Next Generation in Filtration

September 23, 2020September 16, 2020Leave a comment

Atlantic-OASE has some of the most awesome filtration now available in the market today.

Filtration is an essential in pond construction. For years we have been using Skimmers for mechanical filtration to skim off surface debris while keeping our pumps from clogging. We use Biological filtration in waterfall boxes that harbor the bacteria that convert toxic wastes to plant food. And let’s not forget Pressurized filtration, canisters with UVC lights to remove the fine particles and keep algae from taking over.

All have been a critical part of pond building, from the smallest pre-formed ponds to the largest. As ponds became larger and the koi hobby grew, fish loads have increased. That’s made filter systems evolve to keep up. Flow-through filtration boxes, sometime referred to as gravity filters, have earned a place in the market as a leading filter choice.

The newest and most technologically advanced filters are just now hitting the market, and they are not only for the elite koi clubs and koi keepers. These filters are for everyone looking for lower maintenance and crystal-clear water in their ponds.

Introducing the Next Generation of Filtration

Let me introduce the next generation of filtration: the ProfiClear Premium Compact-M and the ProfiClear Premium Compact-L pump-fed filters. These flow-through filters are unique in that they have a drum filter combined with a moving bed of floating filter media that can keep up to 31,500 gallons crystal clear.

Combine them with the Bitron C UVC and one of our in-pond bottom filtration pumps and you are eligible for the Clear Water Guarantee (see chart and info). And it cleans itself!

But that’s not all, there are tons more bells and whistles, like a 60-micron drum filter and Helix 13 floating bed media that has almost unbelievable amounts of surface area for bacteria, and so much more. Yes, it cleans itself, just close the lid and the filter does the rest.

Did I mention how smart the unit is?? If you choose you can add the Easy Garden Control unit to this filter and have full access to your filter system anywhere in the world. The EGC system and app can display and control a variety of functions including operational status, filtration cycles, water temperature, cleaning time, interval time, manual cleaning, overall performance data and charts with data collected over time. And did I mention it cleans itself!!!!

With this addition to an already extensive line you now have access to any type of filter needed to clean and clear a pond, backed by a clear water guarantee (when used as directed).

Enjoy your Enjoy your water garden hobby from small to large, goldfish to Koi and remember the next generation of filters (they’re Self Cleaning!) are waiting for you and your contractor to install on your new or existing pond.

Look out for my next blog on the Next Generation of Pumps for ponds and fountains coming soon!

About the Author:

Jim Chubb

Jim is Atlantic-OASE’s Midwest Regional Sales Manager and has 26+ years of sales experience and 16+ years in the water garden industry.

Blog / Memorial Garden Dedicated to 9/11

Memorial Garden Dedicated to 9/11

September 16, 2020September 16, 20201 Comment

Last week, on the 19th anniversary of 9/11, first responders gathered in Rochester, Michigan to honor the lives lost.

The Rochester color guard and fire department performed a touching 9/11 observance ceremony in front of the Rochester Fire Department revealing their new memorial garden. The memorial garden, Heroes Point, will be a public garden for reflection.

The ceremony was lead by the City of Rochester Fire Department and Chief John Cieslik. During the ceremony, a flag that was once flown above the 9/11 memorial was raised to its now permanent home.

Created by Vince Pampolo of Exterior Concepts and his team, the memorial garden features 27’ of Atlantic Color Changing Colorfalls formal spillways falling into custom basins set in red, white and blue colors. The area includes garden walk ways and a courtyard to highlight the piece of the twin towers. The memorial and spillway was created to replicate the falls and running water at the ground zero memorial in New York.

This dedicated project couldn’t have been made possible without the donations and hard work from not only the contractor, Vince Pampolo of Exterior Concepts but, also the teams at RAK Sales, Ewing Irrigation & Landscape Supply and Atlantic-OASE. The expert craftsmanship that was done with the falls, hardscape, landscape and overall finished look of the memorial garden was appreciated by all the fire department and all of the ceremony’s attendees.

As an attendee of the event, I was brought to tears a few times while the speakers spoke of the heroism that took place on that date. A true reminder never to forget the lost souls and to always remember the police, fire and first responders that puts their life on the line for you. They never run away but, always towards the trouble in sight.

You can view news coverage on the event here:

Photos taken and provided by: Andrew D. Zaccagnini from Rochester Fire Department, Ross Buffa key account manager from Ewing Irrigation & Landscape Supply and Jim Chubb

About the Author:

Jim Chubb

Jim is Atlantic-OASE’s Midwest Regional Sales Manager and has 26+ years of sales experience and 16+ years in the water garden industry.

Blog / Perfecting Pairings: OASE FiltoClear & Atlantic FilterFalls

Perfecting Pairings: OASE FiltoClear & Atlantic FilterFalls

September 14, 2020September 11, 20202 Comments

Atlantic and OASE are great partners with complementary product lines that dovetail perfectly to enhance water quality and reduce maintenance. We complement each other on a number of levels, including filtration philosophies. Here in the States, where leaves and clippings are typically the major maintenance concern, we clean from the top, skimming the surface of the pond to capture floating leaves and debris before they can sink. The pump lives in the skimmer, sending the prefiltered water up to an upflow biofilter, where pads clean and clear water mechanically and biologically.

In Europe, fishponds are typically cleaned from the bottom. There, a solids-handling pump on the bottom sends fish wastes and small particulates to extremely efficient pressure filters that remove much finer suspended solids than upflow biofilters can.

The two philosophies are yin and yang; one continually removes leaves and floating debris but requires periodic cleaning of settled solids; the other captures the settling solids but requires vacuuming to remove leaves and larger debris. Put the two together and you get top down, bottom up cleaning that dramatically improves water quality and drastically reduces maintenance.

Let’s take for example any existing fish pond here in the States with a Skimmer and FilterFalls. Let’s say this pond is a few years old and the fish in it are happy and healthy. That means they’ll be big and fat from constant overfeeding and there will be way too many of them, both because they’ve reproduced and because their owners will have added fish – “only a few, here and there, really!” Yeah, right.

Now there are more wastes than the original equipment was designed to handle. Even with additional mats in the FilterFalls, the excess nutrients have started to impact water quality and clarity, as algae take advantage of the constant nitrates in the water column. The homeowners have an aeration system, and are adding bacteria, but the pond just isn’t as clear and clean as it was with one fifth the fish load. Nor are the doting ‘parents’ willing to part with a single one of their cherished ‘children’, all of whom have cute names and endearing habits. So, there are more fish and fish wastes than the pond can metabolize naturally and even an aggressive cleanout will only delay the return of the same conditions.

The contractor now can offer a return to gin-clear water, guaranteed, without rebuilding the pond. A properly sized OASE FiltoClear Pressure Filter paired with an AquaMax Eco pump is the perfect drop-in solution and comes with the OASE Clear Water Guarantee. The system works in three ways to clean and clear the water. The pump, placed centrally at the bottom of the pond, begins pulling in wastes and passing them to the FiltoClear as soon as it is plugged in. The UVC Clarifier inside the filter renders any algae in the water sterile, unable to reproduce, eliminating green water. The ‘foams’ or sponges in the filter trap suspended wastes, returning clean, clear water to the pond. Maintenance is easy; the filter backwashes clean in seconds. The pump is designed to pass wastes without clogging and can go entire seasons without needing to be cleaned.

Installation requires hiding the pump, its cord and the return hose, a matter of moving and maybe adding a few stones. The filter can be hidden from view either by placement far from the pond’s edge or behind a raised waterfall. The filtered water can be returned anywhere into the stream or along the pond perimeter. Two additional plugs will have to be accommodated, one for the pump and one for the integrated UVC, with a combined draw of only about 2 amps, the circuit powering the original pump may be able to handle it. Even if a second circuit needs to be added, this solution requires much less time and labor than a pond rebuild or even a full pond cleanout.

Finally, a drop-in solution for ponds with water quality concerns that guarantees clear water in ponds up to 2000 gallons. For larger ponds, use OASE BioTec Screenmatic² and ProfiClear Filters with the appropriate UVC Clarifier and pump to achieve the same results, with clear water guaranteed.

About the Author:

DEMI FORTUNA

Demi has been in water garden construction since 1986. As Atlantic’s Director of Product Information, if he’s not building water features, he’s writing or talking about them. If you have a design or construction question, he’s the one to ask.

Blog / Add a Water Feature and Save the Bees, Part II

Add a Water Feature and Save the Bees, Part II

August 15, 2020August 14, 2020Leave a comment

For World Bee Day in March, Jim and Caitlyn spoke about how bees need water, and how water features such as the OASE Quintet installed by Mike Garcia of Enviroscape LA provide a source of clean, chlorine-free water for all pollinators, bees included. If you missed that blog you can find it here: Add a Water Feature and Save the Bees. For World Honeybee Day August 15th this year, I thought we might look at how people have used water to attract and keep bees in other cultures.

The Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula value their Stingless Bees so highly they consider them royalty – they call them Xunan-kab, Royal Lady Bee.

There are sixteen species of Melipona bees in the Yucatan. They make their hives in hollow trees in the wild, but the Maya found out, over three thousand years ago, that there’s an easy way to get the bees to nest anywhere they want. The would-be beekeeper just needs to provide a source of water below a piece of hollowed out log, capped at both ends, with a single hole to get inside. The bees will colonize the log and start to produce a delicious dark, citrusy honey highly valued for its flavor and its medicinal and antibacterial qualities. Xunan-kab honey is very valuable, worth $50 a liter versus $2 for European bee honey, so beekeeping has resurged in popularity, probably saving Melipona from extinction in the wild. Water features have also surged in popularity in the area – coincidence? I think not!

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About the Author:

DEMI FORTUNA

Blog / Tools That Don’t Suck: Kneeling Pad

Tools That Don’t Suck: Kneeling Pad

August 6, 2020Leave a comment

As water feature installers, my sons and I are used to hard, dirty and sometimes dangerous work. We enjoy what we do, whether it’s digging ponds, plumbing pumps, rolling boulders or tweaking waterfalls. We also value anything that makes the job faster, easier or more fun. We’re always looking for tools, apps or gadgets that save time and effort, eliminate stress, add to our comfort on the job or are just fun to use. Often a buddy will turn us on to one. I’d like to return the favor by passing our favorite Tools That Don’t Suck along to you.

After years of kneeling there are certain accessories we don’t even think about working without. We take them for granted, but maybe they actually rise to level of a TTDS (Tools That Don’t Suck). For example, these photos show the pocket I’m in – sharp rock, no flat spots, all points and ridges. I’m working down the wall and across the bottom, attaching liner to rock. There’s no way to avoid kneeling, and your knees wouldn’t last a minute unprotected. The solution that we found our way to, maybe you did too? Is double knee pants and kneeling pads.

We like pads with yellow stripes on the back, look for a “23-in x 11.5-in Foam Kneeling Pad”, for just twelve bucks. You can find all kinds and brands of foam kneeling pads out there but if you want to find one easily Lowe’s sells them here. These pads get a workout. Constantly underfoot, so to speak, they get stomped and rolled over by every tool and fool on the property. They hold up to a surprising amount of abuse before they tear, and we keep using the pieces until they shred.

Now sure, I have worn about six different kindsa strap-on knee pads, with long pants and shorts, in winter and summer, and always had trouble with either slippage or irritation to the back of the knee. This makes perfect sense. Either they’re loose enough to be comfortable and they slip, or they’re tight and they rub. Not any more. These days I wear Craftsman double knee cotton duck pants and throw a pad or two down. I know, sounds sweaty, but I’m actually comfortable in 80-degree weather (with a breeze), unless they get wet.

So, I want to hear what you use to kneel on sharp rock. Are you a kneeling pad fan, or do you prefer traditional kneepads with straps? Sound off below in the comments!

About the Author:

DEMI FORTUNA

Blog / The Most Valuable Koi

The Most Valuable Koi

July 23, 2020July 23, 2020Leave a comment

So we all know what ‘koi’ are, and we have an inkling that there are serious collectors – koi kichi – out there. That makes them valuable, at least to some people. But how much could a fish, even a big fish, even a very pretty fish, actually be worth, and why?

Well, there was once a very beautiful nishikigoi in Japan, of the type first developed over two hundred years ago. This stunning fish was a Kohaku, white with red patches pleasingly distributed over her body. What made her exceptionally lovely was the intensity of her colors, and the absolute crisp delineation between the white and red. All the borders were sharp and crisp. The red patches were perfect, all the same unvaried shade without blotching or faded areas. The white field they overlaid was equally without stain, a perfect white. She had no other markings, and no imperfections. At nine years old, the three-foot-three-inch fish had perfect fins and her body the ideal shape, swelling to its largest girth midway between her head and tail, perfectly symmetrical. Her breeders, Saki Fish Farm in Hiroshima Japan, auctioned in October of 2018. At the gavel’s drop, a young lady from Taiwan with a family background in koi, Miss Yingying, paid 203 million yen for S Legend, as the carp is called.

That’s $1.8 MILLION BUCKS for a fish! What’s even more amazing is Miss Yingying Chung’s story, but that’s for you to look up.…

And remember, when you’re ready for your million dollar koi, Atlantic-OASE has the pond equipment for you!

About the Author:

DEMI FORTUNA

Blog / More Water Entertainment: OASE Water Jet Lightning

More Water Entertainment: OASE Water Jet Lightning

July 21, 2020July 21, 2020Leave a comment

We have more entertainment in water for everyone! Let’s talk about the OASE Water Jet Lighting. The Water Jet Lightning fountain features pre-programmed jumping water effects with variations in jet length and height controlled with remote control unit that has a range of up to 250 ft.

Ready to use right out of the box!

Everything in the box comes ready to use. It comes complete with 2 jets, white or color changing lights, a control unit and remote, tubing and a pump to run the whole system.

Get Creative!

Get creative with your placements! You can set your Water Jet Lightning up to jump water from the shore into your pond or set up in the water and make it look like water is jumping from a hidden corner of your pond. The look can vary depending on they angle or pitch of the jet. The range of the arch will vary but can reach out to about 6’ with a height of 3’. They’re very versatile as they can even be used in a vertical mode as well making them appear to be dancing fountains!

Want to light up your streams?

The flow coming from the jet is called a laminar flow, which will allow the transfer of light to flow completely through the entire stream of water. This will bring your pond to life at night with beautifully lit jumping water streams.

Can I have more than two jets?

Yes! The kit comes with 2 jets but, you can combine up to 5 kits giving you a total of 10 jets, which can be controlled with the one remote when synced together.

The water jet lighting will add fun and whimsical nature to any water feature. So in the future keep making water fun and entertaining so everyone can have a smile on their face.

About the Author:

Jim Chubb

Jim is Atlantic-OASE’s Midwest Regional Sales Manager and has 26+ years of sales experience and 16+ years in the water garden industry.

Blog / So You Want to Put in a Koi Pond!

So You Want to Put in a Koi Pond!

July 9, 2020July 9, 2020Leave a comment

There are many good reasons to want to keep ornamental carp, known as koi fish. First and most of all, they are friendly, engaging creatures that will recognize and respond to you. It’s a great feeling to see a whole shoal of happy, HUNGRY jewel-colored fish churning the water to reach you. Yes they learn, quickly and well, to expect food, but they respond to you whether you have food for them or not, every time. It’s delightful.

They are very beautiful animals by any measure. Their colors are marvelous, with hues from the deepest reds through orange, true gold, silver, pearly white, black, greys of every shade, even blues. Many varieties sport glittering reflective and metallic scales, in different patterns on their bodies, that literally sparkle in sunlight. Their fins can be equally enchanting, especially those of the type commonly known as butterfly koi. When they aren’t racing to you for food, their long flowing fins swirl around them as they dance gracefully in a synchronized ballet, the rhythmic, circular patterns they describe soothing, relaxing, almost hypnotic. One can get lost for hours just staring at their languid movements in a deep, clear pool, I can personally assure you.

But to enjoy them at their best you must provide a healthy environment for them. The best koi ponds will ideally be large and deep enough for the fish to exercise in both horizontal and vertical directions; three feet is usually cited as the minimum depth for happy koi. The optimal volume per fish is harder to pin down, but experts and aficionados (koi kichi) like 100 gallons per inch of fish; bigger is always better as far as volume goes. That said, koi will adapt to smaller bodies of water, but they will not attain the same size and run the risk of greater mortality in smaller, shallow ponds for a number of reasons, including more exposure to predators and greater temperature and pH swings.

Water quality is critical, especially with animals that feed (and defecate) with such gusto. In Japan many ponds have a constant source of fresh spring water to flush out wastes, but that doesn’t work here, so adequate circulation and filtration is a must. Figure on running the entire volume of the pond through the filtration system once per hour. A 5,000 gallon pond should optimally run 5,000 gallons per hour through the filter. Although quality and clarity are totally different issues, with some of the best koi in the world coming out of clay ponds with totally opaque water, that doesn’t work for our ponds. We want to see the koi in polished water, so secondary treatment by ultraviolet light helps keep algae suppressed and water gin-clear.

Finally, for the healthiest, most vibrant koi, the pond shouldn’t be overcrowded. This is where we have to overcome our own nature, because koi keeping is a powerful addiction. We see an especially beautiful fish and we need to have it. Not only do we always want more of them, but they grow to a pretty impressive size. Forget the four-inch-long cutie you brought home from the pet store. Koi grow to 2-3 feet long and upwards of 30 pounds under ideal conditions, and if they’re happy, they are also procreating like crazy. If you’re not very careful and very disciplined, pretty soon you can walk across the pond on their backs.

All that said, once you get the bug you’ll never be free of it, so remember these guidelines.

Build It Bigger! The one comment we hear from just about every customer after a couple of years is, we should have made the pond larger and deeper from the start.
Oversize the filtration. The largest skimmer you can install reduces the frequency of emptying the net or basket. The larger the biofilter, the less often you will need to clean it. The less maintenance the happier you will be, and the more filtration, the cleaner and clearer the water. (Plus, you will be able to better support that greater-than-optimal number of fish that you will almost certainly end up with.)
DON’T OVERFEED YOUR FISH, even if they beg, and they will! Too much food means too many nutrients in the water, overloading filtration and vastly complicating maintenance. Also, no matter how much they seem to want to eat, the last thing you want is obese, unhealthy fish. Feed them once a day as much as they can eat in 5 minutes, turning off the pumps to keep uneaten food from accumulating in the skimmer.

If you’re interested in koi keeping, Atlantic-OASE has everything you need, from kits that make pond construction easy, to advanced filtration that cleans itself and reports back to you via WiFi. You might start by checking out the information at the Atlantic Water Gardens University on our website, and remember, we’re always here to help. Good Luck, and Happy Ponding!

About the Author:

DEMI FORTUNA

Blog / Fun Facts for National Koi Day

Fun Facts for National Koi Day

July 7, 2020July 6, 2020Leave a comment

In honor of National Koi Day, I thought I’d mention some facts about koi that you may find as interesting as I do.

The term “koi” or “koi fish” is technically incorrect.

That’s right, just like the name of our favorite megamonster Gojira (not “Godzilla”), Westerners got the name wrong. Our finny friends are actually nishiki-goi, colored carp. If you look up the work “koi”, you’ll find the translation is “love”, and the word refers to the physical act, not the Platonic ideal. Oh well, too late to change now, but at least it’s good for lots of overseas giggles.

The fish we call koi have been cultured and bred for so long that their digestive tracts have partially atrophied.

Only about 60% of the food they ingest actually gets digested, one of the reasons they are such prodigious feeders. (And poopers!)

Koi are not only affectionate but intelligent.

They recognize their owner, come when called and can be taught tricks like ringing a bell for food. Our Miss Piggy was with our family for 17 years and knew all of us by our silhouettes and voices. She would race to us when we approached, lifting her head out of the water to be petted, eagerly taking food from our fingers. When she died after a major snowmelt dumped road salt into our front yard pond, we were devastated.

Barring accidents or predation, koi can live a long, looooong time.

Here in this country 10-20 years is considered a long life; in Japan the average is closer to 50 years, but under ideal conditions colored carp can live for many decades, even centuries. The oldest nishiki-goi on record, a scarlet fish named Hanako (‘flower girl’) was born during the Tokugawa era of shoguns and samurai. Treasured for her unusual color and affectionate nature, her original owners the Koshihara clan built her a spring-fed pond at the foot of Mt. Ontake in the mid 1700’s. In the 60s, two of her scales were taken and analyzed in a lab. Just like trees, scales exhibit growth rings that can be counted to reveal age. The laboratory determined her birth date to be the year 1751, making her 226 years old when she died on July 7th, 1977 (7-7-77)! National Koi Day, July 7 was created in her honor.

If any of these fascinating facts about our favorite pond pets pique your interest in having a koi pond installed, find an Atlantic-OASE Professional Contractor near you on our Find A Contractor page and stay tuned for our next blog “So You Want to Put in a Koi Pond!”

About the Author:

DEMI FORTUNA

Blog / Social Media Tips For Small Businesses

Social Media Tips For Small Businesses

June 30, 2020Leave a comment

Most of the world’s way of communicating today is through social media. Today, June 30th, is Social Media Day, the day we get to celebrate the digital world of social media! In honor of Social Media Day, I’ve created a list of helpful tips and advice for all of our small business owners out there starting to take their businesses to social!

Quality Over Quantity

There’s always controversy on how many posts you should be sharing on social media. Everyone has different successes depending on the industry they’re in, their audiences and followers. And it varies between each social media platform from Facebook to Instagram to Twitter on how many times you should post. Instead of worrying about how much or how often you post, work on creating quality posts that reflect your business and show what you have to offer.

Whether you post once a day or only post once a week, do what’s easy for you and your schedule. Set a goal for yourself for how many times you want to post on your business accounts and see how easy or difficult it was to reach that goal.

Don’t know what to post? Think about what your followers would want to see from you and your business. Maybe that’s a progress update on a project you’re working on or sale you’re having. Don’t be afraid to get some inspiration from other companies in the industry and see what they’re sharing to their pages!

Add a Visual

When you’re scrolling through your timeline, what makes you stop for a second? It’s usually a picture or a video! Catch your viewers eyes more with a post that has a picture or a video attached versus just a post with text.

Schedule When You Can

Running your own business is hard work on it’s own. Throw social media into the mix and it’s another task to add to your day. There are plenty of scheduling tools out there to help ease the stress of making sure you post frequently! Check out some of the free tools I’ve listed below.

If you have a Business Facebook Page, you can use the scheduler already included on Facebook! At the top of your Business Facebook Page, there’s some very helpful tools to make running your page a little easier! Go to the Publishing Tools tab. You can then create posts and schedule them to post at a later date! And the best part about this is that it’s free! There are plenty of scheduling tools out there but not all of them are free. Utilize the free ones when you can!

Gain Audiences

When trying to get people to follow your social media accounts, your friends and family are the best free advertising you can get. Take advantage of that! Ask them to like and follow your pages and to share your posts on their pages. The more people who share your posts, the more people will see them!

Not only is it important to gain new followers on your accounts but it’s important to keep the ones you already have. Interact with your current followers. If they comment or recommend your brand and products, make sure you respond and thank them! Share and celebrate customers’ posts about your products or services. This encourages them to interact with you online in the future!

Free Helpful Tools

Scheduling Tools.

While most social media scheduling tools aren’t free, they usually have a free version with limited actions available. Give a free version a try and if you think you need more capabilities, then consider buying a plan. Most of the time, you should be able to use the free version just fine.

Buffer allows you to manage 3 social media accounts and schedule up to 10 posts at a time for free
Tweetdeck allows you to monitor your Twitter, different hashtags, users and search terms on Twitter for free.
Hootsuite offers a free plan to manage 3 social media accounts to schedule up to 30 posts in advance.
Later is another free scheduling tool that allows you schedule 30 posts per month on each social media platform.

Creative Tools.

There are tons of free websites and applications out there to make creative graphics for you to use on your social media accounts. Create some great artwork to post with some of these!

Over is a free app to design Instagram story templates and social media flyers, banners and logos.
Canva allows you to create free custom graphics for flyers, marketing material and more.
Adobe Spark Post is another creative app to allow you to create graphics, flyers and banners.
Adobe Premiere Rush is a free video editing app perfect for easy video editing.

I hope this helps get your mind turning towards social! Comment your social media questions below!

About the Author:

Caitlyn Winkle

After graduating from the University of Akron, Caitlyn joined Atlantic-OASE in the fall of 2019. Caitlyn manages the social media and online content for the company. She also supports the Atlantic-OASE Professional Contractor (APC) Program and Marketing Departments in creating marketing and advertising strategies and plans.