Water Features
Taking off a bit on a conversation about Water - many of you have water features that either don’t work very well or are high maintenance and need frequent cleaning. I see this often and thought I would discuss it with you.
Most of the problem water features that we maintain were improperly installed. I know this because the first water feature that I ever installed was done totally wrong, let’s just call it my learning curve. Since that time I have learned a lot about the proper way to install a good feature.
Aside from all of the components to a water feature of which there are many details, the water flow is the most important aspect of building a feature that will work properly. On larger features that have ponds that are fairly deep it is important to install enough skimmers so that the water circulates through the skimmer at least five times per hour. Without getting into all the math of how you calculate this let me explain.
To keep a body of water clean the water must begin to circulate as soon as the water hits the pond. If the water just sits there then debris will sink to the bottom and begin to build up. A skimmer, same as in a pool, cleans the debris moving on the top of the body of water but not down at the bottom. If your water feature does not have adequate movement then leaves, dirt, debris, etc that hit the pond will settle. The important concept here is for the skimmer to pull the water from the top and filter it before it settles to the bottom and starts to decompose.
There are a host of formulas that are involved with installing the right size pump, the proper diameter size piping so that the proper water flows and will not restrict the pump causing damage. Proper water circulation and the direction that the water circulates all depend on a lot of factors as scientific as where the Sun rises and sets, including the earth’s magnetic pull and directional placement.
Tim...
