Most of us don’t have our own natural bubbling spring or serene pond in our backyard. But that doesn’t mean we can’t create one. In fact, there are many reasons to build a backyard pond. One is that ponds require less water than lawns of the same size.

Mike Dayton, owner of Liquid Landscapes in Reno, has been designing and building water features for eight years, from small bubbler stones to half-acre ponds with multiple levels, with a focus on eco-friendly pond creation. To him, the most important aspect of a water feature on your property is that it can be entirely eco-friendly.

But what defines an eco-friendly water feature? “One that works with nature and doesn’t require harmful chemicals to maintain balance,” says Dayton, “a system using a combination of mechanical filtration along with beneficial bacteria and plants to keep water clean and clear.”

Justin Meckley, manager of the water garden division of Rail City Garden Center in Reno, agrees that eco-friendly means following nature’s example. “When you build any eco-friendly water feature, you are building an eco-system,” he says. “It's a living creation, one that may have plants, beneficial bacteria, and possibly fish.”

According to Dayton and Meckley, the chemicals that should not be used in any eco-friendly system are chlorine and bleach. They can be harmful to plants, fish, birds, pets and people. A water feature that uses these chemicals cannot have plants or aquatic life. It also won’t have the beneficial bacteria growing in it that an eco-friendly water feature has.

“An eco-friendly water feature doesn’t mean you have to have fish in your pond, though,” says Meckley. You can also have what we call a ‘pondless waterfall system.’ That’s without plants or fish (or pond) but you don’t have to add any chemicals to keep it clean or to stay environmentally balanced.” 1

Maintaining
your system

From the simple to the elaborate water feature, maintenance can be relatively easy. “We don’t use chemicals, but we do add naturally occurring beneficial bacteria that breaks down fish waste and maintains clean, healthy water,” says Dayton.
Eco-friendly ponds allow for natural wildlife, too. “Fish, frogs, algae-eating snails, turtles, salamanders, basically anything you would see in your local natural ponds, you can have,” says Dayton. “It’s a beneficial part of the pond balance.”

For eco-friendly ponds to maintain the proper balance of algae, you must have properly installed skimmers and filters, he says.

Those filters include beneficial bacteria and enzymes to clean the water, adds Meckley. “It starts with the skimmer,” he explains. “Without the skimmer, debris such as fallen leaves would decompose and turn into a big algae mess. The skimmer pumps the water up through a pipe to a biological filter at the top of the water feature. That is where the filter keeps the water clean.” Inside the filter are live, beneficial bacteria and enzymes that eat the excess algae in the water.

“With the addition of water plants and a little bit of maintenance, your pond should be clean and clear,” says Dayton. “A little green algae on the rocks is normal and natural.”
The water features only need about an hour of maintenance every two weeks, something that Dayton says most homeowners can do on their own.

But how? “Clean the filters when they get full of leaves,” he says. “In the springtime, do a major maintenance – drain, wash, clean filters, refill.”

“A few minutes a day is all you need,” he adds. And if you opt for fish in your pond, it isn’t necessary to feed them. They eat bugs and algae.

Susan M. Botich is a Minden-based freelance writer.