Feature Attraction

The water-feature market is growing at an annual rate of nearly 25 percent, according to Irrigation & Green Industry magazine.

"That growth of garden water features reflects the homeowner's interest in building a backyard living environment. A water feature can be the foundation of that environment," says Rob Dietter, owner of Dietter's Water Gardens in North Haven, Conn. Dietter, who specializes in water-features, also maintains greenhouses with water plants and a fish farm. As Dietter observes, any water-feature installation including outdoor fountains or fountain ponds offers add-on opportunities to install patios, plants and lighting, in addition to water-feature cleaning contracts.

Dietter has installed hundreds of water features, large and small. For a recent "Good Morning America" broadcast, he was asked to install a pond, waterfall and plants the day before the show. The job took him and two helpers just a few hours.

Pond Sizes
A bathtub-size pond can be based on a rigid plastic liner. But flexible synthetic rubber liners offer far more options in pond shapes and in sizes up to 10 x 20 feet.

However, Dietter and Cheshire, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based Matt Giampietro, owner of Westbrook Landscape Inc., agree that beginners should start small and practice on their own property.

"I began by working with my father and observing water garden construction," Giampietro says. "As a beginner, I consulted how-to books and still do in order to understand the components involved. To teach yourself, it's smart to begin with the smaller kits. They have all the components you need: liner, pump and filtration. Most installations are based on a water-recirculating system, so it's important to understand how all the components work."

Selling Water Features
Both Dietter and Giampietro depend substantially on referrals for new business. From there, they enhance their selling presentations with photos of their installations.

As to customer satisfaction, Giampietro adds, "A pond can get tricky and technical. So I revisit the site after completion as many times as necessary to teach the customer how to run the system. I never leave a customer on bad terms."

In creating pond designs, Giampietro considers the house design and topography and tries "to pull that into the water feature." For his water cascades, he studies "nature to understand how the rocks determine the water flow." In addition, he collects photos of cascades by other designers and spreads them on a table for inspiration.

Then, before doing his final plumbing and electrical work for, say, a loud gushing waterfall, Giampietro consults with a plumber and an electrician, after which he may experiment for a day or more to get the flow right.

Water Circulation
Most customers enjoy the sight and sound of falling water. For a small waterfall, you need a pump to circulate the water. If you also have fish, the pump aerates the water for them while also pushing the water through a filter to remove their waste.

Algae and Mosquitoes
For pests, Dietter recommends environmentally friendly solutions. "Many people phone to tell me they've installed a pond and can't keep the water clean," he explains. "They also complain that the standing water attracts mosquitoes. I tell them simply to add plants and a few small goldfish. The plants will eventually clear up the water. And the fish will eat the mosquito larvae."

Proving his point on water clarity, Rob Dietter has 4- x 8-foot ponds planted with water lilies whose leaves prevent most sunlight from entering the water. Dietter plunges his hand deep into the water, his hand still clearly visible, demonstrating its clarity.

Excavation
"Our ponds, even our big ponds, usually are no deeper than 2 feet," Dietter says. "Most aquatic plants don't survive when planted deeper. If you dig ponds deeper than 2 feet, you need to elevate the pots on cinder blocks so they're shallow enough." He digs the hole for a flexible 45-millimeter rubber liner by first creating a shallow edge shelf for plants that prefer pond margins and then pitches the bottom to a low point.

Fish
"If you have too many fish," Dietter says, "they'll create lots of waste that feeds algae. So you need mechanical means of removing both the waste and the algae." Better systems, he says, incorporate filters and skimmers installed outside the pond, making them easier to service. And they also incorporate an ultraviolet light that kills algae.

"To minimize fish waste, avoid feeding fish excessively. You don't need to feed them much," Dietter says, "because fish in a natural ecosystem will forage on insects and floating algae, and they will also eat string algae that forms in waterfalls."

"In winter, you need to keep a hole in the ice so the fish don't suffocate. Some people use heaters for this but we recommend an aerator," he says.

Spring Cleaning
Most ponds aren't cleaned annually, as they should be, Dietter says. As a result, accumulated organic bottom matter turns the water brown, and the nutrients nourish algae.

When cleaning ponds, Dietter's crews temporarily place any fish in a kiddie pool and then use a sump pump to remove the old water. "We clean the bottom using a wet-dry shop vacuum, a power washer and a push broom," Dietter says. "The quicker you plant up a surface, the quicker the water will clear up. Mother Nature can balance the water."