Packaged Ponds, Edmonton, Waterfalls, Glass Ponds, Aquascape, Waterscape, Landscape, Water Gardening, Water Feature

Pond Information
At Packaged Ponds we pride ourselves on doing one thing and doing it very well - we build fabulous water features!

Because our core business focus is on building water features, we consider ourselves artisans reproducing natural settings. We don't see our business as a construction company, but rather a group of dedicated people who want your surroundings to be something you will be able to enjoy for a long time.

If you are thinking about a water feature, please consider contacting us at Packaged Ponds for a consultation. We can offer many ideas and suggestions to customize your water feature based on your specifications. To inquire about a consultation, please contact us by:

Designing a Pond - Too many people get caught up in designs and plans for their dream pond and in the end will likely spend years planning it, or not build it at all. It’s very common in landscaping that over designing a natural pond, results in:
1. The pond not getting built for years or never built
2. It is too symmetrical and unnatural (formal)
3. It is built in the wrong location
4. The cost and perplexity increases substantially
The best advice we can give our customers is to skip the designing phase and move directly to site preparation with a clear understanding of their objective.

Let’s start by stating a few simple facts:
Size
· Ponds can be built to any size and in any sized yard
· Bigger sized ponds are easier to maintain
     · Greater filtration and ecosystems
     · Minimal cost difference and labor between pond sizes
     · Most first timer’s wish they had built their pond bigger

Difficulty
· Pond Kits take all the guess work out of building a pond, by; containing all the parts needed based on size, simplifying procedures and assembly, and providing detailed step-by-step, easy to understand instructions
· With a pond kit, 2 to 3 inexperienced adults can build a beautiful (leak-free) pond (8’ x 11’) in just 2 weekends
· Most ponds are built without need of; heavy equipment, hauling away waste material, or bringing in sand or soil

Location
· Ponds should not be built in a low-point (where water gathers) without first fixing the existing drainage problem.

Determine Your Objective - The homeowner’s want to enhance their backyard and family lifestyle with a natural pond and water feature. They will want to be able to enjoy their pond as much as possible (see it, hear it, be close to it, entertain by it) and don’t want to spend much time or work maintaining it.

Site Location and Preparation - People have the tendency to think where a pond would look best or “fit in” as opposed to, where can they get the most enjoyment with it. So, a common mistake is to build the pond in a corner or a distance away from where they now spend time outdoors. The farther the pond is from the house and deck or porch, the less they will visit it.

To get the maximum enjoyment from a pond and waterfall it should be built as close to their living areas as possible (outside patio or deck and indoor favorite rooms). Waterfalls are the focal points of most ponds and should face the house allowing it to be heard through open windows and viewed from both indoors and outdoors.

1. Start by stepping 1 foot off your patio or deck and place a garden hose down in a kidney or other natural shape (informal) and then place a chair on the opposite side (waterfall perspective).

2. Sit in your favorite deck chair and view your mock-up and imagine it as a beautiful pond alive with color and sounds. Can you almost reach out and touch it? Is this where you want to be when the sun goes down and you’re finally on your own time?

3. View your mock-up pond from inside the house or covered porch. Can it be seen from the kitchen? Can it be seen and heard from your dining room or restful place? Will your bedroom overlook it and afford yourself the luxury of falling asleep listening to the soothing, restful sounds of cascading water? Does someone in the house spend long times in one room (shut-in, work-from-home, etc.) that could take advantage of the pond location?

4. Do you want to set your waterfalls back beyond the side of the pond by using a stream? Try moving the chair back 5’, 10’, 15’ and view the mock-up from the patio and house.

5. Is the pond big enough? Are the pond and stream (if any) in proportion to each other? Can you still get around in your yard easily with the pond where it is? Make adjustments in size and shape and length of stream (if any).

6. Mark down the measurements of the pond and stream you want and then contact us and let us help you find the best pond kit to suit your needs and budget.

7. Ask us to recommend a submersible and aboveground lighting system so you can enjoy the pond in the evening. Stock up on the few tools you might need for the job (2 spades and a good wheelbarrow).

8. Take your new pond kit home and open it up. Review the instructions and DVD (if included) for a better idea of how easy it will be to build and a clearer understanding of the rocks and gravel you will use.

9. Go to a rock and gravel supply yard and see what they have available to build your pond. Order your rock and gravel needs and arrange delivery.

10. Review the pond kits 20-step construction process and 20 components. Call the pond experts who work exclusively for Packaged Ponds - Pond Kit Help Line” cell phone: (780) 668-5025 for questions.

45 mil EPDM liner is sold from rolls of 50’ and 100’ lengths with widths of 10’, 15’ and 20’. In the above example (17’ x 22’ liner size), the customer would need to purchase a 20’ x 22’ liner size.

Customers should be encouraged to over-size the liner requirements to allow for slight measurement errors. If the liner size used is found too short for the customers project, backfilling to reduce the pond size should be suggested first. If this is not an option, then suggest extra liner and Cover & Seal tape.

Pond kits come with an exact size pre-cut liner and customers should be advised to build a slightly smaller diameter pond than suggested in the kit, to ensure enough liner for the project.

45 mil EPDM liner has a 20-year warranty for cracks and damages caused by sun exposure (UV), but the warranty only applies if the liner is fully covered (rocks, gravel, soil, etc.).

The total gallons of water in your pond is needed for determining: pump and filter size, administering water and fish treatments and for fish quotas.

Fish Stocking Levels - The above information is based on a maximum fish stocking level of 100” of fish per 1000 gallons of pond water. Higher fish levels will require a larger pump and filtration system.

The sights and sounds of moving water soothes and excites us all. Waterfalls are the most dramatic part of a pond and careful consideration should be given to the effects of the waterfall lip (weir) width and material in achieving a desired flow. The following table indicates how much water is required per inch of weir width to achieve different thickness levels over the entire weir width.

Considerations when choosing the proper pump:
1. Water volume the pump will be expected to move
2. Desired flow rate for the waterfalls and stream
3. Width of the waterfall spillway and stream
4. Height and length the water needs to be pumped
5. Pipe diameter with number of fittings and elbows
6. Cost, flow rate, voltage, and energy consumption

Maximum Pump Flow Rate - measured in “gallons per hour” (gph), this number provided by the manufacture is the maximum gph the pump will push water out of its discharge. This number decreases as soon as it leaves the discharge and begins to be pushed through a pipe.

Shut-off Height - is provided by the manufacturer and identifies at what height (in feet) the pump will cease to push water.

Static Head - is the overall height that the pump will have to push. (Measured from the pond surface up to the waterfall spillway.)

Friction Head - is the amount of resistance caused by the piping. (Affected by pipe diameter, length and type of pipe and amount of fittings.)

Total Dynamic Head (TDH) - Elevation(ft) + Friction(ft) = TDH for a particular pump size. TDH is a calculation which determines how much water the pump will actually push under a given circumstance.

Several TDH calculators are available on the web, such as at: www.pumpworld.com.

· Most backyard pond waterfalls are built 2’-5’ high
· Good waterfall pumps are designed for minimal loss within the first 5’ of rise and 40’ of pipe length
· Minimum flow rate for the waterfall width (weir) is 100 gph per inch of weir width
   · Best flow rate is 1500 gph per weir foot
· Minimize pipe resistance:
   · Use flexible PVC pipe to reduce fittings used
   · Do not use a smaller pipe diameter size than the diameter of the pumps discharge
· 10’ of horizontal pipe length = 1’ vertical head rise
· For proper filtration the pump needs to circulate the entire pond water once every two hours
   · For optimum filtration or for smaller ponds the circulation rate should be once every hour

Aquascape started the pond craze with their biological filters and skimmers. They have changed our concept of ponds with the ecosystem pond built with natural rocks and gravel. Aquascape manufactures professional pond products under the Aquascape name and DIY products under the NurseryPro brand. They also build ponds and their methods are industry standards.

Q. What is a Pond Filtration System?
A. The mechanical and biological filtration of the entire pond water volume as it is constantly circulated and oxygenated. Good systems will entirely circulate every hour.

Q. When do you need a Pond Filtration System?
A. Primarily, when keeping fish or when organic debris (leaves, pine needles, grass cuttings, etc.) settle and rot in the bottom of your pond, causing poor water quality.

Q. When do you not need a Filtration System?
A. When you are not keeping fish, situations where frequent water changes are carried out or when using small containers with aquatic plants.

Q. Can you keep fish without a Filtration System?
A. Yes. Small (1 inch) Goldfish can survive in a bowl of water indoors where the sun's UV rays and wind blown organic matter is absent. Goldfish can be kept outdoors in containers of 30 gallons or less of water, providing plants cover 80% or more of the surface area and frequent water changes are performed. Koi require plenty of oxygen and a good filtration system!

Q. Are small ponds easier to maintain?
A. No. Actually larger ponds are easier to maintain as the filtration system will be larger and the biological filtration will be less affected by disturbances. Aquatic plants can be removed from their pots and have more room to grow.

Small ponds require more frequent maintenance but can be just as rewarding as large ponds as long as you think big on the filtration system (including plants).

Backyard ponds are an enclosed, unnatural environment, which lacks the basic filtration qualities found in natural bodies of water and streams. Backyard ponds are overburdened with fish waste, decaying leaves and grass, disturbed silt, organic sludge and the effects of sun exposure on shallow water. A pond would quickly become toxic for all life if not for algae, which feeds off the excess nutrients. But then, we don't want the resulting green water brought on by an explosion of suspended algae.

There are four basic types of filtration which can aid the water gardener in obtaining a healthy ecosystem and clear water: Natural, Mechanical, Biological and Chemical.

Natural - Rocks and gravel provide a large surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize. Plants are an excellent source for filtering water by; trapping and feeding-off of excess floating nutrients, providing surface area for bacteria to attach and by shading the pond from full sun.

Mechanical - Is the physical removal of suspended material by straining the pond water and removing the debris.

Biological - Is the use of beneficial bacteria to convert organic waste compounds (Ammonia) into toxic Nitrite and then into Nitrate, which is far less toxic.

Chemical - Chemicals have no place in today's ecosystem ponds other than Activated Carbon, which is effective in removing dissolved organics (tea colored water).

Aquatic Plants

"It's just a hole with rocks and water without plants"

Our backyard ponds are an enclosed ecosystem that need our help to remain healthy. Adding aquatic plants to our ponds will beautify them but it is the ecological benefits to an enclosed system that should most influence our aquatic selections. Aquatic plants have 4 main grouping (water lily, marginal plants, submerged and floaters) and each group have their own unique benefits to our ponds.

What is the difference between a Water Garden and a Pond? There really isn't a difference between the two, but the water garden sounds tropical with more exotic colors, fragrances and flowering plants. A pond sounds more desolate and lacking vibrant colors but teaming with microscopic life below and at the surface. Bulrushes and tall grasses with visiting birds dominate our natural local ponds and landscape. A water garden is designed to please and arouse our senses and engulf us within an outdoor room of pleasure.

Today's water gardening craze combines the flavor of tropical water gardens with locally available plants in a natural pond setting. The benefits of this combination is the spectacular color and beauty to behold along with a healthy ecosystem to support it. Understanding the main groupings of aquatic plants and the roles each have to play in our backyard ponds can enhance our overall enjoyment in water gardening.

Aquatic plants are grouped based on their planting depth in a pond and ponds are designed with shelves for planting. The first shelf in a pond is designated for Marginal plants, the second shelf for Water Lily like plants, the bottom of the pond for Submerged plants and Floaters on the pond's surface.

Water Lily

Lilies are the most popular aquatic plants and are the reason why so many of us build a pond. Over 50 varieties of water lilies exist with a wide range of styles to choose from:
· Bold colors: Red, Pink, Yellow, White
· Leaf pad diameter sizes from 2 inches to 2 feet
· Varieties: Hardy, Tropical, Miniature
· Day-Bloomers: Typically from 10 AM and 5 PM
· Night-Bloomers: Typically from 8 PM and 10 AM

Water lilies are planted at a depth of 12" to 18". The second shelf in a pond is 12" to 20" deep and is designed for water lilies and similar type plants. For growth potential, the lily can be removed from its pot and planted in a pocket on the second shelf. For our climate, many people will leave it in its pot for easy removal at the end of the season.

Aquatic plants play a vital role in the pond’s ecosystem and water lilies are of particular benefit:
· Lily pads shield a portion of the pond from the sun and provide ideal coverage for fish
· Competes with algae for excess nutrients
· Stems offer a large surface area for beneficial-bacteria to cling to and help purify the water

For wintering, cut off plant material and store the moist root in a bag in the fridge or cold room, or in a jar of distilled water in a cold room.

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Marginal Plants

The marginal classification includes many different plant species, from grasses and rushes to a multitude of flowering plants and colors. Both local and warmer climate marginal plants adapt very well in our backyard ponds.

Marginal plants add life to a pond with their splendor of color and texture. They attract insects, small animals and birds to the pond as a habitat and for safe cover when feeding or bathing. Marginals are planted at a depth of 1" to 8" on the first shelf of a pond. They help to soften the rock edges of the pond and provide a transition from the pond to the landscape.

Aquatic plants play a vital role in the pond's ecosystem and marginal plants will be of the most benefit if they are removed from the pots and planted in loose gravel. This allows the roots to trap waste sediment and compete with algae for excess nutrients in the water. Marginal plants provide some shade from the sun.

For wintering marginals, cut back plant material before rotting takes place and leave the plant in the pond. They can also be cut back and brought indoors. Irises and some other flowering varieties rarely survive our winters and are treated as annuals.

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Submerged Plants

Submerged plants are likely not at the top of your plant list for the new pond. They're rarely seen at the bottom of the pond and few varieties flower. Most submerged plants do not root and can get caught in mechanical skimmers and filters. Rock stream bed edges are great for holding submerged and marginal plants.

Ecosystem benefits of Submerged Plants:

1. They act as nutrient sponges, trapping and feeding off of fish waste and organic sediment

2. Compete with algae for available nutrients

3. They produce much needed oxygen during the day
(Note: All aquatic plants consume oxygen at night.)

4. Acts as a natural media for spawning fish

5. Provides excellent habitat for small fish and pond life

Submerged plants should be treated as annuals and need to be removed at the end of the season. If you're still not sure that submerged plants are helping make your water crystal clear, shake a plant on the bottom of your pond and observe all the harmless flakes which were once toxic fish waste and other decaying matter.

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Floating Plants

Water Hyacinth, Water Lettuce and Frogbit are the most common of the floaters group. Water Hyacinths are instrumental in achieving a healthy pond environment with clear clean water.

The hanging roots of floaters are the key in filtering water and starving-out algae. The roots trap waste and organic sediment and extract the nutrients from it. Beneficial bacteria colonizes on the roots and break down Ammonia (toxic fish waste byproduct) into Nitrites and into less toxic, Nitrates (Nitrogen Cycle).

Floating plants can be placed anywhere in our ponds including waterfalls and streams. For the pond ecosystem, water hyacinth work best in the biological filter because of the high water flow and oxygen levels. They can be a nuisance by winding up in our skimmers and it takes some fiddling to keep them out. Fishing line can be used to hold the plants in the biological filter. They can be tucked into stream and pond edges easily. Koi will entertainingly push floaters around the pond feasting on trapped fish food, snails, algae and other pond delicacies.

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Plants To Avoid In and Around Your Pond

Some plants in our backyard landscapes can be poisonous to aquatic life. The following plants should not be planted where fish can access any portion of the plant for ingestion:

Azalea (Rhododendron species) Black Locust (Robinia species) Buttercup (Ranunculus spp.) Caladium (Caladium xaiitliosoma) Castorbean (Ricinus communis) Chokecherry / Cherry (Prunus spp.) Climbing Nightshade (Solanum duicamara) Clover (Trifolium spp.) Horsechesnut (Aeseulus spp.) Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema spp.) Jimsonweed (Datura spp.) Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) Philodendron (Philodendron spp.) Pigweed (Amaranhus spp.) Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) Potato (Solanum tuberosum) Red Maple (Acer rubrum) Rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum) Sweet Pea (Lathyrus species) Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) White Snake Root (Eupatorium rugosum) Wild Bleeding Heart (Deicentra spp.) Yew (Taxus spp.)
List created by: Bre Begley and Janet Triplett

Imagine what would happen if you tilled a pond-sized area of soil that receives full sun, fertilized it with nitrates, watered it and planted a few small shrubs. It’s more than likely that weeds would soon appear and if left unattended, it would become an eyesore. To correct the situation, a gardener would deprive light to the weeds (weed barrier, mulch, etc.) and then plant a greater variety of types to fill out their bed.

Take the same situation with a pond that is under full sun, likely overstocked with fish (exceeding 10” of fish per 100 gallons of water), excess nitrate nutrients in the water and just a few aquatic plants. Algae which is always present in a pond, will naturally thrive in this situation. As the algae population increases, they will be producing oxygen during the day but depleting oxygen during the night which will eventually change the water chemistry.

Wide pH swings between day and night can cause fish stress or loss and kill all the algae (crash). It’s terrible to lose fish, but at least the unsightly algae is gone. Or is it? The dead algae on the ponds floor will be consumed by anaerobic bacteria (bad) which live in the depths where oxygen is at a minimum. As the toxicity of the pond worsens, new algae will exponentially multiply causing what is commonly referred to as an “algae bloom”. The whole cycle is destined to be repeated again and again.

Correcting the situation will take time, patience and some of the same gardening strategy used to limit weeds; deny sunlight and add more plants to compete for nutrients. This pond will require a little more help.

Step 1. Water Quality
a. Detoxify the pond water with a de-Chlorinator.
b. Test the pH of the pond water with a test strip or other kit.
c. Gradually raise the pH, lower the pH or stabilize the pH.
d. Increase the oxygen with an aerator. This will help; stabilize the night-to-day pH swing, reduce the risk of algae blooms, reduce the anaerobic (bad) bacteria and help the nitrifying (good) aerobic bacteria.

Step 2. Water Clarity
a. Seed the biological filter with beneficial bacteria and repeat this process for 4 to 7 days. Continue adding beneficial bacteria as described by the manufacturer.
b. Add water lilies and floating plants to help shade the pond from the sun.
c. Add marginals and aquatic plants to compete with algae for nutrients and to clean the water.
d. Add barley pellets to help balance the pond.
e. Remove string algae by hand and practice patience.

Algae provides over 85% of Earth’s oxygen and 80% of its food source. It will always be in our ponds and will be a valuable food source for almost everything living in our ponds. Once we understand that there is no “quick fix” to eliminate algae and make the water crystal clear, we can relax and allow nature to take its course.

Other effective water treatment products are available which aid in balancing the pond or for temporary relief.

From the moment you add water to your pond, beneficial bacteria will be busy doing its job in the Nitrogen Cycle. Adding a bacteria/enzyme product to our ponds as routine maintenance will speed up the process and ensure the number of bacteria (billions) will be effective.

The biological filter is designed to house colonizing bacteria where the conditions are best (large surface media to attach to and well oxygenated) to do its job. Think of the mechanical filter (skimmer) as a garbage dump and the biological filter as the Recycling Station.

Five minutes every two weeks is all it should take you to maintain your pond. Empty your skimmer net of floating debris and add the recommended amount of beneficial bacteria and you're done. You don't have to be an expert to look after your pond, but knowing relevant terms and how it all works will definitely help.

The terms provided below will help you to understand the pond ecosystem which unfortunately includes toxins and halogens that can harm your fish and lead to an imbalanced pond.

Aerobic - Living or occurring only in the presence of oxygen: aerobic bacteria.

Ammonia - (NH3), is the most toxic of the nitrogenous (nitrogen containing) pollutants. Most ammonia enters the water when it is excreted by the fish from their gills during metabolism. The rest comes from the breakdown of pollutants and food. Ammonia is very toxic, even at low levels. It is broken down into nitrite by Nitrosomonas bacteria.

Anaerobic - An organism, such as bacterium, that can live in the absence of atmospheric oxygen.

Bacteria - Single-celled organisms, free-living or parasitic, that break down the wastes and bodies of dead organisms, making their components available for reuse by other organisms.

Back Flush - The process of draining and purging impurities out of a plumbing/filtration system.

Biological Filter - Any unit designed to consume nutrients and particulates from a body of water through the use of biological bacteria and filtration media.

De-chlorinator - A chemical that neutralizes the presence of chlorine and chloramines in city tap water.

Ecosystem - A dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit.

Enzymes - Molecular proteins found in nature, which can catalyze (speed up) chemical reactions.

Filter Media - Any material with a tremendous amount of surface area, used to colonize beneficial bacteria for water filtration.

Filtration - The act or process of filtering. The mechanical separation of a liquid from the solid particles floating in it.

Flocculate - To convert into floccules or flocculent aggregates; to make granular or crumbly; as flocculation of a pond causes organic particles to clump together into larger clumps that can be filtered, or will sink.

Macronutrients - An element such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen, required in large proportion for the normal growth and development of a plant.

Micronutrients - A substance, such as a vitamin or mineral, that is essential in minute amounts for the proper growth and metabolism of a living organism.

Microorganisms - An organism of microscopic or submicroscopic size, especially a bacterium or protozoan.

Nitrate - (NO3 ) is a by-product of the breakdown of fish wastes by beneficial bacteria living in the filter. Nitrate is less toxic than ammonia and nitrite but can cause stress in fish. Nitrate is nutrient for plants and unfortunately a nutrient for algae.

Nitrite - (NO2) is a toxic nitrogenous (nitrogen containing) pollutant derived from ammonia by Nitrosomonas bacteria. It is toxic at low levels to most fishes and is a common reason for losses. Calcium chloride and sodium chloride have been shown to reduce its toxicity. Nitrobacteria convert nitrite to nitrate.

Nitrification - The biological or chemical transformation of ammonium nitrogen to nitrate nitrogen.

Nitrogen - One of the major nutrients required for the growth of aquatic plants, usually present in water as organic nitrogen or as inorganic ammonia and nitrate. High concentrations of nitrogen can cause overabundant aquatic plant and algal growth.

Nitrogen Cycle - The biological cycle in which toxins are broken down into less harmful products by Aerobic bacteria.

Parasite - An organism that grows, feeds and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.

pH - (potential of Hydrogen) A relative measure of the acidity of a solution using a scale of 1-14. It is used to indicate whether a solution is acidic (below 7), neutral (7) or alkaline (above 7).

Skimmer - A mechanical pre-filter designed to remove surface debris and house the submersible pump.

Sludge - Broken down organic debris accumulated on the pond floor. (i.e., fish waste, dead lily leaves and tree foliage)

Ultraviolet Sterilizer - A device that uses the process of radiation to destroy organic compounds that pass through its ultraviolet light.

At Packaged Ponds we are always looking for enthusiastic and hard-working people! If you enjoy working outdoors then please send us your resume to the email address listed below.