New to forum

[jakkbauer]

Hi there everyone,

I am new to the forum as a whole, not even a lurker. I have been working on ponds and water features for a while building, maintaining, and cleaning. I've just started running things on my own instead of being part of a company. I'm patching my kit together slowly, have two nice leader 520 ecovorts, some fire hose, etc. Need to get a few more things to speed up clean outs and hit more ponds per day. I'm here to learn. I'm looking for tips, tricks, advice, etc. I know in the future I will run into problems on jobs that I will be asking for the forums help on so thanks in advance! Can't wait to browse and learn!!

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

 

[RobAmy]

Welcome, so you are starting your own business? Any pictures of the builds you have done?

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group!
Fire hose...............you must do the drain the pond type clean outs.

 

[jakkbauer]

Thanks all. Rob, I will sift through my stuff for some pics! I started off making vivarium water features for dart frogs and ended up on koi ponds haha. Yes, I am starting up my own thing, have tons of clients to get to for spring clean outs.

Addy, you are correct, put fish in tubs, drain, go to town.

I'll pull those pics up when I get a chance! They are scattered across my devices atm.

 

[MitchM]

Welcome!

 

[addy1]

T have tons of clients to get to for spring clean outs.
Addy, you are correct, put fish in tubs, drain, go to town.
.

I am not a fan of draining the pond clean outs, if you do that, I hope you do not also power wash all the good stuff away.

I would kill all my fish if I did that, very acidic well water, they would die as I filled up the pond again.

 

[jakkbauer]

I am not a fan of draining the pond clean outs, if you do that, I hope you do not also power wash all the good stuff away.

I would kill all my fish if I did that, very acidic well water, they would die as I filled up the pond again.

Well I have bad news for you. I do use a pressure washer at times, but am not a fan of it personally. Like you said it washes away all the good stuff, and on top of that can ruin the liner. Until I get enough cash to get myself a few buckets of green clean the pressure washer is my best bet in some situations. I actually scanned your pond build thread, very impressive. I definitely agree in the all natural approach to the whole thing. I can see you are very proud of your minimal maintenance ecosystem. I would be too!!! Unfortunately some of my clients are the rich type who don't really understand or care about the ecosystem that I would like to create in every pond. They just want the whole thing completely cleaned out. In the case of acidic water PH buffer is used. Beneficial bacteria is added into the pond post clean out with the dechlorinator. I would love to write proposals to all of my clients for rebuilds to create an efficient natural filteration system but that is just not in the cards haha. Most of these ponds are, in my opinion, bad builds. I do my best to make improvements and suggest work that would improve the function and overall quality of the pond, some people are interested, others are not. You would be surprised how many folks say they almost wish they could just fill it in!

 

[addy1]

I used ph buffer, it took about a year for the pond to finally stabilize, after the build, to a nice 7.6 ph (last time I tested a year or so ago). It kept bouncing a lot, I kept fish out of it for over a year, after I killed off the first fish I put in the pond due to the acidic water.

 

[jakkbauer]

I used ph buffer, it took about a year for the pond to finally stabilize, after the build, to a nice 7.6 ph (last time I tested a year or so ago). It kept bouncing a lot, I kept fish out of it for over a year, after I killed off the first fish I put in the pond due to the acidic water.

Wow that sounds pretty serious. What a pain. Luckily I have not had that problem here. Usually when I find a well spigot on property I am pretty excited (it means there is great water pressure most of the time). Chemicals can fix a lot of things but not everything that's for sure, sometimes it just takes time for things to balance out.

Didn't get the chance to dig through any pictures yet. Checked a leak on a large pond and cleaned out a medium one today. Large pond is unfortunately liner set in concrete so going to start with the cheap fixes first and work up to more expensive things if necessary. Going to do some pump installations tomorrow and going to run something (not sure what yet) behind some rocks on a back wall to create a drip and make a glistening/wet effect instead of the dry stone. Will probably just get a weak pump, some kind of plumbing with a slit cut into it or something I don't know. I will update.

 

[addy1]

Our well water sits around 5.3 I can add top off water now with no issues. The plants, mature bog etc must help with the balance. I also add 100 lbs of crushed oyster shells every year, (chicken grit) it helps harden the water. Our well water is also very soft, barely reads hardness with the tests kits.

 

[CometKeith]

Jakkbauer welcome to the forum. It sounds like you will have a lot to contribute here. I understand a little of what you are saying because I go on the pond tour every summer in the Chicago area. Some are these really nice ecosystems which I particularly appreciate, and then you see some large koi ponds with tons of filters etc that are kept super clean to show off their prize fish. The fish are gorgeous to look at but all the equipment needed to keep these ponds going and all the maintenance required is way more than what I would want to do!

 

[jakkbauer]

Been super busy past few days. Ran this hose, hid behind rock, and cut slits to create a natural spring effect coming out of the rock wall. Have to figure out how to upload the video. I'll make a more detailed post if I have time. Replaced a liner yesterday and have to go back to install pump, finish waterfall and add a few plants. I will upload pics of the job at some point soon.

Keith thanks man. I actually maintain a few ponds like that here in Atlanta, giant systems of filters and pipes in underground bunkers haha. It's definitely not cheap to have someone out once twice a month just to maintain but hey I'm not complaining. It's easy to flip valves, add chem, and skim/scrub a bit