Sometimes I get calls from people who have bought a new house with an old pond that has a big problem. The number one complaint is that it does not hold water, and secondly, that the water is green, and thirdly, that the rock opera is ugly - an eyesore!
At this point, I wonder if his pond and waterfall, pond lining are made, and I'm surprised that I knew. However, eighty percent of all calls of this species refers to a coating pond and a waterfall. We have more than replaced$ 80,000 worth of defective liner ponds. One customer in Rancho Bernardo, California, had spent $ 14,000 for a koi pond and a waterfall by a company of great and respected local pond liner built power. They complained of having to add water a day from when the pond ship was built more than a year ago.
The pond liner installation response was that the water loss through evaporation was. The tin coating was equipped with a manual and auto-fill, they found the valve turnedevery 15 minutes to replenish the loss. In addition to the loss of water nuisance, they could enjoy their fish for a year and a half because of the bad smell of green murky water. They reported that the pond liner companies came out different mixtures of dumping dozens of times in the lake with the promise of amazing results. The results were surprisingly good - our client is suing the lining of tin and save a contract with us.
The first thing I discovered is that the volume of the pond liner was 8000Gallons and the pump waterfall was only 1,000 liters per hour. E 'was less than eight hours to walk the entire volume of the pond through the filter. Secondly, the filter for a pond 2000 gallons, no-par 8,000. (The filters are generally overestimated by the producers as it is.) Third, the UV light was also evaluated for a pond 2000 gallons so that actually only a quarter (after the vote) when exposed to control the growth of algae. Fourth, because the pump only 1,000 gallons perNow, was not strong enough to properly backwash the filter, which requires four times the river from backwashing properly.
Consequently, the filter with the decomposing waste, the additional stress of the post tin line was overloaded. The fifth error is to design was a large area of the pond, which was caused by several deciduous trees shedding their leaves, which were surrounded in the pond liner. Needless to say there was no skimmer installed. So allThis debris ended up rotting on the bottom of the pond, ammonium nitrate and overload.
The sixth was discovered that the drainage was at the bottom end of the film at the same pond waterfall. Consequently, the water was circulating between the water only to leave the pond and the water there (to drain from the waterfall). Half of the pond liner was not properly circulate and stop by the nitrifying bacteria has not been given adequateOxygen to do their work to the decomposition of nitrite.
Now we have to do well
We were asked to assess the condition of the tin coating and found the cost to correct the problems. We turned off the waterfall in the coating for the evaporation theory test and discovered (with the falls off), the pond lost 25 to 30 liters per day or 750 gallons per month! Install a larger pump and a UV filter, not all would solve their problems.
I suggestedinvolved since a reputable pond builder and owner of the store, you should get a second opinion. He was sure that with our reputation for 22 years and 1,800 ponds in the bag (then), we knew what we were doing.
After finding a temporary home for the fish, we drained the pond and slide quickly made two discoveries. Since water was pumped from the pond, there was a small cascade of water pouring development back through a hole in the coating produced by a treeroot. Even the water was leaking back through a seal loose around the floor drain as fast as we could pump out there. (This went on for some time, revealing there were hundreds of gallons of water in the sandy soil around the perimeter of the pond lining due to continuous loss of memory.)
We offered to patch the defective drain and fill to repair perforated coating, but the owner insisted we do it right, with 3500 PSI concrete and reinforcing steel, and skimmers. Unfortunately, no onesingle element in the whole system could be reused in the new building. In addition, the PVC pipes had to be demolished because it was too small for the pump.
In the final analysis, because this project is not planned and designed properly, the first $ 14,000 was spent for nothing. Replace and install everything correctly cost the customer $ 17,000. The new pond was built from 3 / 8 "and ½" rebar, 10 received "in the middle with 4 ½" 3500 PSI concrete and fiber mix. The UglyWaterfall glass fiber was removed and replaced with natural looking waterfall built in concrete, real granite rock.
A skimmer was installed on the opposite side of the pond from the waterfall. The bottom suction drains (two anti-vortex drains in series with turtles and fish always sucked against the drain to avoid) on the opposite side of the pool from the waterfall was to maximize the circulation instead.
Then, a Venturi valve to be installed to add additional oxygen and create aShort-circuit current in the pond. This provides oxygen-rich water in all areas. A 6000 liter biofilter was installed with two 180-watt UV lamps. The high efficiency filter pump that runs 24 hours a day, and was designed to 4,800 liters per hour.
We installed a second pump of the same type, allowing twice the range of the waterfall on request. There is also operated by a timer to come on twice a day for an hour. This keeps the water falls and pond sediment mixedUse the filter to remove it. The skimmer now removes 90 percent of all the debris should fall into the pond to make the ground waterlogged and sink.
The electronic level control that we had installed in the previous request by the owners of the pond, the only element that was used in the new system. It is designed to bring water into the pond when needed automatically added by the normal water loss through evaporation and moisture transport in peat soils adjacent planters.
This story wasrepeated dozens of times in recent years. Fortunately, most of them on a much smaller scale.
Most of our business is word of mouth, so I imagine there are many people who, not knowing what I call, simply gave up and its function as water in a rock garden. Think twice before investing money in a pond liner. Ask specific questions of the contractor takes precautions against leaks caused by roots and reptiles. He also received several bids for concrete andPonds constructed of reinforced, usually cost only 20% more and can be expected for decades.
My last word of advice, be patient, take your time and thoroughly investigate the contractor and his statements.
An ounce of prevention ...
