In early April 2014, I was contacted by a very distraught young man. He’d recently had a small pond built for him by a local contractor. The pond was in a small, raised planter against the east wall on his side patio. He said the pond was a mess and all of his fish had […]
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Creating an airlift system to both circulate water and oxygenate a system at the same time is one of my favorite pond construction techniques. Almost any pond can be built using an airlift system in some fashion, but formal designs lend themselves to airlifts more often than garden designs. Formal ponds are generally located in […]
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The floating bridge, or steppingstone look, has been popular for some time now in both formal and garden pond designs. Building them in a manner that will stay stable over time isn’t actually that difficult. Floating stone bridges give an appearance of freedom that solid bridges or bridges with railings simply cannot. The feeling of […]
Read MoreWe’re back with the third installment of our series on the formal courtyard pond. This article is just one example of how to deal with this specific type of formal pond. With the structure and basic plumbing in place, the polyurea liner can be installed. Polyurea is usually a two-coat operation, with the first application […]
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Business Trends | This is an installment of an ongoing, multi-part series. Be sure to watch for further installments in future issues! Click here to see multiple articles With the popularity of formal-entry and courtyard ponds increasing, the ability to incorporate proper system design is essential to long-term success. This project in particular was both a […]
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For most of us in the industry, we are often called upon last. By last, I mean the customer typically makes decisions about pond placement, layout, aesthetics, an unrealistic budget and so forth. As a qualified builder, your job is to deal with the direction the project is already heading, making suggestions based on the […]
Read MoreThere are occasions when building directly against the earth isn’t going to be your best option. In climates where the winter temperatures are severely cold, or where summer temperatures are extremely hot, an insulated pond might be your better choice. There are many ponds around the world that are built with insulation between the liner […]
Read MoreMany builders and contractors have a difficult time with drawing or sketching a layout for a living water feature design. Landscape architects leave it at drawing a shape on the plans, with no allowance for filtration or proper circulation in the basic shape, creating a “design build” situation. This usually leads to a set of […]
Read MoreLiving water features produce solids from fish wastes, food, dirt, leaves, algae and other environmental conditions. Removing these solids from the water column before the pump or biofiltration has become an important part of a complete filtration system. The methods of removing solid wastes are known as prefiltration and the techniques that are used have […]
Read MoreFiltration, circulation, depth and dissolved oxygen content are the major factors that set a pond with fish in it apart from other water features. While these are all important, they cannot function properly without the connectivity created by the plumbing system. Proper plumbing is one of the most overlooked areas of pond design. Proper plumbing […]
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