Over time concrete can crack.  Ground movement, concrete shrinkage, freeze/thaw conditions can all play a part in possible cracks forming in your pond.  The trouble is that when they happen, you have to go out there and fix the problem.

So how do you go about fixing a crack in a pond?  Well that all depends upon the type of crack as well as the size of the crack.  Cracks can be anything from small hairline cracks up to large fissures that go right through the entire structure.

The simplest of cracks is just a hairline crack.  A crack like this can be easily repaired using the right materials.  However, using the wrong materials can easily lead to that hairline crack turning into something far worse.

Far worse simply means more resources to affect the repair.  Cash and time are things everyone wants to avoid dumping into repairs so taking your time to think the situation through is very important.

Let’s say you have a crack.  The first thing you should try and do is determine how bad the structure has been affected.  If it’s a hairline crack, it probably does not go through the entire structure, which is good for you.

If the crack goes through the structure you might have your work cut out for you.  In severe cases there isn’t a lot of repair that can be done.  But those instances are pretty rare if the structure was made using all of the proper elements needed for good, sound construction.

There are several types of materials that can be used for repairing concrete, including, more concrete, concrete strengthening additives, bonding agents, rebar, steel mesh, epoxy (like Pond Shield epoxy) and fiberglass.

Most people tend to lean towards applying some sort of rubberized caulk into the crack.  The problem there is that rubberized coatings or caulks do not bond very well to concrete and can peel. 

You also end up with a crack repair that continues to move and can eventually fail again.  You really need to shore up the concrete so that it acts just like it was when the crack did not exist.

For hair line cracks, an epoxy like Pond Shield can be used to coat over the crack.  Coating over a crack will give you the most minimal resistance to the crack reappearing.  I suggest that you use a grinder with a cutting wheel to groove the crack and THEN fill it in with Pond Shield.

What you end up with at that repair is essentially a concrete stitch.  The epoxy holds the crack from both facing sides as well as across the top of the crack.  Pond Shield tensile bond strength (that exceeds the internal strength of concrete) combined with its elongation break strength of 9,500 psi will pull and hold the concrete as though it were once piece.

For larger cracks, like those that are a half inch or so wide, you’ll have to consider more drastic measures.  You may find yourself cleaning up the crack quite a bit by actually removing portions of concrete so that you can place new concrete into the affected area.

If you cut through rebar or steel mesh, you will have to put new rebar or steel mesh back in.  Rebar and mesh help strengthen concrete as a whole.  If you have to replace pieces of rebar, you can drill into through both sides of the crack at an angle so that you might glue new rebar in place.

After the stitch is in place, you can use concrete to fill in the crack.  You concrete can have fibrous additives in it that will act as a strengthener.  Be sure to use a good bonding agent on concrete before filling it in.  This will aid in the adhesion between the old concrete and the new concrete.

Once the concrete has set up and cured properly, cut the rebar off that is sticking out of the concrete.  Make sure to try and cut it lower than the surface of the concrete.  Then apply your epoxy to seal the rebar and prevent any corrosion.

Because concrete is porous, I recommend that you coat the entire surface that will be submerged in water.  This will keep the water from soaking through the concrete and reaching the rebar beneath where it can corrode there too.

For added strength, you can also apply a strip of fiberglass over the crack as well.  Just apply the strip while the Pond Shield is still wet and saturate it out completely.  Once cured, the complete repair ought to be much stronger than the original concrete was.

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If you’re looking for a non toxic solution to water proofing your pond, fountain or water feature, please visit the Pond Armor site. If you have any questions regarding the products Pond Armor manufactures, please contact us at 800-716-1545 M-F 8:30am to 4:30pm PST

There are simply a lot of filter systems available on the market today.  In fact, one could easily get lost in the sea of products.  I think though, that the best way to try and figure out which filter you need, would be to look at the different way water is filtered and then look at the different products that actually do the filtering.

If one were to break down the different types of filtration that is done to water it might look something like this:

• Biological Filtration – This is the actual bacteria colony that your pond builds in order to consume varying waste products produced by aquatic life.  In essence these bacteria will consume waste and convert it into less harmful waste that aquatic plants will actually thrive on.
• Mechanical Filtration – This is the process by which large debris is removed from the pond water.  Debris such as large fish waste, leaves, old food and such are all caught and strained from the pond water itself.
• Chemical Filtration – This is how chemical toxins are removed from the pond water. Pesticides, organic wastes, proteins and the like removed by agents such as carbon or processes like deionization.

So from that stand point it is important to know what the filter you plan to purchase will actually accomplish.  A filter that manages only mechanical filtration for instance, will only handle a portion of the load your pond produces.

Let’s take a look at some of the filtration styles available today.

Nexus Filtration – This type of filtration utilizes either a pump fed or gravity fed water supply from the pond to both mechanically and biologically filter the water.  Essentially the water moves through the first chamber where solids are mechanically removed from the water.

The water then passes to a biological filtration system that uses air to constantly agitate the filter media.  This agitation is an important part of ensuring that the filter media does not clump together.  If the media clumps together, the water will not effectively filter through it.

Once the water moves from the biological filter, it is run through another mechanical filtration section where even smaller particles are removed.  Upon completing this cycle, the water is returned to the pond.

This filter requires weekly maintenance at a minimum and during high feed times will require daily maintenance.

Vortex Filters – Vortex filters look just what they sound like.  They are large, almost conical containers that will rotate the incoming water into a vortex that allows solid matter to settle.  The water is pushed into a second chamber where more settling is allowed to occur. 

These two settling actions are the mechanical filtration process.  Depending upon the size of the pond, any number of chambers may actually be needed; sometimes two, three or four chambers.  The water is then sent through a biological filtration process at this time to complete the process. 

After the biological stage is complete, a pump is usually used to pull water from the final chamber where it is sent back to the pond.

Vortex filters need regular maintenance about every week.  The maintenance is simple, where valves are opened and solid waste is drained from each chamber.

Bead Filters – Bead filters provide a mechanical and biological filter system in one unit.  Water is pumped into the bead filter body where it fills from the bottom up.  Small beads located inside the body of the filter float on top of the water.

As the water passes through the beads, the solid waste is left on the bottom of the bead layer.  Biological filtration takes place within the beads where bacterial colonies will collect and filter the remaining water as it passes through the system.

After passing through the system, the water is returned to the pond.  These filters also require some maintenance.  It is recommended that the solid waste be flushed from the system anywhere from once per week to once per month.

Some bead filters come with an air blower system that is used during the regular maintenance.  The blower forces air into the body of the filter where the air breaks up the beads so that they do not become a solid mass.  Remember, a solid mass is unlikely to filter the water properly

Pressurized Filters – These filters are generally smaller and more compact in size.  This makes them easy to hide and you can actually bury them almost completely in doing so.  Most people would look at these filters and wonder how something that small can actually filter a pond like any of the larger filters described above.

The answer is in the turbulence placed around the filter media inside that filter that is caused by the pressurized water flow.  More turbulence means more waste (food for the bacteria) and dissolved oxygen gets placed against the filter media.  This is why biological filtration of this sort is so much higher than un-pressurized systems.

It is important to remember that typical pumps do not supply the amount of flow that these filters require and choosing the right pump is essential.  You should also keep in mind that their smaller size means more cleaning during the maintenance cycles.  The more fish you have, the more waste will block the initial filers in this style of filter.

There are some of the types of filters available on the market today.  You should make sure that when you shop for a filter, you give the retailer as much information about your pond as possible.  This way they can help you get set up with the correct filtration for your pond.

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If you’re looking for a non toxic solution to water proofing your pond, fountain or water feature, please visit the Pond Armor site. If you have any questions regarding the products Pond Armor manufactures, please contact us at 800-716-1545 M-F 8:30am to 4:30pm PST

With so much research being done at this time of year, I thought an article about the application of a coating might be an interesting topic.  If you’re a professional installer that has used epoxies before, then you probably already know a great deal about the application process.

However, if you’re a DIY (do it yourselfer), you might not have ever tried applying epoxy before.  No problem, I’ll cover all of the bases here.  Let’s assume that the concrete is already prepared and ready to go.

What tools do you have?  Some epoxies are pretty thin in nature and all they take to apply is a roller and maybe a paint brush.  But others, that are designed to not only waterproof, but provide a certain amount of strength will generally be thicker in nature.  Pond Shield epoxy, for instance is thick like grease.

Because of this, you probably wear your arm out just rolling the epoxy.  That’s why I prefer to use a rubber window squeegee on the epoxy initially.  Using a squeegee will allow me to control the thickness of the material better than with a roller.  Generally a roller will allow the epoxy to build up.

You don’t want the roller to build up or everything will become gooey and sticky.  But with a squeegee, you can adjust how much pressure you apply to the application and this in turn, will make measuring the thickness of the material a lot easier.

I have heard of people trying to apply the coating with a paint brush alone.  The problem with just using a brush is that the bristles offer no resistance to the coating itself and trying to control the thickness will be virtually impossible. 

The only time I use a brush to apply epoxy is when I am touching up or cutting in a waterline.  I’ll even use one when I cut in around any plumbing.  During touch up, I’ll even switch to a small 3 inch roller.

The important thing to remember when applying an epoxy for the first time is to read all of the instructions first.  If at that time you do not understand anything about the process, you should ask and clarify.  It’s hard to find yourself in the middle of a job and not understand why something is going wrong.

For one thing, if you’re irritated, you probably will not be thinking clearly, so solutions will not present themselves as easily as they would any other time.  However, if you read everything and have all of your tools handy, the job can go smoothly and without a hitch.

Getting back to the actual application process, you should remember to only mix what you will actually be able to use within the pot life of the material.  Epoxies are not forgiving when it comes to time.  Epoxies will not care if you have your pond coated or not.

Epoxies will harden up in the container you mixed them in just as easily as they will on your pond.  You are one the clock once you have mixed your epoxy.  Now is not the time to take a lunch break.

I have been on many job sites where the installer watches me demonstrate the application process to them.  The one thing they are all amazed at is the coverage.  More times than any, when I pour the Pond Shield into the pond to work with, I hear them say, “There’s no way that’s going to go 60 square feet”.

Then I whip out the squeegee and spread the material out.  I squeegee up the walls and along the floor, moving from a corner outwards.  I use the roller to smooth out squeegee marks as I go and test the thickness of the epoxy with the gauge here and there. 

If the coating appears too thick, I pull it tighter.  If it’s too thin, I pull some back to that area.  What ends up happening is I spend about fifteen minutes pulling and rolling the epoxy and when I’m done, the Pond Shield has been applied at 60 square feet.

Now I have also been on job sites where the surface area was so rough that there would be no way to get the coating to cover like that.  In those cases, a decision has to be made that concerns how to properly prepare the surface.  In some cases, the application process itself is changed and we spray the Pond Shield.

Once everything is applied you’re done right?  Wrong!  Do not be fooled here.  A good application always ends with a thorough inspection of the coating.  I mean what happens if there was a small void in the concrete somewhere?  Over night, this void could have sucked up some of the epoxy and left a gap.

A gap is a hole in the coating.  No matter how you slice it and hole in the coating is a potential leak.  It doesn’t matter if you have put three coats on Pond Shield or any other product on.  If you miss a spot, you will more than likely experience a leak.

So it pays to inspect.  Now I have seen some funky situations before.  I have seen a wooden holding tank appear to be flawless, yet leak like a sieve when it’s filled.  This is an interesting conundrum.  If the coating looks flawless, why and how would it leak?

Does anyone know?  Let’s say the holding tank is 8 feet long by 4 feet high by 4 feet wide.  The water weight of that would be over 7000 pounds!  Let’s say that the corner seams were not properly fastened and structurally, they were weak.

It is very conceivable that when the tank is full, the weight of the water would push the walls outward causing small hairline gaps to form in the seams.  When this happens, the water would leak out until the weight resided and the seams closed again.

This can happen with concrete block walls in a pond too if they are not build properly.  This is why if you have a leak, you need to check the coating AND the structure.  Think about what is taking place when there is water in the pond.

If the water leaks down to a certain point, that is usually an indication of what level the leak is at.  That is where you should start looking and correct the problem.  I cannot stress more that if you have a leak, it will most likely be from something you missed.

A lot of people do not want to hear that.  Either they cannot see the problem or in some cases ego might play a roll.  Unfortunately, it’s difficult to think that the perfect looking job you just did could be caused by something as trivial as a small missed spot.

Hopefully though, you can now be better equipped to install that coating better and know what to look for before it causes you trouble.  I think that being prepared is always a great vantage point to start any project from.

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If you’re looking for a non toxic solution to water proofing your pond, fountain or water feature, please visit the Pond Armor site. If you have any questions regarding the products Pond Armor manufactures, please contact us at 800-716-1545 M-F 8:30am to 4:30pm PST