Pond Awakenings
by Ken Schoen

SPLASH! Was that a frog jumping off a lily pad? Or maybe a fish playing near a waterfall? Or even you, jumping into your pond? Spring is the time for planning and beginning to build a pond or other water feature on your property—or to “wake up” your existing pond. If you have not yet experienced the magic of a pond or waterfall near your home, or have one and want to modify it or build a different type, here are some tips.

Bigger is better. I’ve been specializing in “water features” for over 20 years and the number one thing that I hear is, “I wish I’d made it bigger.” It’s amazing the number of times that a customer has asked us to come back and expand the job (sometimes in the middle of doing it the first time).

Initial design is key. A simple example: would you rather look across your pond’s width or its length? I usually prefer to design a pond so you are looking down the longest part of the pond, which gives it a much larger feel than looking across the width. With larger swimming ponds, sometimes a dog-leg at the far side where you don’t see the end means you get the feel that the pond just keeps going.This design strategy can also be used on smaller ponds by bringing an edge up to or under a deck. Bridges can also be used to give closer access to view the fish and plants. Asian style ponds can have stepping stones in the water. The more three-dimensional your design is, the larger it will feel. Gentle curves are better than extreme ones. Floating debris tends to get stuck in tight corners.

Put it as close to your house as you can. If you can see and/or hear the pond/waterfall from inside your house, you will be able to enjoy it even when you’re not outside. A jazz musician client likes to adjust the rocks in his stream to change the “tuning.” At another house that’s close to the road, the “white noise” of the waterfall masks the road noise. The initial reaction of a teenaged daughter at the home where we were installing a koi pond was one big yawn—until after it was built and she decided to change her bedroom of 16 years and move to the other side of the house so she could hear the waterfall.

Decide at the outset on the kind of pond you want. If you want your pond primarily to have water lilies and other plants, access, sunlight and growing depths are of paramount importance. If you want a larger pond, is it more for swimming or fishing (or both)? Or maybe you want more of a swimming pool feel, but with a natural plant filtration system and look.

Stone and water are a perfect match. Try to use a variety of sizes of rocks to give a more natural look. I’ve used everything from pea gravel to massive boulders (when budget allows). When they’re that big, no one in their right mind thinks they were placed. Even a small backyard with smaller rocks can look very natural. But vary the size: a necklace of flat stones of similar size overhanging a small pond is very artificial looking and the stones tend to become unstable unless placed just right. Trying to use rocks with lichens and mosses adds a natural feel.

Think about maintenance now. Doing it from the beginning will simplify everything later. Especially when it comes to koi ponds, where filtration aspects are more important. Some pond builders design ponds with rocks on the bottom. It’s a big mistake. How do you clean a bottom that’s full of rocks? All of the debris falls between the rocks, turning anaerobic and creating a maintenance nightmare. For larger ponds, consider a bottom feed aeration system from the beginning. They are relatively inexpensive to install, extremely efficient to run and make a big difference in pond health and maintenance. If your pond will be part of a second home, low-maintenance is key (personally I think that’s true even if you’re home all the time).

Energy-efficiency can save you big bucks. The difference in energy use between different types of pumps can be amazing. Waterfalls, aeration and fountains all use different pumps. I was called by a customer who had a sump pump running the waterfall on her little pond. It was her third pump in two years, because they kept burning out. Sump pumps are not designed for constant use and can be terribly inefficient. This one cost about $80 a month to run 24 hours a day. Replacing it with a high-efficiency pump designed for constant duty (with a three year warranty) resulted in an electrical cost of $16 per month for the same flow. That should save her over $500 a year. For larger ponds, a fountain-type aerator can easily cost $100 per month to run and typically needs to come out for the winter. However a bottom feed aeration system can do a better job of aeration and costs about $10 a month to run.

Existing Ponds
For those of you who already have a functioning pond or waterfall, I have some other tips. First, congratulate yourself on surviving another winter. Now that the ice has melted (never break up ice in a pond with fish, the vibrations can kill them) it’s time to clean up the havoc of cold weather.

For smaller koi/goldfish ponds and water gardens, cleaning out the bottom of the pond of accumulated leaves and debris will help keep the pond healthy. Unless you have no fish or frogs, I do not recommend emptying out the pond, scrubbing the sides (if a liner pond) and refilling with fresh water, since this means you have to start the whole ecosystem from scratch. Removing approximately 10% to 20% of the water is fine, up to a maximum of 50% if there is significant leaf and debris accumulation. It is best to trickle the refill water back in to reduce quick changes in water temperature and pH levels. Remove any dead plants or decaying old growth on hardy plants. Plants that were lowered or over-wintered elsewhere can be moved back to their original positions, or even temporarily moved to the shallower areas of the pond to gain more sunlight. Koi ponds should have filtration systems cleaned before restart. Do not start feeding the fish. I don’t care how guilty they make you feel with those big puppy-dog eyes! They cannot digest food until the water temperature is maintaining at 50­ 55 degrees.

For larger swimming ponds, manual cleaning will typically be limited to the edges. If you have an aeration system that was turned off for the winter, now is the time to restart it. Inflow and outflow areas should be checked for blockages.

Water is magical. It can be both relaxing and exciting, natural and dramatic. To come home from a day out in the “real world” and sit by your pond and become immersed in nature is mesmerizing. Be it a tub on your deck with some plants and maybe a couple of goldfish, a backyard water garden/koi pond, a naturalistic swimming “pool” or a large swimming pond, water will affect you deeply.

In the summer issue I’ll continue this article with tips most appropriate for that season. Meanwhile, if you want further reading I recommend the books by Anthony Archer-Wills. He was on my recommended list even before I got to know him personally while working with him for over a year on an amazing project in Pawling.

Ken Schoen (www.koiponds.com) has been specializing in ponds and other water features in the Hudson Valley and beyond for over 20 years. If you have a pond question, please email him at pondbuilder@verizon.net or mail it to Waterscapes, 155 Washington Ave, Kingston, NY 12401 and he’ll try to answer it in the next issue.