FAQ
How deep does my pond have to be?
How much water evaporates from my pond?
Will my plants live through the winter?
If I build a pond will I get snakes?
Are water gardens hard to maintain?
Yes, we sell several sizes of hard pre-formed pond liners and 45 mil flexible liners. We recommend using a flexible liner. A flexible pond liner will offer you the ability to shape your pond to any shape and allows you to build it deep enough for fish (at least two feet). The flexible liner is also easier to repair.
Your pond can really be any depth. In fact we recommended your pond to have several depths as water plants need a shallow area of 10" to 12" of shallow edging around the pond of about 4" and a deep area of at least 2 feet for fish over winter.
Don't panic! First let's try to locate where the leak is. Does your pond have waterfalls? Ponds that lose water usually have a falls and the leak is usually somewhere in the falls/stream. First, turn off the pump and mark the water level. Let the pond set overnight. If it does not go down, the leak is not in your pond. Check along the sides of the stream or falls to make sure the liner hasn't settled, allowing the water to flow over the edge. Even summer algae growing on the rocks could allow water to flow over the edge. Also check any pipe connections for leaks. One area to look at is with a fountain. The wind may be catching the spray and blowing the water out of the pond. You may also have a "spitting" pond ornament that could be dripping water outside the pond. If the pond continues to go down, the thing you'll have to do is let the water level to continue to drop until it stops. When the water level finally stops going down that will determine where the tear is located. You must then tear away the rocks and actually start to feel where the leak/tear is. Once you find the leak it can be repaired.
Water loss from evaporation could be as high as 2 inches per week. However, in our location of the country we will generally get enough rain that we may only need to add water two to three times during the year. Remember a pond really requires as much water as a regular plant garden.
What you're seeing is a single-cell plant called algae, it is common in Spring and in new ponds. It will usually disappear once your filter starts working and you have more plants growing to shade the pond. There are several ways to control algae. One way is to use a biological filter. This takes time to get established. You could also use algae killing chemicals or use a UV light. We recommend bringing in a pint of water and allowing us to check the ph to recommend a plan of action right for your pond.
We recommend you have 10 gallons of water for every inch of fish. For example, if your pond is 250 gallons we recommend four six-inch goldfish.
Every pond is different in the amount of sun it receives but we recommend that 70% of the ponds surface be covered with plants.
We sell hardy plants (plants that will live through the winter) and tropicals (plants that will die if not brought in). When purchasing your plants look at the plant label and when you see the plants hardiness zone being 6 or kess then that plants should winter-over fine for our area.
Yes, water plants need to be fed. Water lilies are heavy feeders and should be fed every weeks. Marginal plants should be fed every six weeks. Both feedings can be accomplished very easily using tablets that can be pushed directly into the pot. Make sure the fertilizer is recommended for water ponds and is safe for fish.
Snakes enjoy a hot rock, cool water and an occasionally a tasty fish, so yes, a snake may venture into the pond, but remember that snake was already hanging around the house. The pond just brough nature a bit closer.
A pond is not hard to install if you're able to operate a shovel for several hours, read a level and have a free weekend. You can very easily build a pond. We recommend attending one of our seminars, read a pond building book and talk with several friends that have installed one to make sure it is a project you want to start.
No, a water garden should take no more time to maintain than a flower garden of the same size. The most time requirements will be Spring when you do an annual cleaning and set your pumps and filters back in place. A typical 10X15' pond would require about 4 hours to clean in the Spring and maybe 10 minutes a week to clean filters, pull any string algae and prune the plants. The Fall would be about 2 hours to pull the pump and cover for leaves.
