Pond job!

[sissy]

How does taping into irrigation save the owners money .I had a small amount of irrigation at my house in NJ and that was still connected to the meter ,no water you get from a city is free .It all comes from the meter to your property that I know of .This is my first well except for when I was a child and even that is not free pump runs on electric and filters run on electric .Not sure where irrigation runs differently

 

[peter hillman]

Not sure on anyone's personal history yet but I do know that if you immediately write off high water pressure from the irrigation system you are potentially losing the chance to cut a few hours of cleaning. To drop a blanket statement like "high pressure is destructive to ponds" is just lazy and not true.

There are plenty of uses for high pressure. Just to name a few... You can fill up tubs, pools you have already cleaned, or any kind of basin, and drop a pump into this basin with 2in hose and use it to get much more flow than any garden hose, without having a focused line of pressure. This is useful for multiple things I won't even bother listing. You can use a nozzle on the tip of a garden hose to get decent pressure without as much as a pressure washer to get algae off liner, string algae off rocks on waterfalls in cracks a brush would not reach, etc. In many cases tapping into the irrigation bypasses the water meter saving the client a nice bit on their water bill. And honestly the most important is filling up the pond to a point where you can put fish back in and leave, you can stick the hose in any kind of way so that the pressure will not disturb anything and it will fill much faster with the high pressure from the irrigation instead of the crap pressure from the side of the house. These are just a few things, I have about a hundred different tricks that are all situational.

If you close your mind to things immediately you are missing out on being innovative and finding new, effective solutions.

Jakk

We just wonder why a healthy pond would need pressure washing. If that's a service you provide then I guess any short cuts would be helpful, but to remove the fish and drain the pond, scrub the sides, refill as quickly as possible and replace the fish doesn't seem like the right way to go.

 

[barryian]

I love my power washer but I use it on my deck, house and concrete areas ... lol ... I still don't get this power washing pond thing. What's the purpose, to totally remove the biofilm? Do people power wash their ponds yearly? Came in the middle. I must be missing something!

 

[MitchM]

We just wonder why a healthy pond would need pressure washing. ....

It doesn't.

.

 

[MitchM]

I love my power washer but I use it on my deck, house and concrete areas ... lol ... I still don't get this power washing pond thing. What's the purpose, to totally remove the biofilm? Do people power wash their ponds yearly? Came in the middle. I must be missing something!

Pressure washing has no use with a properly operating pond, but jakkbauer does have a point that sometimes he is hired to do things that the pond owner wants.
We all have bills that need to be paid.
To be clear - pressure washing = bad...profit = good...

 

[barryian]

Pressure washing has no use with a properly operating pond, but jakkbauer does have a point that sometimes he is hired to do things that the pond owner wants.
We all have bills that need to be paid.
To be clear - pressure washing = bad...profit = good...

What I missed was he does this for a living! Sorry... I guess if a pond has been abandoned or let go and the liner is good, with a number 3-4 tip, knowing what you're doing, would do a nice cleanup. I recall something in the forum, possibly aquascape that did this yearly for customers. I myself can't imagine a power washer near my pond but again, it's a highly maintained, dedicated koi pond. I'm sure jakkbauer does all kinds of power washing, not only ponds, right? Good one about Meyer ...

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Any maintenance procedure that damages or removes established periphyton from a pond's submerged surfaces is unwanted if a biochemical balance is desired.

 

[jakkbauer]

Wow started a flame fest

Let's clear this up a bit. I didn't once say anything about using a pressure washer in this post, I am talking about using the high pressure from the irrigation line. You hook a normal 3/4 in garden hose into the irrigation line and it often gives an insane amount of pressure compared to the line connected to the house. In many cases this line is not connected to the meter and you can save this client a bit of money especially on a larger pond. I mentioned this earlier and someone said they weren't aware of this but it is the case here in Atlanta that you can tap into off the meter water.
I gave some examples of how it can be helpful and never once recommended anyone to do this to their own pond, I was simply stating that it is actually useful to have irrigation knowledge on a pond job. I don't know why you wouldn't want to have additional knowledge for any reason in life The high pressure doesn't neccesarily mean that you are using the pressure to blast away anything, you are filling things way faster as well.

 

[jakkbauer]

What I missed was he does this for a living! Sorry... I guess if a pond has been abandoned or let go and the liner is good, with a number 3-4 tip, knowing what you're doing, would do a nice cleanup. I recall something in the forum, possibly aquascape that did this yearly for customers. I myself can't imagine a power washer near my pond but again, it's a highly maintained, dedicated koi pond. I'm sure jakkbauer does all kinds of power washing, not only ponds, right? Good one about Meyer ...

If I use a pressure washer at all its on a pond, I don't do other kinds of work. I tend not to use these unless specifically requested to by the client (who does not give a $hit about the ecosystem). If they want it clean, I clean it. It's not really a question of science.

 

[jakkbauer]

Any maintenance procedure that damages or removes established periphyton from a pond's submerged surfaces is unwanted if a biochemical balance is desired.

100% true. Keyword: IF

 

[Meyer Jordan]

100% true. Keyword: IF

Sometimes a little customer education is all that is needed.

In 20 years as a pond contractor I never utilized high pressure water from any source in maintaining a pond. If a customer insisted that I destroy an established eco-system, I walked away. Establishing and maintaining, not destruction, of the biochemical structure of a pond was the business that I was in.

 

[jakkbauer]

Sometimes a little customer education is all that is needed.

In 20 years as a pond contractor I never utilized high pressure water from any source in maintaining a pond. If a customer insisted that I destroy an established eco-system, I walked away. Establishing and maintaining, not destruction, of the biochemical structure of a pond was the business that I was in.

Meyer maybe you should check my intro thread. I actually do try to educate my clients but many just don't care
In many cases these ponds have no fish and are purely aesthetic in the back of some richy rich's house, so why would you walk away from that when there is nothing to destroy except their liner and concrete in their crappy little water feature? If they are paying you to do it just get the job done and move on to the next one. Not every person that has a water feature cares about the ecosystem it's just a simple fact.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Here is that difference in terminology discussed in a separate thread. If it doesn't have fish or plants, it is not defined as a pond as I understand it, but a decorative water feature. I see this quite often, where terms have to be defined before any meaningful discussion can take place.
If no plants or fish are involved then pressure washing is one of the best ways to return a decorative water feature to its original sterile state. Add a Chlorine scrub and it will look like new.

 

[barryian]

If I use a pressure washer at all its on a pond, I don't do other kinds of work. I tend not to use these unless specifically requested to by the client (who does not give a $hit about the ecosystem). If they want it clean, I clean it. It's not really a question of science.

Ok got it! Sorry about that! I didn't realize you did pond maintenance! I Meyer or someone posted a video from Aquascape telling the public they should power wash their ponds at the beginning of each season. Possibly something like that I recall! Not a practice 99% of the folks in the forum would do.
So, @jakkbauer , do you have to remove the fish into a holding tank, then do the cleanup and refill ... assuming you do complete pond maintenance?

 

[MitchM]

Wow started a flame fest

Let's clear this up a bit. I didn't once say anything about using a pressure washer in this post, I am talking about using the high pressure from the irrigation line. ...

Meh, no flame fest, we're just passionate about healthy pond ecosystems.
You'll have to educate us about what you mean by high pressure irrigation systems.
I thought most irrigation systems are moving towards low flow drip design.

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