I hear it all the time, "We have this low spot here and thought it would be perfect for a pond since water pools there already".
This is the worst location, all the run-off will flow into your pond creating an inflow of nutrients, debris and other unwanted additions to the pond. There is a substantial different between a retention system and a water garden.
I have to drain it on a regular basis!
Every spring a natural body of water has an influx of fresh rain and turns over as the less dense water on top of the pond warms up. The result is a uniform water temperature at all depths and a higher dissolved oxygen level. Once a year you accomplish the same result by completing a spring clean out. That's it, once a year! In fact, you will do more damage than good my draining the system more often than once a year. Your aim is to build up a balanced, healthy ecosystem, excessive cleaning can be counter productive to reaching this goal.
The more filtration, the better the pond.
Believe or not, you can over-filter a pond. If you can see a dime on the bottom of the pond, then the water clarity is just right for your fish and filtering past that create headaches. When properly designed and constructed your pond has a flow rate the is specific to the pond volume, filter sizes, projected stocking rate, and turn-over volume. The goal is to create a more balanced ecosystem and your flow rate plays a role in this. Overfiltering leads to increased maintenance and other issues.
I have liability or safety concerns!
If you have children or pets that will visit and interact with the pond, the shelving will be designed to step down slowly to 2' of depth. Specific areas such as a river stone or sand beach can be incorporated so the water access areas are safe and easy to spot. We do recommend that you make your neighbors aware of the water garden and educate your own children and friends about the safety of any body of water. If liability is a true concern, consider the option of a Pondless® Waterfall.
Your pond must be at least three feet deep in order to keep koi.
There are thousands of two-foot deep ponds around the country, full of happy and healthy koi. The water in a two-foot deep pond will generally only freeze eight inches down, even in the coldest of climates. A floating de-icer and some aeration will keep a hole in the ice and allow the ammonia to escape over the winter.
You can't be a koi hobbyist and a water gardener.
Ok, because carp are only found in sterile environments with no plants? You can raise koi and have a beautiful water garden. The koi can grow up to be just as beautiful and just as healthy as they are in traditional koi ponds. Not only are the plant attractive, they will be completing water quality maintenance for you.
Predators will eat all of your fish!
Raccoons generally don't swim. They can stand on the side of your pond and take a swipe at your fish. A properly designed system will provide a place for fish to swim deeper in a protected area when a predator is threatening them. The one predator with some decent fish-loss credentials is the blue heron. About 60% of the surface of your water should be covered in plants. Include lots of lily pads and fish caves so the fish have some cover and a place to hide.
UV lights are the best way to keep your pond water clear.
UV clarifiers are one of the ways to keep your pond water clear, but certainly not the only way, and arguably not the natural way. The fact of the matter is that if you have a pond that's naturally balanced, in which the aquatic circle of life is rotating the way that Mother Nature intended, you don't need UVC at all. A naturally balanced pond is a low maintenance pond because Mother Nature is doing the maintenance work for you.
The presence of rocks and gravel make it difficult to clean your pond.
Rocks and gravel offer a natural place for aerobic bacteria to colonize and set up housekeeping. This bacteria breaks down the fish waste and debris that would otherwise accumulate in the pond and turn into sludge. You'll find that having rocks and gravel in your pond not only makes it look better, but it makes it healthier as well.
You have to bring your fish inside for the winter.
Fish do fine during the coldest of winters as long as you give them two feet of water to swim in, oxygenate the water, and keep a hole in the ice with a de-icer, allowing the naturally produced gasses to escape from under the ice.
You can use a timer on your pond!
Your pond is a living, breathing ecosystem that needs constant oxygen. If you shut your system down at night, then you can never have sufficient growth of beneficial bacteria to fight algae blooms, and your finned friends will have a hard time breathing. You can shut down a Pondless® Waterfall system or decorative fountain because plants and fish are not depending on the circulation.
A pond in your backyard means you will have a lot of mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes typically only lay their eggs in still, stagnant water. In some aspects, your pond is a mosquito control method. If the mosquitoes happen to lay eggs in your pond and the mosquito larvae hatch, the fish in your pond will consider them a treat. Ponds will also attract more dragonflies who can consume hundreds of mosquitoes a day.
Koi can't be kept in a pond that also contains plants.
Again, fish feed on plants. As a result, the fish produce waste, which is broken down by aerobic bacteria on the bottom of your pond, which, in turn, is used as fertilizer by the plants to grow and produce more natural fish food. Plants play a key role in the balance, without them you are the one doing all of the work they would have done for you.
Your pond water must be tested on a daily basis.
Mother Nature never tests her water, and her ecosystem does just fine. Unless there is a major issue with water quality or fish loss, put down the water quality kit. The ponds we have the most trouble with are actually due to the owner obsessing over water quality rather than letting mother nature do her work. Fish kill calls are typically the result of the homeowner trying to adjust pH or other water parameters. These parameters test differently at different times of the day so you can see where constant adjustments can create chaos!
You cannot have a pond in an area where there are a lot of trees.
Yes, you will have more leaves in your pond in the fall but, by the same token, the shade provided by the tree(s) will help minimize the algae bloom in the summer. Furthermore, if you have a skimmer sucking the top quarter inch of water off the top of your pond, it will pull most of the leaves and related debris into the skimmer net. We will provide the alternative option of an intake bay rather than a skimmer if there is a lot of tree cover so it eliminates the increased need to empty your skimmer net..
Having a pond may decrease the value of your home!
Everyone knows when it comes to the resale value of your home, a swimming pool can be deadly. However, in the opinion of some real estate agents, ponds can be a great addition to your home that might even pay dividends. With water features becoming more and more popular, you can bet that the demand for them will get even bigger!
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