Water Garden Filters
The best and most natural filter for a pond is a slow-flowing stream which rises near the pond or some wherein the vicinity and then runs into the pond. It also creates additional habitats for many green and flowering plant sand numerous animals. Even if you have only a small pond, it is no great problem to install a stream to provide clean water for the pond.
The functions of a stream
As a biological filter: A stream that has been properly designed and constructed, with plenty of plant son its banks, has a cleansing effect on an ornamental or nature pond and improves the living conditions for animals and plants. Waste particles are captured in it. and the bacteria living in the stream break down such organic waste into nutrients that can be used immediately by plants. When the stream is full of running water, from spring to the fall, it will admirably fulfil its purpose as a biological filter.
As a habitat. it is a magnet for many animals. Frogs, toads, newts,dragonflies, and butterflies will find plenty of food in and around the stream, along with suitable places for breeding. As these visitors would find it hard to survive overlong periods of time in an ornamental pond stocked with goldfish, the stream is a good way to invite them to make a home in your garden.
Planning the course of the stream
The course of a stream will have to be planned and built just as
carefully as a pond if it is to fulfill its function.
Calculating the length of the stream: The stream must be of ascertain length in order to act as biological filter. The required length will depend on the volume of watering your pond.
Equipment for constructing a stream
1. a long garden hose;
2. PVC lining or ready-molded sections;
3. silicon adhesive or other welding substances;
4. gravel (1/4- 3/8-in/5-7-mm-sized-pieces);
5. -quartz gravel or similar;
6. material for constructing as mall waterfall;
7. a stream pump;
8. plants;
9. planting baskets
General rule
When calculating the length of the stream, estimate 5 ft (1.5 m) per cubic yard (meter) (273 gallons/1,000 liters) of water. A pond wit-surface measuring 64 sq ft (6 sc –will contain about 5 ‘A cu yd (4 cm) (1,090 gallons/4,000 liters) of water, so the stream should be 2:ft (6 m) long.
The width and depth of the stream: The best measuring devil:leis a spade. The bed of the stream should be one spade’s depth (abar10 in/25 cm) and two spades’ wincer(about 20 in/50 cm).
Course: Do not be perturbed by required length of the stream. Inmost gardens a stream measuring :20 ft (6 m) in length (or longer) is easy to accommodate. For example, you can lead the stream Eric the pond. along a fence :in S-bends around trees. Work the future course of the stream laying out a long garden hose. Insulating materials: there are several possibilities.
•PVC pond lining is excellent.
•Ready-made parts, made of fibre glass or natural sandstone, or basin-like shapes, which are basins linked together to form a stream.
•I would advise against all other materials, like clay or concrete.they create far too much work.The gradient: If you use PVC -lining material or pre-moldedbasins, you will have to providegradient. The natural
sandstone basins can be slotte:into each other in such a waythey create a gradient.
How to build the course
The following directions apply tobuilding of a stream using PVClining material. The informationgiven here is also applicable to-ficial basins.
Constructing a gradient
The gradient is very important when laying the bed of the stream as theaver is pumped from the pond into- a beginning of the stream and will- 3 to flow slowly downhill, along- :purse of the stream, and back
the pond without any additional means of power supply.
The right gradient: A gradient ofin (25 cm) for a distance of 10 ftm) or 20 in (50 cm) for a length offt (6 m) is quite adequate.
the water is intended to flow intopond via a small waterfall,
raise the beginning of the stream farther, so that there isenough gradient at the end of theroute to create a waterfall.Earthworks: Before you begin tomove any earth, you should lay outthe course of the stream using arope and some small wooden pegs.
•In most gardens, the only way tocreate the necessary gradient is tobuild a mound. The earth you havedug out for building the pond isideal for this purpose.
•If a natural gradient alreadyexists (if your garden is on a slope),
digging a trench along the coursewill direct the flow of the stream.Building the bed of the stream:On the mound or slope, dig the bedof the stream to one spade’s depth.
Installing a waterfall: My advice isto install a small waterfall at themouth of the stream. The enormousquantities of bacteria that will colo-nize the stream and perform valu-able filtering services, will also cre-ate a surplus of carbon dioxide inthe water.
If this water, now saturated with carbon dioxide, were let flow back into the pond) it would lead to excessive growth of algae. A small
waterfall installed at the end of the stream will drive out any surplus
carbon dioxide and supply the water with oxygen.
If you really do not want a waterfall, lay a few stones the size of tennis balls in the stream; they will provide plenty of turbulence so that enough oxygen is mixed with the water.
Securing the banks: This is advisable, particularly if the subsoil is fairly soft and at bends in the stream where the soil will tend to be washed away. You can build a bank with the earth dug out of the stream bed. The banks can be secured with:
• stones;
• large boulders;
• vertically buried lengths of rounded wood.
How to insulate the stream with PVC lining
The lining should be laid in the same way as described for the pond. Measuring the lining material: Again, the best aid is your garden hose.
• Measure the width by first laying the hose across the stream bed.
• Measure the piece of hose with a measuring tape.
• Very important: add 12 in (30 cm) of lining material along the edges on both sides, just as you did for the pond.
• Now measure the length of the stream with the help of your hose. Add another 40 in (1 m) at the end, so that you may be sure the
length of lining material will be sufficient.
Joining the lengths of lining material: If you are prepared to add a little to the cost of purchase, you may be able to leave the joining of the lengths of PVC lining to the manufacturer. If you wish to do it yourself, make sure, when it comes to welding the lengths together, that you follow the directions meticulously, specially any recommended safety precautions.
Joining the lining of the stream bed to the pond lining material: At the mouth of the stream, the stream lining will have to be joined to the pond lining with great care. No water should be let leak away as this would cause the pond to lose considerable amounts of water. There is no need to do any joining at the beginning of the stream’s course.
Filling material and reinforcing the banks
Before securing the lining material at the edges of the stream, you must install the filling material on the bed of the stream. This is the first step toward turning the stream into a filter. The filling material provides the same function as a mechanical filter by trapping particles of debris as they are carried downstream by the water. This additional biological effect of the stream should have begun about two weeks after the stream begins to flow. Bacteria colonize the filling
material and then break down the trapped organic debris in such a way that it can be used as nutrient by the plants.
Suitable filling materials:
• gravel (grains of 1/4 Р3/8 in/ 5-7 mm);
• quartz pebbles.
Warning: Do not use limestone gravel. If water runs through limestone gravel, this may, in the !ono run, have a detrimental effect on pH factor by driving it up too histories: You can obtain cleans.: filling material from garden suppliers, which can be used at once. If you buy material from builders’ merchants, you will ha. to wash it yourself before use. Quantity: You will need about 5E pounds (25 kg) of filling material yard (meter) of the stream’s
The stream bed is filled up in such a way that the top edges of pl anti-: baskets will later be submerged – the filling material.
Trial run: Before burying the Olin material at the edges of the stead a trial run by letting water run down the stream.
• With the help of a pump and a connecting hose, run water into Рstream.
• Observe the rate of flow. The stream should flow slowly. If it flog too fast, it will lose part of the like Ming effect.
• By making the bed of the streams deeper, you can speed up the flow;making the bed more shallow, you can slow it down.
•Now is the time to make antecessor corrections to the edges:he stream.
Fixing the lining material to the edges of the stream: There must
capillary action along thee .t:gees of the stream. The
eng material should be laid over–e stones or rounded wood sec—s used for securing the banks,an buried along the edge so that ends of the material are pointing. You can place plants along edges of the stream or let a law nw over them.
Installation of a water pump
The water supply of the stream is red by means of a water pump.ion: It should be set up as feasible from the pond end of stream. The length of hose from pump to the beginning of the stream should be as short as poss i-If the pump were to be situated close to the mouth of the
stream, it would suck in they-filtered stream water and little of the dirty pond water end up in the stream.
The output of the pump: The should flow very slowly. The it flows, the less filtering will place. For this reason, stream with an output of between (360 liters) at 6 watts and 55 gallons (200 liters) at 19are quite sufficient.
The low voltage pumps described are very suitable for powering the stream,
Unsuitable pumps: With their huge pumps would
churn stream up so much that ring effect would be lost and material would be washed into the stream. The stream would also rise and overflow, so that the pond would soon be empty.
Plants along the stream
The stream would not be completes a biological filter if there were no plants in it. The substances broken down by bacteria in the water ha veto be utilized by plants in the stream; otherwise there would bean excess of nutrients in the pond,which would create an increased growth of algae. If your stream is to be a perfect biological filter, you cannot be stingy with plants .Suitable plants: Many attractive marginal plants are suitable for stream too. Choose fast-growing,medium-tall plants that can tolerate regular cutting back of leaves near the roots. Suitable stream plants are water crowfoot, irises, cotton grass, lemon balm, water mint,forget-me-not, dwarf bulrushes,rushes, sedges, branched bur-reed,creeping-Jenny, and arrowhead.
Planting: Good planting soil is pro-vided by a soil mixture that is poor in nutrients (sand and clay in equal parts).
•Set the plants in narrow, rectangular planting baskets (obtainable from garden centers).
•Sink the baskets into the filling material in the stream as close to the banks as possible and alternate them, so that two baskets are never opposite each other.
This arrangement will ensure that the water does not flow straight down the middle of the stream but has to meander around each basket, which extends its path and slows down the rate of flow.
Plants for your stream
Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga)8-12 in (20-30 cm) tall, prostrategrowth. Blue flowers from latespring until early fall.
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum sali-caria) (see photos, inside frontcover and back cover)
Up to 48 in (1.20 m) tall, flowersfrom mid summer until early fall,blood red, usually over 4 in (10 cm) long.
Yellow loosestrife (Lysimachiavulgaris)
Up to 5 ft (1.5 m) tall. Brilliant yel-low flowers from early until latesummer. Thin out in the summer;cut back radically in the fall.
Sweet flag (Acorus calamus)
Up to 32 in (80 cm) tall. Only flow-ers occasionally in temperateclimates, from early to midsum-mer. Flowers small and greenish.
Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia)Arrow-shaped leaves. Flowersfrom early to midsummer, rarelylater; white to reddish on a robuststalk. Only the bulb-like root clump overwinters, the rest of theplant dies (remove in the fall).
Marsh marigold or kingcup(Caltha palustris)
Forms cushions that are usually8 in (20 cm), rarely 20 in (50 cm)tall. Yellow flowers from mid-spring to early summer. Important:do not remove the dead foliageuntil the spring.
Water mint (Mentha aquatica)Grows up to 24 in (60 cm) abovethe surface of the water; the 1 1/4-in(3-cm) leaves smell of peppermintwhen rubbed. Lilac to violet flow-ers from mid- to late summer.Remove the plants as far as possi-ble in the fall
Overwintering the stream
ln summer the stream will require special care. If necessary, youmnthin out the plants occasionally if they proliferate too much.
During the warmer part of the year. if possible, do not ever switch off the pump that runs the stream, or, if you do, not for any length of time, as the stream would then no longer function well as biological filter. In as short a time as tar. or three hours, the bacteria would die through lack of oxygen.
In the fall, when you are preparing Dandy for winter, the stream
should be turned off.
• Turn off the pump and remove itР:he pond.
• Cut back the plants and thin-Er- out.
• Place the fish in the pond or in a cold water aquarium.
Early in spring, clean the stream out before starting it again, as raying matter will have accumulated on the bottom during the:tee of the winter.
• Rinse the filling material on the of the stream bed with a; : -onus stream of water from a hose.
After cleaning the stream, pump one third of the water out of the
and then let fresh water run in slowly. This means that a large
Ont of the dirty, cloudy water Immediately be removed broomcorn.
connect up the stream pump:Limp water into the stream. necessary, change another third of the pond water.
An ornamental pond with goldfish
A pond like this is an ideal environment for the most popular pond
fish, goldfish, which can be obtained in many colorful varieties.
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