Q: How do I get debris or algae off of my water garden’s rocks, streams and waterfalls? – Several Customers

A: As the Summer progresses, the weather gets hotter and algae begins to grow on your streams, waterfalls and rocks. Sometimes using AlgaeFix just isn’t enough to remove the algae from the rocks. It will kill the algae, but the algae stays stuck to the rocks. It seems sometimes you need a steel wool brush to scrub the algae off.

My suggestion, when you have debris of algae on rocks, is to use a product called Oxy-Lift. Oxy-Lift is designed to lift these debris off of rocks for easy removal.

Simply turn your pump off and sprinkle the affected areas with Oxy-Lift. Wait 10 minutes and turn your pump back on. You may need a hose to spray away the additional debris, but no more scrubbing! If you have a skimmer installed in your pond, it will catch the debris as they are washed in by the waterfall. Or you can skim it yourself with a skimmer net.

Q: How do I properly size a pump to create the waterfall I’m looking for? – Several Customers

A: We get this question asked to us quite a bit. The following process will help you in determing the correct pump size for a waterfall:

Step 1: Determine the Head Pressure (Head)

Head equals the total number of feet from the top of the waterfall to the water’s surface. For example: Let’s say that height is equal to 5′.

Step 2: Determining Desired Water Flow
In general, you will need 1,500 gallons per hour (gph) for every 1-foot of waterfall discharge for an average flow. The discharge is considered where the water enters back into the pond. For example: Let’s say the width of our waterfall is 2′. This would mean we need a pump of approximately 3,000 gph.

Step 3: Putting It All Together
In our example, our head pressure is 5′ and the approximate gph of our desired pump is 3,000 gph. This means would need a pump that would pump 3,000 gph at 5′ of head.

Other Notes: