Save money on pond pumps, backyard waterfalls, fountains, ponds and water gardening

This is a 250 word (approx) summary of a chapter from my book .

Each chapter or main topic has been summarised in this way. For a complete list of summaries see the right hand column

Concepts:

fountain, water, pond, pump, jets, waterfall, install, feature, spray, wind blowing, lost, pushing water, spoiling, dirt clogging, minimise.

Summary:

- A fountain is a very pleasant feature within a pond.

- Many pond owners prefer this to a waterfall as a means of creating interest and also adding oxygen to the water.

- A fountain is also much simpler to install than a waterfall.

- Most good pumps of small and medium capacity are supplied with a range of fountain jets as standard equipment.

- These are good value because when bought separately to the pump these units can be expensive and sometimes it is difficult to match the fittings of the pump to the fountainhead creating frustration.

- Installing a fountain is not enough to keep water clean even though it does add oxygen back into the water.

- If there are fish in the pond then an absolute requirement is a biological filter as well as a means of introducing oxygen to the water.

- The use of a fountain is also often appropriate in a self-standing system such as a concrete above ground water feature set on a patio or up against a wall for example.

- All fountain jets are designed to protrude above the water surface.

- If the pond is relatively deep distance pieces (sometimes telescopic in nature) are needed to achieve this.

- Remember however not to put your pump on the bottom of the pond where silt accumulates.

- It should be raised to minimise the possibility of dirt clogging up the jets and spoiling the effect.

- Do make sure that the height to which a jet is pushing water is not too high that a great deal of water is lost due to the wind blowing the spray into the garden.