Waterscapes

We broke ground at about 8:45 a.m., and by 5 p.m. that same day, I stood there looking at this beautiful water feature that had emerged before my very eyes. At that point, I became a true believer in the Aquascape 20-step process.

What was even more amazing than this new work of art, were the numbers associated with it.

Take a look: Pond Kit $1,200; Rock and Gravel $900; Labor* $750; Total $2,800

*I figured five laborers at $10 per hour, each being paid for 10 hours, including taxes.

I asked other contractors on site what this pond and waterfall would be worth to their customers. The ones that had experience with water gardens informed us that they would have charged between $7,000 and $7,500 to their customers. Being conservative again, and using the $7,000 figure, after all expenses, that would translate to an almost 60% Profit Margin! To think that I woke up this morning thinking that a 30% profit margin was fantastic. I told you that I was a fool!

I hate to sound trite, but the sky is the limit! Anybody can succeed at building water features, it’s just that simple! As unbelievable as that might sound, it’s a proven strategy for success.

So if you’ve ever wanted to separate yourself from the competition, here is your chance. If you aren’t building water features regularly, or at all, you’re really missing the boat!

Many pond owners can enjoy their pond only 28% of the time – Saturday and Sunday and during the week when they are not at work, or chauffeuring kids to extracurricular activities, busy with dinner, paying bills and the list goes on. By the time they can relax and enjoy the pond, it is already dark. Fiber Optic Lighting helps the pond owner achieve full enjoyment of the water feature, all night long. Ponds are beautiful to look at during the day, but become spectacular at night when illuminated with fiber optics.

A fiber optic lighting system consists of a specially designed halogen or metal halide lamp source located in a box called an illuminator. Separate fiber optic cables are bundled together at one end into an optical port, and placed in front of the lamp inside the illuminator. The lamp shines light into the end of the fiber optic cables at the optical port. Light then travels through the fiber optic cables out to wherever each separate cable ends. Fixtures attach to the ends of the fiber optic cables to aim the light at the object or area you wish to highlight. The fixtures can be placed underwater, next to the water, between rocks, or virtually anywhere you want to place them.

Fiber optic lighting has distinct advantages over its low voltage cousins:
Dramatically smaller fixture size allows you to hide lights more easily, or place lights in areas that previously were impractical or too small to physically or aesthetically handle a 3” diameter light fixture.

No electricity in the pond? Electricity ends at the illuminator, located outside the pond.

Just one lamp illuminates up to sixteen (16) fixtures, and the lamp is located outside the pond in an easily accessible area.

There is no need to ever wade into the pond to pull out the light you spent 45 minutes placing, aiming, and hiding until it was just right, and change the lamp – only to spend another 45 minutes placing, aiming and hiding it again. Oh yeah, repeat this process for every light in the pond.

Available in any one of up to four beautiful colors, or let it slowly, peacefully change from color to color, or keep it white.

There is no added heat in the pond. Typical low voltage lights generate a significant amount of heat, and may affect the health of fish. Fiber optic lighting systems do not have this problem. Heat generated by the lamp stays outside the pond, in the illuminator or exhausted out through ventilation.

With all of these obvious advantages, why hasn’t this technology been embraced more fully for the illumination of ponds and water features? First, the entire fiber optic lighting industry is in its relative infancy, and manufacturers are working as quickly as possible to introduce new products. Second, until recently, fiber optic lighting systems required specialized knowledge and tools to install, and few pond installers had the training to design and install them, let alone the time to devote to learning the technology.

Today, however there is a fiber optic lighting kit available on the market from IlluminFx that is simple to install and operate. These kits can be installed in five easy steps, as follows:

Decide which parts of the pond to illuminate. Try one or two fixtures per waterfall drop, depending on the size of the drops. Consider illuminating water plants, fish, fountains, and other interesting objects in and around the pond. Miniature Japanese Maples look great lit with the small fiber optic fixtures. Draw a sketch of the pond (bird’s eye, or Plan View) and mark and number the drawing with the locations of lighting fixtures you need. Count the number of fixtures you will need and write it down.

Place the Illuminator. Pick a spot as close as is practical to the pond. Generally, a good spot is near the waterfall off to the side. Dig a hole about 12 inches deep and a trench from the hole over toward the edge of the pond where the fiber cables will be run. Place the illuminator’s base in the hole. (See Photo #1)

Run the fiber optic cable harness from the base to the chosen locations. Place the optical port end of the fiber optic harness in the base and up through the hole in the base. Run the individual fiber optic cables out through the trench and over the edge of the pond. Place the fixtures close to the final locations you determined in Step 1. (See Photo #2)

Set the Illuminator on its base and insert the optical port into its clip below the lamp. Wire the illuminator to a GFCI protected outlet. Place the cover onto the illuminator. (See Photo #3)

Put the fixtures in their final locations and aim. The fixtures can be placed at the bottom of the pond, at the side wedged between rocks, or almost anywhere. Then, conceal the fixtures by placing rocks, mulch, or whatever around them. You can now cover the fiber cables with small stone, mulch, or other typical materials you may use to conceal other types of wiring systems. Keep in mind that you never want to cut through the fiber. It cannot be spliced together. If the fiber is cut, the entire cable needs to be replaced. (See Photo #4)

FIXTURE PLACEMENT AND AIMING
The most critical part of a successful installation.

Illuminating small waterfalls - Place the fixtures off to the side and about 12” in front of the waterfall drop. Aim the fixture across the face of the falling water. Repeat this for each drop, and consider placing a fixture on each side of the drop.

If there is no way to place the fixtures in this manner, such as when the water falls into a pond, try placing the fixtures directly underneath the spot where the water hits the pond and aim the light up into the turbulence.

How to avoid glare - Determine the most popular or common viewing spot. Aim all fixtures away from there. If a pond or landscape has pathways or viewing locations all the way around it, try to mask the light from the fixtures by placing them next to rocks, plantings, or anything else that can help shield the glare.

Above the Water or Below? – You will get different effects on the same object depending upon whether you illuminate it from below the water’s surface or above. Be willing to experiment and utilize your creativity here. Also, take into consideration your clients’ preferences, but be careful about giving them too many choices. Remember you are the expert, and before you spend hours and hours adjusting fixture placements, give your opinion nicely, but forcefully enough so they rely on your experience.

Springtime is a beautiful, life-filled season that occurs at different times across the country. Those in the southern states may experience spring a little sooner than their northern brethren; but when it comes to maintaining your pond, you’ll want to have all the information available for the seasonal maintenance that’s required, regardless of when the flowers begin to bloom. So make sure you have this handy list available when the weather begins to break and spring arrives in your neck of the woods.

• Make sure you don’t feed the fish until the water in the pond is at least 55° F.
• Start the season with a fresh batch of fish food. Feeding fish old or spoiled food can make them sick.
• Add cool-season bacteria to your pond to seed the bacteria and get them colonizing to help keep the water clear.
• Give your perennial aquatic plants a healthy start by pruning any of last year’s growth that you missed.

And don’t forget about getting the pond jumpstarted for the season by performing spring clean-out. You’ll need the following tools to get started.

• Kiddie pool (or similar, large container to hold fish and frogs)
• Net to cover fish container to prevent them from jumping out
• Fish net
• Lily tabs – might as well fertilize those puppies while you’re in there!
• Two-five gallon buckets to collect leaves and debris
• Wading boots or old clothes you don’t mind getting dirty
• Rubber gloves
• 25 feet of 1.5 to 2-inch discharge piping
• A high-pressure nozzle for your garden hose or a power washer
• Garden shears for trimming plants
• Bacteria
• Dechlorinator
• Extra rocks/pebbles
• Expanding foam to fill in any spots
• New filter mats

Once you’re prepared, follow these steps for a successful spring clean-out.
1. Drain the Pond – An inexpensive screened pump is sufficient, but don’t forget to fill a separate container with pond water for the fish.
2. Disconnect the Circulation System – This will allow the water in the plumbing to drain.
3. Catch the Fish – Drain the pond to roughly six inches of water in order to catch fish easily and safely.
4. Remove Debris – All large debris, such as leaves and twigs, should be removed by hand.
5. Wash the Pond – A 1,500 psi pressure washer or a high-pressure nozzle on a garden hose is recommended for pond cleaning.
6. Rinse the Pond – Rinse the pond from top to bottom with a garden hose while continuing to pump out the dirty water.
7. Clean the Filters – Spray down the filtration media until it is relatively clean and rinse down the actual filter units.
8. Refill the Pond – Pull out the clean-out pump and begin refilling the pond.
9. De-chlorinate the Water – Most city water contains chlorine and chloramines and should be treated with a de-chlorinator before fish are introduced.
10. Acclimate the Fish – A spring clean-out can be stressful to fish, so proper acclimation is suggested to decrease stress and avoid future health problems.

Now the pond is officially ready for spring!

Before Bud Kiebler got into the water gardening business, he had been a consultant based in the foothills of Denver, Colorado. His job was to consult big-time companies who were having difficulties, and in need of turning things around. “I even did some work in Russia for the U.S. Government when they were trying to teach people in the former Soviet Union how to make a market economy come to life after seven decades of communism,” Bud said.

For the most part, he had a good time doing it, but found that in this business, the consultant was often left hanging out to dry when the turnaround was completed. After several instances of having the rug jerked out from under him, he discovered that his wife Debbi had a little landscaping thing going back at the ranch, and that she needed some physical help with a project.

“I pitched in one afternoon, working out in the sunshine,” Bud said. “And realized that I was actually having fun that I never had on the corporate ladder.” Bud always loved building things and when they got home that day, Deb suggested that he drop the corporate consulting deal and work together on their own business. “My eyes lit up and I told her I thought it was a great idea,” Bud said.

They formed BR & D Landscape, one thing led to another, and then Bud got a call from True Pump, an Aquascape Designs Master ProPond Distributor in Denver, inviting them to attend an Aquascape Build-A-Pond Day. The rest is history. “I really like installing water gardens for a living. I like being my own boss and not being subject to corporate politics and related problems,” Bud said. Their business continues to grow and they are becoming more and more well known in the community. “Actually, I’ve never been happier or more secure than I am today.” Bud laughed, “Wingtips? Who needs ‘em? At this point in my life, I’d rather buy a good tractor than a Lear Jet. Now that’s a transition!”

When I think about ponds and fall colors, there is something mystical about multicolored leaves surrounding a still body of water, reflecting mirror-like in the daytime with the refreshing feeling of crisp coolness in the air. Ah, this is the real reason northern gardeners don’t move south even though they may not like the cold winter winds or trudging through heavy snow. This is a very special time of year. It is also a busy time for water gardeners and fish hobbyists who might like to enjoy the sights… but have chores to do.

The first order of business in preparing for winter is always the seasonal cleaning. All those beautiful leaves need to be removed from around the pond and nets raised to prevent more from touching the water. Every leaf that enters the water will add to the organic buildup, and in fact, the process of decomposition of the leaf has begun long before it becomes detached from the tree. This attractive piece of biodegrading organic cellulase matter, upon entering the pond, uses oxygen as it continues the decomposition process in the pond. One of the end products of this process, if I don’t do my job, will be hydrogen sulfide under the ice.

The decomposing leaves also provide an ideal environment for the microscopic parasites which help the breakdown process. Unfortunately, somewhere along the food chain, these opportunistic parasites will also feed upon my fish. (It’s a shame the trees can’t all lose their leaves at the same time. Life could be so much simpler for water gardeners.) So the primary job at hand is to remove all the leaf litter and whatever other organic matter might be in the pond before the fish have to deal with the consequences. In my yard there is a lovely white birch, a thread leaf maple and one or two weeping pines overhanging the pond. The neighbors all have large maples and oaks. All the leaves in the area go into one of the bogs, the stream, or the pond. Ponds are leaf and dust magnets!

After the leaves and twigs are initially taken care of, the filter must be thoroughly cleaned and the pumps are inspected to make sure everything is in the best shape for the winter months. I do not care to dig through snow to find and fix malfunctions in the middle of a blizzard when a thorough examination, BEFORE the weather turns bad, would prevent it.
Once everything is working optimally, I will don my boots and enter the pond myself. It’s time to remove any annual plants, dying vegetation, and prune overhanging shrubbery. I have three bogs and a 20’ stream to clean. With a depth of 6 ½’ in the center of the pond, I have an inflatable raft to access the interior without drowning! It’s a 2-man raft; one man has to row and the other can prune. I tried it by myself and it doesn’t work that well. I found it difficult to prune while drifting. I have a skimmer (which is disconnected in winter) and bottom drain in my pond, which is functioning all year to remove most leaves that land in the pond, but like any pond with a liner bottom, there are places and folds that will catch debris and hold it. Some will remain in the pond, like it or not.

I will put the net over the pond after all the preparation work is finished anyway. The net on my own pond is one of accident prevention rather than leaf collection. I stretch the net across the pond just below the surface of the water, which will become encased in ice, and will not detract from the natural appearance of the pond. In this way, my dogs or neighboring cats will not drown if they walk across thin ice. Winter is a time of beauty and a time of danger, not only for the fish and plants, but for unsuspecting children and pets.

We are no longer feeding the fish, the hardy plants have been “put to bed” for the winter, and the tropicals are in the greenhouse; the leaves have been removed and filters are working well, so what is left for us to do? Well, why not disconnect and clean the UV lights and change the bulbs in readiness for next season? Then, if desired, we can construct a PVC frame with thick plastic and/or netted “igloo” over our pond to minimize the seasonal fluctuations in temperature, keep out excessive winds and snow, and even prevent freezing. Many people use this type of arrangement to keep their ponds free from leaves and predators and find it is so easy to construct each year as they can be made to conform to any size or pond shape. When the wind begins they will find the leaves being blown in under the protection anyway.

Alas, there is no foolproof way of keeping ALL the leaves or other organic matter from entering the pond. This is the ideal time to utilize cold weather strains of bacteria and cellulase enzymes for maintenance of clean water conditions through the dormant winter months. By conditioning the pond with bacterial additives specially formulated to work in cooler water temperatures, I am assured of having the organic materials processed more efficiently to reduce buildup. I do not want to subject my fish to dangerous gases should my de-icer fail during the winter. I want any leftover leaf particles and sediment to be decomposed speedily with the help of cellulase enzymes and cold-weather bacteria products. I know this will give me (and my pond) a healthier environment through the cold winter months and a better start for the coming spring!