How To Maintain Your Prized Waterfall Fountain?

by Apurva

A waterfall fountain is one of the most relaxing and soothing features that you can include in your decor. It looks splendid, both indoors as well outdoors. You can build a beautiful retreat in your home by using a waterfall fountain. Fengshui, the ancient Chinese art of placing objects also emphasizes the use of fountains in home. According to it, fountains bring good luck and prosperity to the residents of the home.

They are also known to increase the productivity of employees if installed at an office. A waterfall creates a serene and harmonious atmosphere around. The sound of falling water is a real treat to the senses.

Waterfall fountains come in wide range of materials, sizes, shapes and mountings. They are made of stones, rocks, metal, glass, ceramics, alloys etc. According to the available space and style of your home, you can have wall-mounted, tabletop, pond or garden waterfall, and so on. You can adjust the speed and volume of the falling water according to the sound of water that soothes you. It is very important to regularly maintain your waterfall fountains. It ensures that the fountain runs smoothly, efficiently and for long time without giving any problems.

Maintenance Tips For Waterfall Fountain:

1. It is advised that you must change the water of your fountain regularly. If you are not operating your waterfall for long time, it would be better to remove all the water. If the waterfall is not operated for long time and water is left in the container, it will give out foul smell and encourage the growth of microorganisms in the water. It is best to keep your waterfall running continuously. In a garden waterfall, you should regularly remove all leaves that fall into the water.

2. You have to maintain an optimum level of water in the fountain. Operating the fountain when there is insufficient water in the container will damage the pump. You should add the water to the basin or container if it has dried up due to evaporation or spilling.

3. The pump is the heart of the fountain, so you should periodically clean it. If you have installed a waterfall in garden, then it is advised that to cover the pump with a mesh screen. This will prevent the pump from clogging due to foliage.

4. Different fountains have different surface materials. You are required to clean the surface with the appropriate cleaning agent. For e.g.: You can clean a glass surface with vinegar, for brass and copper you can use the special polish that’s meant for cleaning them. It is necessary that you remove the algae and mineral deposits from the rock and ceramic surfaces of the fountain.

5. Water can freeze in the winters. It is best not to use the fountain then, especially the outdoor waterfall fountain. For indoor fountains, you should check that the water doesn’t freeze, otherwise the fountain will be damaged.

6. In case of an outdoor waterfall, it is quite possible that your pipe gets clogged with dust, mineral particles and dried leaves. So you should regularly de-clog your pipe.

By following the above given simple maintenance tips, your waterfall fountain will be beauty of your home for a long time without giving any hassles.

Apurva writes for Soothing Walls, a leading retailer of waterfall fountain and garden fountains. For more information about different types of fountains visit www.soothingwalls.com.

Article Source: How To Maintain Your Prized Waterfall Fountain?

Attract More Birds To Your Yard With A Waterfall, Pond Or Fountain

by Larry Jordan

One of the most important aspects of attracting birds to your yard is to provide fresh water. Most bird species need water, not only to drink but to bathe in. If you provide flowing water you have the best avian magnet you can find because most birds can not resist the attraction of moving water. Birds will flock to a waterfall or stream or even a fountain much more readily than they will a still pond or bird bath.

My wife and I built a pond and waterfall (what is known these days as a water feature) seven years ago and we love it. Our pond is about 12 feet in diameter and holds about 1000 gallons. In our pond we have several Shubunkin gold fish, many, many frogs and a multitude of water plants. As soon as we built the pond, I mean within days, we had frogs and birds and all kinds of creatures visiting us. The pond produced water skimmers, water bugs and literally hundreds of damselflies and dragonflies, as well as all the frogs, in very little time.

There is one thing that I feel is important to mention here. Maintaining a healthy pond is fairly labor intensive. This is especially true if you have fish in your pond. You must keep your pH balanced, check your water hardness (KH - a pH stabilizer), your nitrite and ammonia levels and your salt level. The whole idea of a fish pond is to create a natural environment for the fish. Goldfish and Koi like their water to be slightly alkaline. A pH level of 7.5 is perfect for them, 7.0 being neutral. To keep the pond slightly alkaline, the water hardness should be above 100 ppm to help stabilize the pH level.

With a good biological filter, the nitrite and ammonia levels in an established pond should always be at 0 ppm. Electrolytes are absorbed from the water by the fish's gills and are essential for the uptake of oxygen and release of carbon dioxide and ammonium across the gill membrane. Keeping a salt level of 0.1% in a pond with plants will maintain the proper electrolyte level in the pond water for Goldfish and Koi.

The oxygen level in your water is another important attribute of water quality. If you have a waterfall feeding your pond this should not be a problem. Keeping a pond in a natural state of balance is not as hard as it sounds if you have water plants and fish. If you have a biological filter and a waterfall, and you check your water weekly (and don't over feed your fish), you will be fine.

There is an alternative however if you want to have all the benefits of the soothing sound of the water and the visual waterfall, without all the maintenance. It is called a pondless or vanishing waterfall. This is how it works.

Instead of a pond at the bottom of the waterfall, the water cascades down a short stream and dumps into a pondless basin where the water pump lives. It pumps the water though a hose back up to the top of your waterfall where the process starts all over again. The pump chamber and pump are covered with rock and the flowing water disappears into the rock-filled basin.

With a flowing water system like this, filling up the basin to compensate for evaporation is all the maintenance you have to do! These pondless waterfalls come in kits that you can install yourself starting at around $500. There are also self-contained, artificial rock fountains made of fiberglass and resin if you don't want to do any digging.

If you are not interested in a water feature in your yard, the next best thing is a solar powered water fountain. These water fountains are the latest technology in birdbaths and fountains. They are made to keep a constant water level in the bowl, they have a hidden reservoir so you don't have to fill them up every day plus they are powered entirely by the sun. Another alternative is a simple container fountain with a decorative pump that will produce the flowing water that is so attractive to birds.

Even if it's simply a shallow ceramic bowl, a clean water supply is essential to attracting birds. You just need to decide which is the right solution for you. Just remember the water must be kept clean and if the bowl is more than a couple of inches deep you need to put some rocks in the bottom for the smaller birds to climb on to keep them from drowning.

If you don't have some kind of water source within your backyard habitat yet, consider all of your options and get some fresh, flowing water out there! You will be amazed at the amount of wildlife in your neighborhood that will come to visit, no matter where you live.

Happy Birding!

Larry Jordan has been bird watching for many years and building birdhouses for over 26 years. He is a member of the Audubon Society and is the Shasta County Coordinator for the California Bluebird Recovery Program. He strives to get more people interested in birding activities, including bird conservation. For more information on bird watching, bird houses, feeding wild birds, birds in the news, bird conservation, and some great bird photos go to The Birder's Report and sign up for his newsletter or his RSS Feed. If you are looking for quality bird and birding products, please visit his online store at Birds In My Yard for some great deals and great service.

Article Source: Attract More Birds To Your Yard With A Waterfall, Pond Or Fountain