Every autumn falling leaves are inevitable, so it’s best to be prepared and minimize the maintenance you’ll need to do in the late fall and early spring. We recommend you cover your pond with Aquascape Pond Netting until the bulk of the leaves have fallen. Order your pond netting by calling us at 610-374-8281 or by visiting our Pond Store located at 1912 State Hill Rd, Wyomissing Pa 19610 or order online at http://store.aquascapeinc.com/products/category/1784.0.1.1.62642.0.0.0.0
We plan to host a “Go Green” Event in the Reedy Estates Community on Oct 15 & 16. On these 2 days, we will be installing environmentally responsible Rain Barrels at all participating homes. Our attractive and durable Rain Barrels allow you to efficiently capture, store and re-use rainwater for gardening and other outdoor uses. See www.aquascapeinc.com/rainxchange-rain-barrel for more details!
Sign up before October 7 to receive the following special prices:
Regular Price “Go Green” Special Price 2 Days Only!
$249 each 1 for $199 or 2 or more for $179 each
If you live in Reedy Estates, please contact us for an Order Form before Oct 7, 2009! Upon receiving your order form, we will contact you to discuss which downspouts you want connected.
Don’t live in Reedy Estates? Contact us to consider your community for our next “Go Green” Community Event!
WATER GARDEN WEEKEND! Sept 18 & 19
Fall Tent Sale: Huge Discounts on Pond & Waterfall Supplies: Leaf Netting, Pond Heaters, Fall Fish Food, Bubbler Pumps, Fish, Aquatic Plants, L.E.D. Landscape Lighting, Decorative Pond Items, Pond Kits and much, much more!
Build-A-Waterfalls Seminar – Saturday: Work side by side with our crew of professional pond builders to create a beautiful, gurgling, pondless waterfalls. Seminar is FREE! Pre-registration required. Register by sending an email which includes your name and mailing address. Email us at senscaping@juno.com. We will reply with times, location, what to bring, etc.
(Another great tip on Summer Pond Care, courtesy of Aquascape Inc. Enjoy! Stanley)
Your pond doesn’t need to reach the boiling point or feel too hot to you in order to cause stress or irreparable harm to your pond life. In fact, the temperature might feel pleasurable to you as you dip your toes into it after a long day of work. Once the water temperature rises above 80 Fº, you may have problems. Your fish might appear stressed out, gasping for air close to the water’s surface or especially close to a fountain or waterfall.
Warm water has a low capacity for holding oxygen, while cooler water can hold gigantic amounts of oxygen. Warm water and increased activity go hand and hand, and that increased activity means the fish require more oxygen when less oxygen is available, thus creating a vicious cycle. Stressed fish often begin to develop diseases, and soon enough you’ll have a domino effect.
Considering the fact that most pond owners stock their ponds with cold-water fish, warm water is a real no-no. If your pond is constantly at a warmer temperature, you may want to consider a tropical fish like the swordtail or tilapia.
Beating the Heat: There are some preventative measures you can take in order to keep your pond from becoming a warm, unhealthy mess. It all starts with a well-designed water feature. Depth, plant coverage, shade, and circulation should all be considered when building a pond. A minimum of a two-foot depth is suggested so the bottom can remain cooler, and you’ll also want to stock your pond with a lot of plants. A good rule of thumb with plant coverage is to fill 1/3 to 1/2 of the pond’s surface area.
Perhaps one of the most important parts of a pond design is circulation. If possible, you’ll want to place your biological filter and mechanical filter across the pond from each other, so that all areas of the pond are skimmed and the water circulated. Waterfalls, streams, and even fountains play a huge part in the oxygenation of the water in your pond.
Check It Out: The bottom line is that you need to keep an eye on your pond and let your fish and plants do the talking. If you have a balanced ecosystem, you don’t need to be checking your pond out everyday, but you do need to check it out every once in a while to make sure your plant and fish friends are healthy.
For those of you planning on attending our Pond and Patio Tour July 10 and 11, here is a helpful article provided by Aquascape Inc. Enjoy!
Photographing Your Favorite Water Feature
You don’t need to be a world famous photographer to take photos of your favorite water feature, nor do you need all kinds of great camera equipment to document the changing season or your dog frolicking in the waterfall. All you need to have is patience and a little bit of time to concentrate on your subject. You’ll always want to have photos of your water feature to show off to friends and family when they aren’t able to experience it firsthand. Plus, having a camera on hand could be very useful for when your toddler meets your koi for the first time, as they nibble on their toes as they sit on the edge of the pond. The most important thing to remember is that practice makes perfect and that if you expect to get those priceless photos, you might want to know a thing or two about the basics of photography.
The Equipment
Let’s rule out one thing … no Polaroid photos! They’re cheap looking and are hard to manipulate if you attempt to put them in a photo album or scrapbook. Get yourself a good 35-millimeter camera, or go all out and get a tripod and all the essential camera equipment. For shooting outdoors, you’ll want to use the slowest speed film possible, so 100 or 200 would work great. With slower speed film, you get less grain and therefore sharper images. Faster film, such as 400-speed would be better for indoor photos, where you have less light. In terms of photo quality, slide film is your best bet, especially for reprints and just in case you would like to use some of your shots for holiday cards. Otherwise, regular photo film will be fine. With the growing popularity of digital cameras, a lot of people have switched to a totally digital method. This is great, because it is easy to download and store photos for later use. There are a few pitfalls, however. Some cameras are set to take photos at 72 dpi, which make pictures look okay when enlarged to two inches or so, but if you try to blow it up for a larger print, it will turn out very blurry. DPI stands for “dots per inch,” and can best be described by using a simple analogy. If you have a handful of confetti and you dump it on the table, 300 pieces is going to be able to cover the table a lot better than 72 pieces. You can’t stretch out 72 pieces as far as you can 300 pieces, without seeing some of the table. That is why the picture gets blurry … the pixels (dots) are stretched, causing the image to blur.
Getting Your Pond on Film
You’ll want to make sure you get a few photos from a spot facing the best feature of your water garden. For example, if you have a spectacular waterfall or rocky stream, point your lens that way. If you do decide to shoot that great waterfall, different shutter speeds will help you get your desired effect. A tripod can also be helpful because it will level out and stabilize your camera, giving you more time to set up the perfect shot and capturing the motion of the waterfall. A tripod does, however, hamper mobility so don’t get stuck thinking a tripod is absolutely necessary. If you are looking to purchase all the best equipment, an inexpensive but important addition is a polarized filter that can enhance your water photos. Those filters are pretty helpful when you’re shooting water because you don’t get that much reflection and you can see clear down into the pond to capture the beauty of your plants and fish. If a polarized filter isn’t for you, shooting at the lowest possible vantage point will help you reduce surface glare, making your photos more appealing.
A Few Things to Remember
First of all, remember to have fun with your photos. Make sure you test your eye for the camera by shooting from different perspectives, until you get the feel for the best angles. Also, if you are using a less-expensive camera, remember that you may not get the exact same photo you see in the viewfinder. The space between the viewer and the lens will make photos look slightly different than how you may have seen them through the viewer. Another important thing to consider when dealing with photographs is your lighting conditions. Morning or evening light is much better for shooting than the direct sun in mid-afternoon. And if you’re going back to shoot that fully-landscaped photo, it’s good to choose an overcast day, so you won’t have any shadows to block the details of the pond. Be sure to take a ton of photos. The more you have, the more you have to choose from, and the more likely you are to find those perfect shots.
Take it on the Road
Now that you have all the tricks of the trade, we invite you to take your hobby on the road, photographing water features at local pond tours. If you don’t have a pond, or are interested in snapping photos of other ponds, pond tours are the way to go. This is your time to relax and enjoy a new hobby, while visually chronicling the beauty of a water garden through each season.
We built a complete 8′x11′ pond with an 8′ stream / waterfalls, under water LED lighting, and aquatic plants. There were approx 20 attendees. Everyone worked hard, had lots of fun and came away with all the secrets for building their very own water garden! To all who participated, thank you for your hard work! Email us pics of the ponds you build in your own backyards. And a big thank-you to Mr and Mrs Anthony Calloway for hosting the event in your backyard! I’m sure your family will get hours of enjoyement from your new pond!
AquaClearer™ Sludge Cleaner contains pure strains of encapsulated beneficial bacteria that go to work quickly; cleaning unwanted sludge from the pond bottom and filter systems, drastically reducing pond maintenance. AquaClearer™ Sludge Cleaner contains specific beneficial bacteria that are most effective at reducing sludge or organics that can cause poor water quality and unsightly conditions. Available at our Wyomissing Pond Store in three sizes: 16 ounce, 71 ounce, and 1 gallon.
![AquaClearer[1]](http://signaturepondandpatio.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/aquaclearer11.jpg?w=188&h=300 "AquaClearer[1]")
June 6 Build-A-Pond Seminar! Get your hands dirty as you work side by side with our crew of professional pond builders to create a beautiful, backyard water feature next to the patio of Mr & Mrs Anthony Calloway in Reading, PA. We will build, in one day, a complete 8′ x 11′ ecosystem pond with a stream, several waterfalls, under water L.E.D. lighting and aquatic plants. Seminar starts promptly at 9 AM and lasts till we are finished which will be approx 3 PM. Free lunch grilled on the patio, by the Calloways! Come dressed to work as you will want to help handle the rocks, plants, etc. And bring your camera! Seminar to be held rain or shine. If it is raining, we will have a large tent set up over the area.
Space is limited and Pre-Registration is required for this free seminar. Register by email senscaping@juno.com or by calling 610-374-8281. For all participants, we will be offering a 1 day “free aquatic plant package” (a $129 value)with the purchase of your pond kit, so come prepared to buy! For pond kit prices, see www.signaturepondandpatio.com/pondmenu.html
A beautiful feature, right off their patio. New landscape around the waterfalls creates a peaceful setting!
