Maintaining Your Pond-free Waterfalls

It's a little unbelievable how low-maintenance pond-free waterfalls are, so we thought we'd walk you through what sort of maintenance is really involved.

By the way, if you're unsure what a pond-free waterfalls is, check out this article.

Algae

String algae will grow on the rocks of your pond-free waterfall. It's not harmful, just unsightly to some. If it doesn't bother you, you don't have to do anything! You can leave the algae be. If the algae bothers you, you have a few options when dealing with string algae in pond-free waterfalls:

Using Algae D-Solv or AlgaeOff

Algae D-Solv is a preventative treatment used weekly. It's a dilute algaecide.

AlgaeOff is a spot treatment algaecide used as needed.

You can also run your pond-free waterfall on a timer. If you shut off your pond-free waterfall at night, the algae will dry up while it's off. Plus you have the added bonus of saving some energy cost by not running the pump 24 hours. Because a pond-free has no ecosystem, it doesn't need to run all the time.

Evaporation

Like any water feature, your pond-free waterfall will evaporate. This is totally normal. Your pond-free should have a basin large enough to accommodate plenty of water -- our waterfalls are designed for that! So you may only have to top off your waterfall every few weeks, weather depending.

Keep in mind that during droughts or super hot summers, you will be adding more water than you might normally.

Winter

Many pond-free waterfalls run just fine in the winter. They're beautiful, and the birds are very appreciative!

If you plan on taking an extended trip or don't care about looking at the falls in the winter, all you have to do is remove the pump from the pump vault (and we can do that for you!). Unless we installed your pond-free. Usually we design them so the pump does not need to be removed at all!

To recap:

• Treat algae with AlgaeOff, Algae D-Solv, or with a shut off timer. But only if you want to!
• Top off your feature with water when needed.
• Run your pond-free in the winter -- or don't. It's your choice.

As far as cleaning a pond-free goes, it should probably be cleaned every 4-5 years. Regular cleaning just entails keeping the leaves out (with a new or leaf blower) and making sure no debris builds up on the top of the basin. (Where the water flows underground.) 

Keep in mind that we have dozens of articles on this blog about pond care. They're not hard, per se, but they do require more maintenance than a pond-free.

But this is the only article needed for pond-free waterfall care! That's it!

Check out our website if you're interested in remodeling your pond to a pond-free waterfall. You can browse some examples of awesome pond-free waterfalls in our display gardens.