Damascus Enterprises Blog

Water features are a great way to experience the many benefits of the waterscape lifestyle. Including personalizing your outdoor living space and providing a place that wildlife will love. Determining which type of water feature you will have is the first step in designing your backyard oasis. If you’ve done any amount of research than you may have already discovered there are a multitude of different types of water features.

For most of us here in the Mid-Atlantic region the summer season has some pretty awesome benefits! From farmers markets, picnics, and countless outdoor & water activities. If you've lived in this area for any length of time chances are you've also experienced the "not-so-good" side of summer too.The area can sometimes see extended periods of heat, lack of rainfall, and dry windy weather that can wreak havoc on the landscape.

If you have been researching different types of ponds for any length of time it’s very likely that you’ve run across a heated debate between the “rocks and gravel are cool” and the “rocks and gravel will kill us all” groups. It is a debate that can be seen raging on forums and articles across the web. 

Many pond owners feel a backyard pond isn’t complete without a colorful group of fish to observe and care for. To maximize your enjoyment, as well as the health of the fish, one of the most important decisions you can make is…. What the proper number of fish is for your size pond. Getting to the right amount may not be as straightforward as it seems and the answer can actually vary a bit.

You might be asking yourself, Don’t you explore a pond when you clean it normally? What’s the difference? We typically perform an Exploratory Drain and Clean when the pond owner is unfamiliar with the pond and its elements or the pond hasn’t been maintained in several years.  

The initial steps are very similar to our Complete Cleanout process. The crew will begin by removing aquatic life and draining the pond.

A well-balanced pond usually requires minimal effort to maintain, although it does need cleaned periodically. There are two main reasons for cleaning your pond; biological and aesthetic.

Below are some signals that your pond might need to be cleaned. If you decide your pond needs attention you can contact us here.

BioFalls is a type of Biological Filtering system that provides a home for beneficial bacteria to grow and flourish. The bacteria is what works to breakdown and remove harmful waste from your pond’s water using a natural process called “Bio-Filtration”.

Have you ever had to ask yourself “Did I add a scoop of beneficial bacteria to the pond this week?”

Are you afraid of adding beneficial bacteria because you don’t want to add too much or too little?

Maybe you didn’t even know that you should be adding at least beneficial bacteria to your pond weekly.

Sadly, many new pond customers we meet don’t know about the benefit of adding a quality beneficial bacteria and other water treatments to their pond

If you have ever owned a backyard pond then you probably know about string algea. It’s the hairy green mess that grows on your water falls, down your stream and in your pond.  Instead of sitting out on the patio and enjoying your pond, your time is spent walking around and pulling this slimy muck out. Or perhaps adding algaecides weekly to keep it from taking over your pond.

We often get phone calls from customer making one simple statement; “I think my pond leaking.” If you have made this call to Damascus Enterprises, then you have either heard or seen this process done before.

Before you Suspect a Leak
If your pond is losing water slowly over time, say an inch every day or every few days, depending on how big your pond is, it could be evaporation. Water is naturally evaporating from your pond every day. How quickly it evaporates is largely dependent on how much water is being circulated through the water feature each hour.