Water Gardens

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n Marin County we are fortunate to be so close to nature. A water garden/pond is another way of enjoying nature and making it even closer. The added benefit is running water helps drown out traffic noise or neighborhood sounds, and is a lot more peaceful than wind chimes.

Our ponds are designed and constructed to mimic nature, where the right combination of rocks, water, plants and fish create an ecosystem (a water garden). Beneficial bacteria are added to a newly - filled pond to keep the water clear.

The biggest key is planting the right combination and quantity of plants to create shade and to have plenty of roots to feed on the nutrients in the water, which keeps the string algae to a minumum.

Also, Koi and Goldfish feed on string algae (and insects), so it is important to not feed them much when algae is a problem.

A typical pond matures in one or two years. (It becomes a balanced ecosystem). The routine maintenance consists of emptying the skimmer basket, removing a little string algae from the stream, and pruning the plants.

Chemicals are not normally used. We construct our ponds with predators in mind , creating hiding places and installing simple deterrents. It is important to realize that occasionally losing a fish to a Heron or Egret is just part of nature.

The size of a pond or stream can be whatever you want. A nice option to a full scale pond/water garden is a pondless stream, where the water from the stream seems to disappear into a small rock area.

Our pondless streams have the same components as our ponds: heavy rubber liner, rocks and gravel, high efficiency pump set in a skimmer, automatic fill valve, bio filter and plants.