Introduction to the perfect water gardening guide
MY LITTLE WATER GARDEN IS LIKE A GIANT WINDOW THROUGH WHICH I CAN VIEW WORLD EVENTS..AND LOOKING INTO IT DAY AFTER DAY, IT IS NATURALLY BETTER THAN THE TV NEWS!
Good evening and here is the news..Today several dozen toads invaded the pond in effort to seize the initiative in the negotiations for reproduction..Three Great Diving Beetle nymphs were seen attacking small fish fry in the region in the region of Myriophylum spicatum during the day, an eye witness reported..Scuffles and unsociable behaviour were reported, caused by a gang of Water Boatmen near to surface for most of the day. Whirligig beetles on the surface complained that their daily routines were being disrupted
There is more that occurs between the surface and the bottom of a well established pool in one day than there is reported in a week of news on television. It makes you wonder why we watch so much television (especially soap operas) when there is so much drama happening close to home. Stick your head in a pond and you are in a world of horror and science faction. Unfortunately there is no emotion down there, no friendship, no love. There is courtship and sex with an aim to build up numbers in the never-ending fight for survival of the species, which is a bit like a medieval melodrama, but on the whole its scary stuff.
Courtship and sex; damsel flies mating in the pond margins.
In the longer view though thing pan out to what we would call a natural balance. Although there is all this fierce interaction between all the species, they are in fact totally dependent on each other in the grander scheme. We could interfere but we ought not to. However we do need to preserve this constant turmoil in its natural state so it can continue because it will not last forever if we dont do something. There may be swings and roundabouts of population explosions and natural disasters but we must preserve a hands-off approach until with an informed and educated eye we will know the time is right to interfere. We need to be able to read the signs of what is going with an understanding that things will even out in the long run, or not as the case may be. If something does go seriously wrong and we have to interfere, we need to know how to deal with the situation in the most efficient way.
Many people might say they have chosen to have a water garden as a landscape feature or focal point.
This stunning creation by Dougie Knight at the Tatton Park Flower Show 2003 would make a focal point you could not ignore.
It may be a stylistic addition to a garden design, adding the sight and sound of moving water in a private Paradise. Here it is even more important to know how to deal with it. Not only is it a growing and evolving entity, it has mechanical and electrical products that need regular maintenance. If there are fish in the pool, they will need particular care as they grow to full size in the confines of this restrictive environment. It is a complex conglomeration of materials and products that will not last for long without our care. This website is the all round guide to dealing with water gardens once they are in existence. It will tell you how to improve them with planting guide lines to product guides, and it will tell you how to look after them with routine maintenance regimes and step-by-step instructions. It is both a calendar and alarm for care. It is the ultimate water garden maintenance and trouble-shooting manual combined.
A (Forced) Introduced to water gardening
But it may be that you have bought a new house or you have taken on responsibilities for an elderly relative, and a water garden comes part and parcel, in which case the following introduction is for you. It is also a brief guide for all readers as to what state their pool should be in before they can begin to sort out their problems.
AAARGH! IVE INHERITED A POND!
There you are, you have just moved into a house that is new to you. Fortunately, or not as the case may be, the previous owners or tenants built a pond in the garden.
The state of it may be so bad that it is plainly not worth bothering with anymore!\
" It were Albert's pride and joy that pond, " said the lady of the house when you first came to look it over.
"He used to sit out there and gawp into it for literally hours on end. "
Now its yours, and there are live things in it! And they might die and it'll be all your fault if they do!
So what will you do?
Check the remains of Albert aren't in there first!
FIRST OF ALL: DO YOU REALLY WANT IT?
Safety considerations
Seriously, there are things to consider in being a pond-manager. Many of them are not necessarily of paramount importance and need not be attended to straight away, unless you have very small and very active children.
Children playing next to the pool. Are they safe?
Safety is the first and foremost consideration. If they are likely to try to get near it and fall in, fence it off. A low picket fence about 1metre high is best, or expanded diamond trellis, which can follow a gentle curve from one post to another.
Do not cover it over at this stage. This will only inhibit the normal to and fro of animal life in and out of the pond.
If you do want to cover it: you must clean it out carefully and sensibly first. You may decide to turn it into a child safe fountain feature for a while. In which case, after a clean out, you can cover it over temporarily with a grill of weldmesh held be hooks rawl-plugged into the cement under the edging into the cement holding down the edging stones,
OR even paving stones with concrete block or brick supports from inside the pool. These can be covered with large pebbles and boulders and you are left with the option of retaining any water falls or water features like fountains because you are leaving a reservoir of water formed by the block work.
One of the UKs top landscapers Dougie Knight demonstrates walking on water. The pebbles in his pool are spread on a layer of slabs that are in turn supported by plastic milk crates. This makes the pool safe for his grandchildren and turns it into a huge hidden sump for a waterfall and steam.
As the children get older you will see the value of a pond. It has a consistent entertainment value outstripping all the 'TV Soaps' put together for real life action and drama. A pool is also the most educational single feature of a garden, and it is for a good reason that the study of wildlife in the water garden is on the school curriculum. And you'll soon see why Albert spent most of his time "gawping" into it.
The Pond Environment
There should be a little self-sufficient world there, with every living thing dependent upon other living things or the sun and the nutrients that come from perpetual cycle of life in a pond. If it seems impossible to see anything at all down there because the water is green, brown, milky or overgrown with a mat of roots and vegetative undergrowth, then you are looking at a job of work to do in the very near future.
If it is impossible to see anything apart from a mass of vegetative growth, you are looking at a job to do very soon.
Are there fish sitting very close to the surface gulping for air? Put a stick or a net and very gently feel for the bottom. Try to estimate the depth of sediment down there. If this causes bubbles and masses of organic debris to rise and a toxic niff pervades the air, then the job of work needs to be done as soon as possible. It needs to be cleaned out. There are products available that can help break down this organic matter but they are expensive and they only buy you a bit of time. Also they need plenty of oxygen down there with them to do the job and very often it is because oxygen has been in short supply down there that the problem occurred in the first place.
If the sediment seems pretty well decomposed and it doesn't smell then there is no panic. But remember what you are looking at is a balancing act between the different echelons of the world of plants and also of the world of plants and animals.
Here we have a basic resource for the sustenance of plants and animals - water. Water just left standing with nothing in it will eventually become populated with the lowest form of plant life - algae. These come in initially from desiccated cells floating in the air or they get washed in from the surrounding soil. Algae come in myriad forms, manifesting themselves in huge quantities by turning the water green, or red, or creating green cotton wool effects, blobs of slimy jelly and making strange ugly smells or even quite pleasant fragrances.
Algae come in a myriad forms: green water is a sign of the millions of microscopic single celled algae that arrive with days of freshwater being added to a pool.
The nightmare of blanket weed that starts as thin filaments algae cells.
This globular algae would be a suitable candidate for removal with a pond vacuum cleaner.
Although they are a necessary part of the fabric of life in a pond too much of one strata of life forms is a bad thing and so they must be inhibited from taking over the environment. You could wallop them with chemicals but they would soon return as soon as the chemicals wear off and they would be back like never before. In order to discourage algae permanently, various representatives of plants from other orders need to be present using up the nutrients in the water and shading them from their other sustaining resource, sunlight:
A finely balanced wildlife pond; well stocked with all the different categories of plants makes it loud invitation to wild life: oxygenating plants are just emergent in the foreground; lilies are doing well and there is a floating water soldier to the left; marginal plants populate the shallows around the edge.
Oxygenating plants living below the surface provide oxygen for the animal life in the pond and also the essential bacteria that help to breakdown dead organic matter in bottom of the pond. As these bacteria produce nitrates as a product of the break down of this organic matter, oxygenators and other plants use them up for rampant growth. Otherwise the algae would exploit the nitrates. Dont be too worried about there being too much oxygenating weed. Combined with the cover from lily leaves there should be 2/3rds pool cover from these plants (see below). If it seems too rampant, only trim it back gradually over a period of several weeks. The pool environment will have become dependent upon this oxygen supply and you dont want to disrupt it.
Lilies and deepwater aquatics:
It does help to have a representative from the deep-water aquatic world, either a lily or a water hawthorn. These are gross feeders of pool nutrients, thriving in the maulm on the pool bottom and providing valuable shade that also inhibits algae.
Some lilies outgrow their welcome in small pool environments. So in late spring when growth starts again in earnest that is best time to haul out the lilies and check the condition of the planting baskets. You can replant them then if necessary.
Marginal plants: there should also be a goodly selection of marginal plants. Not only do they soften the edge of the pool area with a colourful and ornamental display of flowers and foliage, but they provide cover for wildlife and use up masses of minerals and nutrients in the pond.
The Problem with Fish
In balance with this plant life, there should be no more than 18cm of fish per square metre of surface area (2ins of fish per square foot of surface area).
If you cannot tell one variety of fish from another, but there are some that are very large and their front (pectoral) fins stick out sideways then you may need some advice from a local Koi keepers society. These beasties need special care and it needs someone with specialist knowledge to assess the situation. You may have inherited the responsibility of thousands of pounds worth of Koi carp!
Koi carp with their telltale pectoral fins come in every variation colour you could imagine a fish to have.
Are there any fish with lesions or bits hanging off? White fluffy growths around the mouth or gills, white spots or the fish 'flashing' - trying to rub up against the side of the pool these are all signs of fungus, disease or parasites. These problems can be partially remedied with universal proprietary treatments, however the only permanent cure is to improve the quality of the environment by improving the quality of the water and controlling the population. (See Emergency Treatments later.)
The Pond Liner
So now find out in what condition the materials are that have been used to create your water garden. Check the liner material particularly around the average water level. This is where it suffers the most, be it PVC, butyl, fibreglass or concrete. If the liner is perished, cracked or crazed, trying to repair a potential problem maybe a waste of time. In which case live with it as it is until you have time to clean it out properly and replace the liner.
Ensure all the edging stones are secure and safe. If they all look as though they need some attention, check the footing that they are laid on and the relationship with the structure of the pool. It may be that the pool has no structure as such and the stone and or slabs are just laid onto a thin layer of mortar on mud. This would be a strong case for a redesign and start again.
Pumps and Electrics
If there is a pump for a waterfall or fountain it is generally a submersible pump nowadays, so it will be in the pond somewhere. Trace it via the cable inlet over the edge of the pond or by the pipe work going out to the waterfall from the pond. Whilst the power to the pond is switched off, haul the pump out very carefully to see what state it is in.
Whilst the power to the pond is switched off, haul the pump out very carefully to see what state it is in.
Check the rubber on the cable is not perished.
Make sure the inlet to the pump is clear. If there is a pre-filter to the pump - the foam or plastic box attached to the inlet of the pump - unclip it and wash it out in pond water or rainwater. If it's not going to be too difficult, try to see if the rotor blades are clear of debris.
Next trace the power supply. If there is a suitable protective RCCB (Residual Current Circuit Breaker) between the house electricity supply that goes out to the pond, try turning the pump on. There will be a switch on the RCCB and perhaps another between that and the pump, doubling as a connector to the supply.
An essential requirement; an earth leakage circuit breaker (RCCB) on the supply to the outdoor electrics.
If the RCCB 'trips', this may be damp in the connections or a faulty pump. Check the connections; leave them open to the air to dry them. OR renew them if necessary.
If the RCCB still trips then it is probably the pump 'shorting out', but if there are any lights on the same circuit suspect them first.
If the RCCB does not 'trip' but the waterfall or fountain still does not work, switch everything off and remove the pump from the water. Detach it from any pipe-work or remove the fountain jet and put it in a bucket of clean water and then turn it on. If it bursts into life, clean out the pipe work or the fountain jet. There is probably a blockage of algae somewhere in the pipeline or jet. Stiff wire, water pressure from a hose or a combination of both usually works eventually.
If however the pipe-work seems quite clear, there may be a rise in the pipe that causes an airlock to get trapped in the hose. This can be quite an effective buffer against the push of even quite powerful pumps. Try to ensure a smooth run of pipe-work avoiding a roller coaster effect. If that seems to be the problem and it is something you can do very little about, try switching the pump off and on a few times. This eventually jerks the airlock away in one direction or another. The other method is to detach the hose from the pump and run a powerful hose up it until it is flowing consistently out of the top end then quickly fit it to the pump and turn it on immediately, if it is not already running. This is the sort of exercise that ends up with someone getting soaked.
Trouble Shooting and Pump Servicing
If the pump seems to just hum expectantly or rattles and whirrs, check the rotor blades for small stones and debris to see if they can rotate freely.
To remove the rotor usually requires a certain amount of dismantling:
Some of the more traditional designs of submersible pumps were really only designed to work for short periods of time pumping out ground water from cellars. Hence they are often referred to as cellar pumps or sump pumps. These sit upright on the bottom of the pond taking in water around the base of the pump and pumping it out on the side). Generally they have a sole plate that can be just prised off, acting as a sieve for the incoming water. Another plate inside that protects the impellor and forms a volute. This will create a centrifugal effect accelerating the water out of the pump as the impellor spins. It also helps to suck quite a lot of the debris through and theoretically prevents the impellor from getting clogged up with debris. When it comes to ponds, debris reaches new and more subtle levels that these pumps just werent designed to cope with, so very often you will haul them out with a complete ring of detritus plastered to the inlet that works out to be a solid mass right into the centre of the pump. Once it is cleared it seems to revert to the very same state in a matter of minutes and very soon you are not only wishing that the thing came to pieces instantly, but wondering whether someone somewhere has designed a pump that can cope with this sort of situation.
Well the good news is that that there is and there are numerous designs from well known manufacturers in the water garden industry that can all function in the variety of roles of waterfall, fountain and filter pumps. Many of them just untwist apart or unclip with no tools required. On top of that, others are designed to cope with solids up to any size of detritus that can get through the pre-filter grill. They are designed to run continuously (continuously rated), economically (often a fifth of the power consumption for the same water flow of submersible pumps 20 years ago), and are often repairable.
Typical old style cellar pump or sump pump. Note the float switch which turns the unit off or on when water reaches a prescribed level.
The Oase Aquamax6000 is specifically designed for ponds and supplying water to waterfall or water containing solids to biological filters.
One of the first designs of pump of this type was the Blagdon Amphibious range of pumps, based on the reliable design of a central heating pump. Although not particularly good in the role of filter pump its reliability and economy became legendary, setting a new standard for other manufacturers to aspire to and improve upon. Many of the original pumps from the late eighties are still in action and so with the sales of them still outpacing much of the competition, it means you find them pretty much everywhere and there could be one in the pond you have inherited if you are lucky.
In Blagdon Amphibious pumps the rotor is held in place with a left-hand threaded screw. Check for any wearing surfaces and the quality of any washers or bearings. There should be very little excess play either sideways or backwards and forwards. A rubbing noise or rattle is another sign of this.
This spells 'death' for the traditional sump pumps. If it is still rattling after a cleanout noisy but with very little action then it is highly likely a bearing has worn out or the rotor blades have sheared off the spindle. The manufacturers of the better modern pumps supply new bearings, washers and seals kits for their pumps. You may have to remove the pump to take it to your nearest dealer to get his opinion. (N.B. Try to get some sort of reassurance that he might know what he is talking about.)
Removing the Pump
Before you pull the pump cable out of its conduit or pipe to the side of the pool, when you disconnect the pump from the electrical connection, attach a piece of wire or strong string (a 'draw cable') 10metres long to the pump cable at the connection end.
Do this by making a secure loop in the 'draw cable'. Feed the exposed wire on the pump cable through the loop.
Twist and fold the wires back on themselves.
bind them in place with insulation tape.
Gently pull the cable through the conduit and undo the join. Leave the draw cable in place to pull the new or refurbished pump cable back through.
Twist and fold them back on themselves and bind them in place with insulation tape. Check that the string and cable are well attached by trying to pull them apart. Then gently pull the pump cable, from the pond end, down through its conduit. This will pull the draw- string through as well. Then you can undo it and leave it in place when you take the old pump away to get it serviced or to get a new one.
It may be the case that the pump did not trip the RCCB, nor did it express any hum of disapproval at any attempt to revive it. In which case remove it from the pond environment and try it on a workbench plugged into a different mains circuit. Switch it on very briefly and dont touch it whilst the power is on. Any activity proves that there WAS something wrong with that outside circuit. So if the prospect of checking it properly with a meter or circuit tester seems daunting, call in the electrician.
Filter
There may be a biological filter installed. This should be outside the pool with water running into it from the pond (usually pumped there by a submersible pump) generally discharging back into the pond or the header pool of the stream at the opposite end of the pool from the pump.
The filtration system to this pond is up behind the top of the waterfall.
It must be still in operation even whilst you are moving in. If it has been switched off for more than a couple of hours you may as well clean it out so that you are safely able to start again. This must be emptied out and the various bits of media and plastic foam washed and rinsed through with (preferably) pond or rainwater. Clean out the pump too (see above). Put it all back together making sure the outlet is perfectly clear when it is running and that the water is not spraying or dripping out from underneath the lid. Allow at least 1 month for it to start work biologically i.e. digesting the muck and algae that get pumped into it. Up until then check that it does not get too clogged up as it will still be working mechanically.
A typical small multi-chamber biological filter show different sorts of medium used in the filtration process. This one has am ultra violet clarifier lamp incorporated on the side. This is at the inlet into the unit.
U/V (?)
There may be an Ultra violet lamp in tandem with the filter on the inlet pipe. This 'zaps' algae dead as they pass by on their way to the filter. The lamp in this needs changing every 6 months to be effective. Very, very carefully pull off the end caps to reveal the lamp tube and slide it out. If it is getting a bit old and inefficient, the gas inside will be darkening the ends. Ease off and replace. Do not touch the glass and do not look at it whilst it is switched on.
The u/v lamp bulb or tube should itself be sitting within a quartz tube. This should be cleaned regularly too, but if you are in any way ham fisted (like yours truly) approach this task with a certain degree of trepidation! They are not cheap to replace.
FOOLS RUSH IN WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD: Alexander Pope Essay on Criticism (1711)
If there is no desperate emergency, but a pool cleanout is on the cards, leave the cleanout until October or before the frogs do their business at the beginning of March. In the meantime read this website from cover to cover and you can soak up some of the knowledge that washes consistently through its glossy pages and feel the confidence of someone who really knows the score when it comes to cleaning out ponds and knows what its like to do it!