"My interest in water features comes from my love of fly fishing in the mountains.  Standing in the middle of a mountain stream with cascades behind me and water flowing all around, it is one of the only places that I can truly lose myself.  My goal when designing water features is to stand at the base of a completed feature and be able to feel like I am in that mountain stream."

Darin Kercher
Designer & Partner

The following section will describe the different types of Water Features Glacier Enterprises designs and constructs, you will also find answers to common questions that many customers have.

Consider a Pondless Waterfall

Love the relaxing sound of a waterfall but don’t currently have the space or budget to install a full-fledged pond? Or would you love to install a water feature but are concerned about the safety of a young child? A pondless waterfall is the solution. A pondless waterfall is exactly what it sounds like - it’s a waterfall and stream without the pond.

Our crews can design and install a pondless waterfall for a fraction of the cost of a full pond. Our designs are customized to your home and personal style, they come complete with excavation, boulders, and a rubber liner kit with pump and lights, so you'll be able to enjoy your pondless waterfall throughout the day and into the evening.

A pondless waterfall also requires much less space than a full pond, which means one can be installed in practically any size yard. And because of our innovative installation system, we can install your new waterfall in about a day. Just think, you could be enjoying your new water feature tomorrow!

           
Waterfalls Ponds         

Do you live near a busy street or freeway? Homeowners have reported to us that a major benefit of owning a pond waterfall significantly reduces traffic noise.

Pond waterfalls actually help to decrease the traffic sounds near your home, giving you the backyard oasis you thought wasn't possible due to the unwanted noise. This of course, increases your home's property value too!

Another benefit of having a pond waterfall is that mosquitoes cannot breed in moving water. This benefit is of particular interest to anyone concerned about the West Nile Virus and heartworm, which mosquitoes carry.

Moving water discourages mosquitoes, which love to breed in stagnant pools of water. Adding a pond waterfall or stream can help prevent your pond from becoming a neighborhood breeding ground and will make those evenings by the pond more enjoyable for everyone.

Glacier Enterprises goes the extra mile to ensure that you enjoy your new water feature. Our goal is to exceed your expectations. It's not about our satisfaction with the design; it's about you feeling that your yard is exactly as you had hoped it would be!

Rock Waterfalls

Rock waterfalls can add a very nice touch to a pond or backyard, or they can totally overwhelm a small area. More often than not, people tend to build backyard waterfalls too big, too tall and with too much water. That is why the design phase is so important; you must know what effect you want to create.

Is my outdoor waterfall going to be in a small enclosed space, or do I want it to be part of a grand entrance?
Do I want to hear the sound of the water from a particular part of my house?
Do I want a standard, full-sized pond with koi fish to accompany my garden waterfall? Or would I prefer a pondless waterfall?
Flow of Water in a Waterfall

Sound of Waterfalls

When building a backyard waterfall for your pond, the sound is a combination of three basic factors:

1. The volume of water
2. What the water is falling onto, and
3. The distance the water falls

Pond Waterfall Design

There are several types of sounds created by what the water is falling onto. The most pronounced is water falling directly into a pool of water. Next is a shallow pool, followed by water falling onto a rock or boulder and then water sliding over rocks or boulders.

The distance the water falls is a very key factor. A 3 inch to a 4 inch drop can be quite subtle, but as it’s increased to 18 to 20 inches, the sound increases significantly. Of all the factors when building a waterfall, this is the most distinct.

You can experiment with a garden hose running into a bucket or a pool and note the difference.

Determine the Size of Pool or Basin

The next thing to determine when building waterfalls for ponds is the basin or the pool the water will go into.

The size of the pond in square feet of surface area needs to be 1 1/2 times the square footage of your waterfall and stream.

If your waterfall and stream is 20 feet long and 3 feet wide, then the pond should be 90 sq. feet. This is to allow the pond to capture all the water from the stream and waterfall when the waterfall is turned off, without the water overflowing the pond.

Common Questions

Do you use Ultra Violet lights?
Why do you put rocks and gravel on the bottom of the pond?
When should I clean my skimmer filter?
How can I tell if I need to change my filter more often?
Video - Pond Maintenance

Q: Do you use Ultra Violet lights?
Most of our ponds do not need UV lights to clarify the water. Sometimes we do add UV lights in ponds as sterilizers.

Q: Why do you put rocks and gravel on the bottom of the pond?
We put rocks and gravel on the bottom of the pond for a couple of reasons: 1) Filtration of the pond. The rocks provide a huge amount of surface area for the bacteria to colonize on. These bacteria break down the fish waste and other organic debris that fall to the bottom. 2) To help lock the liner in place so that the water weight doesn't bring it down. 3) Aesthetics. The ponds with rocks and gravel on the bottom of the pond are much more natural looking than having a black liner with nothing but algae covering it up. 4) Lastly, it also helps protect the liner from harmful UV rays.

Q: When should I clean my skimmer filter?
At least once a week, or whenever it is dirty. During algae season your filter will get clogged up faster, and it will need more maintenance.

Q: How can I tell if I need to change my filter more often?
If you ever notice that your pump is sucking air, and the water level behind the skimmer pad is lower than the pond, this means your filter pad is completely clogged. Not changing out a filter pad can cause your pump to overheat and die.

Pond Algae Common Questions

What are algae?
What are string algae?
How do I remove string algae?
How do I rid myself of string algae?
What is barley?
What is Algae Fix?
What is Pond Balance?
What is surface algae?
My water is murky, like pea soup, what is it?
I have a new pond and the green pea soup algae is driving me crazy. What should I do?
Should I use algaecides for my algae?
What is good about algae?
What are the drawbacks to algae?
How do I balance my pond?
I have soil in my pond.  Is that bad?
My sprinklers cause water to run in to my pond, how does that affect my eco-system?
Do bacteria kill algae?
Should I get an aeration device?
Should I skim out dead or decaying leaves?

Q: What are algae?
Algae are microscopic plants. Though they are small, they are very strong plants. Like all plants algae require nutrients (fertilizer), light, oxygen, aqua (water) and heat. There are in excess of thirty thousand different species in fresh and salt water. The most common types that occur in ponds are “string algae”, “surface algae” and “green pea soup algae”.

Q: What are string algae?
String algae is mostly found crowding your marginal plants, in the stream bed, and sometimes in bad cases it will grow on the bottom of your pond. String algae is really hard to pull out of a pond because it clings to rocks, plants and everything else (okayl, not the fish, they're too slippery)!.

Q: How do I remove string algae?
Never rip string algae out because this will cause the algae spores to detach from the algae and encourage future growth. Either hold the algae and cut it out with scissors, or twirl around a stick to grab all of the algae.

Q: How do I rid myself of string algae?
We use a combination of 3 products: Barley Straw, Algae Fix and Pond Balance. These products work great for lessening your algae growth. I have found that the best results are if you use all three products together. First put in the Barley Straw (which takes 1 month to activate). Then put in the Pond Balance to uproot the algae. Wait 10 days, then fully remove all the string algae by hand. Next put in some Algae Fix and continue to do so once a week. Only replace the Pond Balance every time you do a water change.

Q: What is barley?
Barley straw pillows are placed in your bio-falls, or anywhere water passes through it. As your bacteria digest the barley it lets off a natural hydrogen peroxide that kills algae but is safe for plants and fish. Barley pillows last 3 months and are great for string algae prevention.

Q: What is Algae Fix?
Algae Fix helps kill the string algae spores and coats the string algae making it harder to create food.

Q: What is Pond Balance?
Pond Balance is a salt solution used to loosen the grip of the string algae, making removal 10 times easier. Salt also kills the algae. Do not overdose your pond, too much salt can cause your plants to die. Because Pond Balance is salt, it does not evaporate out of your pond, so only add more when you do a water change.
Q: What is surface algae?
This is the good algae, it lightly covers the rocks and makes the pond look more natural. Also this algae provides about 60% of the oxygen in the water. It is quite easy to remove, just scrub with a scratchy side of a sponge.

Q: My water is murky, like pea soup, what is it?
This is a free swimming microscopic algae. The algae particles are too small to get caught in the skimmer. It’s very hard to miss this type of algae because it’s so cloudy it resembles pea soup (hence the name). This algae cannot be physically removed via net or other instrument, other than draining the pond (which doesn’t handle the problem, but makes it worse). Pea Soup Algae feeds off of phosphates which are found in tap water. The easiest way to rid yourself of Pea Soup Algae is to get more biological filters, or a UV light. Both are guaranteed to work.

Q: I have a new pond and the Green Pea Soup Algae is driving me crazy. What should I do?
You must wait it out because your eco-system has not been established yet. Every time we install a new pond there are a lot of nutrients in the tap water for the algae to eat. Also the bacteria haven’t established themselves yet so they can starve the algae. This situation may last up to 2 months, but it will clear as the water equalizes. The typical types of algae for new ponds are both String Algae and Green Pea Soup Algae.

Q: Should I use algaecides for my algae?
The main rules for algae are: "don't panic" and "don't use any algaecides". Algaecides will kill the algae as well as your plants. Algae can be handled by addressing their causes and being patient enough to try the solutions. Most chemical treatments are even hazardous to humans. Algaecides are only a temporary cure for the problem: algae are killed off, sinks to the bottom and begins to decompose. The decomposing algae release all of the nutrients that they have taken up, creating a nutrient rich environment for the next wave of algae. The next wave of algae, about a week later, will be larger than original, due to all the nutrients available. Using algaecides will cause your pond to become "chemically dependent".

Q: What is good about algae?
1. Provides shade for the fish, thus protecting them from predators.
2. Makes a great egg shelter for fish, snails, frogs, newts, dragon flies etc. etc.
3. In the winter time string algae is about the only thing the fish eat.
4. Are a great food source for small fry.
5. Great “daytime” source of oxygen for the fish and animals.

Q: What are the drawbacks to algae?
1. At night uses up all the oxygen, thus lowering the water quality for the other plants and fish.
2. Not very pretty, and makes it hard to locate fish and plants.
3. With overgrowth make cause other plants to die due to absorbing their nutrients, light and oxygen.
4. Algae decay increases the amount of nutrients in the pond.

Q: How do I balance my pond?
Plants are probably the most important addition to your pond, since they directly compete with algae for nutrients and light. Add a wide variety of plants to your pond. This not only creates a natural look, but also will help reduce the algae in different areas of your pond. Place water hyacinth and water lettuce in your falls. These floating plants reproduce rapidly, using up an enormous amounts of nutrients.

Plenty of bog and marginal plants should be added to the pond. Plants such as cattails and iris use large quantities of nutrients. They are hardy and will be back each spring to help you balance your pond. Cover the surface of the pond by planting water lilies. Lily pads float on the top of the pond soaking up the warm sunlight. The lily pads will reduce algae by preventing sunlight from reaching the deeper portions of the pond. Don't overlook oxygenators! They soak up nutrients and sun light directly through their leaves. Think of them as nutrient sponges. Physically remove clumps of string algae if it begins to overtake the pond.

Q: I have soil in my pond.  Is that bad?
Soil is a fertilizer, which has nutrients for the algae to feed on, so remove any soil from your pond. Also when adding new plants take them out of the pot and plant them directly in the gravel. Keeping plants in pots doesn’t help reducing the amount of nutrients in your pond. They are in an enclosed area and may die eventually for over crowding and nutrient depletion. Also make sure to rinse out the soil, sand, or clay off the roots. This will rid your pond of unnecessary nutrients and cloudy water.

Q: My sprinklers cause water to run in to my pond, how does that effect my eco-system?
Sometimes water and soil may flow in to your pond from rain or sprinkler systems. Use your hose to test the edges of your pond and make sure that the water is being diverted around your pond, not in it. Never use lawn fertilizer or insecticides on trees around your pond or on areas of your property that will drain towards your pond. Lawn fertilizer and insecticides will cause large nutrient blooms and will severely threaten the aquatic life inside your pond, and may be harmful to your aquatic friends.

Q: Do bacteria kill algae?
Adding bacteria and enzymes to use excess nutrients helps but doesn’t always control a severe algae problem. Adding high doses of either will not help kill your algae. Bacteria need a place to live, adding more will just cause a bunch of dying homeless algae on welfare, and their death will cause more nutrients in the water, thus helping the algae survive.

Q: Should I get an aeration device?
Beneficial bacteria's effectiveness is enhanced by the use of an aerator. Proper aeration also adds to the overall health of the pond and can get rid of the "bad" types of bacteria growing in deep waters where there is no oxygen and sludge build up is great.

Q: Should I skim out dead or decaying leaves?
When plants decay they create nutrients in the water. Make sure all the leaves are swept up in your skimmer or by hand. In the wintertime some plants may go dormant or even die. You must trim or remove the plant waste or algae will find its way in to your pond.