
  #4   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2003, 06:02 PM
Theo van Daele
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

The biggest challenge to a healthy watergarden is clients overfeeding
their fish.

I haven't read the whole discussion, but may I politely disagree with the
above statement ?

You can overfeed your filtration system, not your fish.

Fish know when to eat and when not to.

It's how they survived quite a few years now :-) Another aspect of "nature
doing it's job" I guess.

Mind you, I have 7 years "less" experience, so that doesn't count. Maybe
if my grandchildren would repeat this statement, it would carry more weight,
as they would have 40 years of experience...

Question: are you talking about watergardens or koi ponds ?

Theo


  #5   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2003, 07:02 PM
K30a
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

Glenn wrote Greg
does not clean out his 1 million gallon watergarden at his house each
year.

Well, of course he doesn't. But what has that got to do
with 1,000 gallon backyard ponds?



k30a
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html



  #6   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2003, 07:12 PM
J.D. Stone
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

Playing with semantics. I am sure everyone understood Glenn meant feeding
more than the fish can eat. Least I did.
JD
"Theo van Daele" wrote in message
...
The biggest challenge to a healthy watergarden is clients overfeeding

their fish.

I haven't read the whole discussion, but may I politely disagree with the
above statement ?

You can overfeed your filtration system, not your fish.

Fish know when to eat and when not to.

It's how they survived quite a few years now :-) Another aspect of

"nature
doing it's job" I guess.

Mind you, I have 7 years "less" experience, so that doesn't count. Maybe
if my grandchildren would repeat this statement, it would carry more

weight,
as they would have 40 years of experience...

Question: are you talking about watergardens or koi ponds ?

Theo




  #7   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2003, 08:32 PM
~ jan JJsPond.us
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

Someone (Glenn?) really went digging thru the archives... but that's what
winter is about when we can't be digging ponds I guess. ;o)))

The AS is best as a water garden, unfortunately people get koi and usually
add too many too fast, they get sick and need to medicate. Unfortunately
the medication is rendered almost instantly useless on all the mulm between
the rocks throughout the pond. Now if they're informed and just add a few
koi so water quality doesn't become an issue, the next problem is they grow
to BIG koi in a rock lined pond. The big koi whack themselves against the
rocks when spawning and all that mulm is a great hidey hole for aeromonas
and other bacteria to hang out and next you've got koi with infected
ulcers.

I don't try to steer people away from the AS. I try to steer them away from
rocks on the bottom and to consider adding a bottom drain if they want to
go deeper than 18"-24". Or they can sign in blood that they will never ever
put koi in their AS pond. ;o)

Especially since locally we have people who install them, but don't
"service" them. Thus the new owners all wait till they have problems and
then we have people who do $erious clean out, muck, dirt, $and, mulm and
all those GD rock$$$. ~ jan

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 16:55:50 GMT, "Theo van Daele" wrote:


Question: are you talking about watergardens or koi ponds ?

Theo

From: Glenn
Date: Sat, Nov 15, 2003 7:57 AM


Just searching through the internet to see where we are listed, I came
upon this interesting topic.


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.
snip

See my ponds thru the seasons and/or my filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Defrosted~
Tri-Cities, WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website
  #8   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2003, 10:02 PM
Theo van Daele
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

I stopped playing "semantics" about 10 years ago on the internet, especially
because English is not my native language.

I meant *exactly* what I said.

Sometimes your fish can eat more than your filtration system can handle.
Sometimes you overfeed. There is a hughe difference.

You don't need 15 years plus experience to realize you don't want 5 kg of
food floating on the water.

Theo

Playing with semantics. I am sure everyone understood Glenn meant feeding
more than the fish can eat. Least I did.



  #9   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2003, 10:02 PM
Theo van Daele
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

You are playing with semantics Kathy ;-)

Apart from that... a very pertinent question.

Ach, I don't really like internet ranting anymore, it's so last years :-),
but indeed, what has a 1 million gallon pond (was this actually measured ?)
got to do with the price of fish.

I once thought I had seen the be-all-end-all of cosmic BS on car tuning
forums. I now know the world of ponds is much much worse.

I wasn't even following this discussion, I just happened to have my BS meter
go into the red by statements like that indeed.

Theo

"K30a" schreef in bericht
...
Glenn wrote Greg
does not clean out his 1 million gallon watergarden at his house each
year.

Well, of course he doesn't. But what has that got to do
with 1,000 gallon backyard ponds?



k30a
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html



  #10   Report Post  
Old 16-11-2003, 12:02 AM
K30a
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere


Before ponding you probably thought the phrase 'to rock or not to rock' meant
your taste in music.
You didn't know it was a clarion call to strife and mayhem!



k30a
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html



  #11   Report Post  
Old 16-11-2003, 12:33 AM
john rutz
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere



K30a wrote:
Before ponding you probably thought the phrase 'to rock or not to rock' meant
your taste in music.
You didn't know it was a clarion call to strife and mayhem!



k30a
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

SLOMLAP

  #12   Report Post  
Old 16-11-2003, 11:12 AM
Theo van Daele
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

LOL !

True, but I learnt quickly ;-)


  #13   Report Post  
Old 16-11-2003, 03:24 PM
BenignVanilla
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere


"john rutz" wrote in message
...


K30a wrote:
Before ponding you probably thought the phrase 'to rock or not to rock'

meant
your taste in music.
You didn't know it was a clarion call to strife and mayhem!



k30a
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

SLOMLAP


I think you meant SOMLOL.

BV.




  #14   Report Post  
Old 18-11-2003, 12:03 AM
Lynn Strickland
 
Posts: n/a
Default The 'Aquascape System' has the be the WORST pond system outthere

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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  #15   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2006, 06:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K30a
Glenn wrote Greg
does not clean out his 1 million gallon watergarden at his house each
year.

Well, of course he doesn't. But what has that got to do
with 1,000 gallon backyard ponds?



k30a
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

Bottom line is, a pond is a pond is a pond is a pond. Incorporate the right amount of fish, plants and water movement, and there is essentially NO difference between a million gallon lake and a thousand gallon pond. Believe it or not, Whittstock's pond is built no differently than your 1000 gallon pond. Still has liner (different type), gravel, rock and fish. I've been building ponds for the past 17 years now and have seen everything from the little fiberglass tubs with a fountain all the way to the hideous bio-filters and UV sterilizers made from garbage cans, and now the AquaScape Designs system. I can tell you hands down that there is truly no better quality pond system than AD, and if you know of one then please show me... or if you don't know of a better one, then walk the walk and build us a better one. Greg Whittstock knows exactly what he is talking about; however, I will agree that AD (as many smart manufacturers do) sells many useless "fluff" items that are really designed to make the manufacturer more money and nothing more. These "bells and whistles" don't necessarily make a better end product. Regarding annual cleanouts: AD simply recommends marketing annual pond cleanouts to your past customers as a way to maintain contact and obtain maintenance income. Is it truly necessary? Absolutely not. I installed a 5,000 gallon pond in my parents front yard some 6 years ago. Guess how many times its been drained and cleaned? NONE! Guess how nasty the water is. It gets clearer every year! How many times have you caught Mother Nature pressure washing her ponds? Gravel: I can only imagine the construction of someone's pond that isn't using gravel. OY-so much to learn! I must say that if you cannot realize the ingenius of such a simple and effective system, then you must be doing something wrong. Gravel is an essential component of ANY healthy ecosystem and anyone suggesting otherwise should NOT be building ponds, but rather installing swimming pools. Think about this: when was the last time you saw an aquarium without gravel? Ever notice how much crud accumulates in such a quick amount of time without it? Your pond is no different. Trust those of us that know and ignore the nay-sayers that don't. Gravel is your friend. If you are getting large amounts of leaves and muck in the bottom of your watergarden as you described, then you obviously have A) too many trees B) too small of a skimmer C) both. Regarding the comment about AD systems being for low levels of goldfish only, not KOI: I just have to say-TRY AGAIN! If that were the case, then why does EVERY SINGLE pond built by AD have KOI? And being that they DO have KOI... why is the water quality extremely clear? Answer: because AD is designed for both goldfish AND koi. The key is not to overstock the pond and certainly don't overfeed the fish. More fish = not better. More feeding doesn't make your fish bigger. They don't process food like we do. Regarding BioFalls Filter Mat Cleaning: If you feel the need to do this, then get a large washtub and bail some pond water into it. Take the filter mat out of the BioFall and rinse it around the washtub until it releases most of the grainy muck. This will enable your bacteria to survive while getting rid of the foreign matter that slows down waterflow. In closing: remember that a pond is just that. Ponds have leaves, and to an extent... a certain amount of "muck". If you are looking for the squeaky-clean pond system, they call this a swimming pool. Add chlorine, get a pool cover and go to bed. Good night!
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