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“They are all gone! Literally, every single one!” Have you ever woken up to your panicked partner starting at an empty koi pond which used to house thousands of Rands’ worth of gorgeous koi?

We all want to enjoy the beauty of a koi pond with those effortlessly gliding finned friends, but sadly, some of the local wildlife is also likely to enjoy your pond, albeit in a slightly different way.

Pond Predators

We certainly have our fair share of predators here in South Africa. An aerial attack may take place from herons, kingfishers, cormorants, or even a determined hadeda. A ground strike is less likely to be the neighbourhood dog, but more likely a mongoose, wild cats, certain snakes and even clawless otters, depending on where you live.

Whatever is feasting on your fish, you need to act to make sure that your koi pond doesn’t become the local sushi restaurant for your resident predators.

Deterrents and Protection for Your Koi Pond

One of the cheapest and easiest solutions is to cover your koi pond with netting. Granted, it doesn’t look beautiful and may detract from the overall aesthetic that you were going for, but it’s a good choice. Perhaps use it at night or seasonally depending on the problem predator.

If you have a minimalist koi pond with very little in the way of hiding places for your koi, then you’re providing the perfect situation for “shooting fish in a barrel” – so to speak. They’ll be easy to see and even easier to catch. Logs, rocks and water plants provide shade and protection for your fish when they need it.

Scarecrows, or decoys, are also an effective and cruelty-free option, and when positioned correctly and moved often can work a treat. Another (fun) option is a sprinkler which fires a spurt of water when triggered.

If you’ve spent thousands on the perfect koi pond, then keeping it safe will be a priority. Try out these options and let us know if you have any other ideas.

We have so many useful tools to help us keep our swimming pools in pristine condition, but many of them do entail a lot of legwork. Maintaining a pool is no easy task. However, there are ways to make sure that your automated systems are operating at optimal capacity; here are three ways you can help your swimming pool pump be as effective as it can be.

Making Life Easier for your Swimming Pool Pump

Skimming the Surface

One of the best ways to keep your pool clean from top to bottom is to regularly skim the surface with your pool net. Removing leaves, grass and other debris not only keeps it out of the strainer basket and also prevents it from becoming waterlogged and falling to the bottom of the pool. Regular skimming increases the efficiency of the filter system and means that your pool pump doesn’t have to work as hard as it otherwise would. A fully operational filter system also lowers the demand for chlorine – another time and money saving benefit.

Cleaning the Filters

Bearing the above in mind, we may be tempted to give our filter a really good and thorough cleaning as often as we can to improve the circulation even further. While it is true that we need to keep a close eye on our filter to make sure it does not become completely clogged, a little bit of dirt is a good thing. How so? A small amount of debris in the filter acts as an additional straining system and allows the trap to catch other dirt and debris. Who’d have thought?

Brushing the Walls

A weekly brush of the walls and tiles helps the pool vacuum to do its job by reducing algae build-up. Getting rid of calcium deposits and algae in this way equals less work for the pool vacuum and therefore less work for the pool pump. Perhaps you can afford to run it less frequently with a regular scrub or brush. Take care of your swimming pool pump and it will give you years of faithful service. For more maintenance assistance or advice on keeping your swimming pool in tip-top shape, chat to Pool Spa.

Not everyone was born knowing how to maintain a swimming pool at home. In fact, very few people actually do. Which means that we need to stay alert to the common problems that we may experience so that we aren’t blindsided by them and wake up to a pea-green pool tomorrow. Many problems begin with the pool pump. What are the most common pool pump problems that we see?

Most Common Pool Pump Problems

Blockages

Imagine that your pool pump is like your heart. It’s vital to keep the water circulating through the filters, as well as to keep the cleaning products running throughout the system. The baskets in the weir and the pump need to be regularly cleaned out to prevent gunk from choking up the system and putting an unnecessary strain on the pump. Do this daily to extend the life of your pump.

Overheating

There are a number of reasons why a pump may overheat. Reduced airflow is one of them, generally brought about by overgrowth around the pump, or an installation in a small or enclosed space with too little cool air. An incorrect pump installation with a 90-degree pipe bend or an or obstructed run forces the pump to work harder and risk overheating. Corroded bearings from a lack of maintenance can create an incredible amount of heat (and noise)!

Incorrectly Sized Pool Pumps

If you are installing a new pool pump, we encourage you to do the maths and determine exactly how many litres your swimming pool holds. This will allow you to buy the right sized pump. Too small and you’ll find that it is ineffective, needs to run a great deal more than necessary, and will need replacing early. Too large, and you will be wasting money on something that you don’t need, high electricity bills and damage to internal parts. If you need a little advice on maintaining your swimming pool or have questions on your pool pump problems, why not chat with Pool Spa? We can help!

If you’re one of those budding garden artists who aren’t happy with just lawn and bushes, then it’s possible you have considered installing a plastic pond. And that’s a great idea! Ponds add life, movement and joy to a garden and are an absolute pleasure to watch as your plant and aquatic life flourish.

If you’re considering a DIY pond installation, then you’ll find that preformed plastic ponds are your best option; cost-effective, easy to install and simple to maintain.

Here are our top tips for installing your plastic pond.

Carefully Consider the Location of Your Pond.

Think about the following:

• Can you see it easily from your patio?
• Is it set low in the garden and likely to flood after heavy rains?
• Is it in full sun all day or is there a healthy sun/shade balance?
• Can you run an electrical cable to it to run your pump? Can these cables run underground for safety reasons?
• Are you likely to hit electrical or water cables when you start digging?

Placement and Preparation of Your Pond

• Once you are ready to set your pond, mark out the area that needs to be excavated and start digging. Remember, if your pond has various levels or shelves, each of these needs to be supported by a firm and level base of compacted ground.
• For a great finish, it’s important to spend the time needed to ensure that your base is completely level and even.

Filling and Securing

• Once your pond is set and stable, add a little water to weigh it down and keep it from shifting as you backfill the soil on the sides.
• Make sure that you fill and pack the soil around the pond as much as you can; this soil will likely compact and settle in the following weeks and you don’t want your surrounding area to start cracking or pulling away.
• A wet cement mix around the outside will set your pond firmly in place.

And there you have it – your pond is ready to accept fish and plants of your choice and then it’s time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Good luck!

Speaking to those who have owned both light and dark coloured pools, we find that besides personal taste, there were some reasons why one or the other was preferred.

The Light Swimming Pool Colour

If you’re in an area favouring hot summers, a lighter coloured pool will keep the water cooler. Light pool colour discourages the growth of algae, which is quite a plus. Light blue pool owners declare their pool always looked clean and inviting – sparkling even, they said- and we wouldn’t argue with that. Many love the lighter beach-island feel that pale coloured water calls to mind.

The Dark Swimming Pool Colour

Living in colder climates, a dark swimming pool colour does keep the water warmer and more pleasant to swim in for longer in the season. Some achieve the ocean feel when swimming in a darker coloured pool. Nothing like setting for to the imagination and recall the grandeur and mightiness of swimming in the big blue sea. A darker swimming pool bottom doesn’t show the dirt as much so, if you need that disguised more often than you’d like to admit, don’t be shy to have yourself a handsome dark pool.

Somewhere Between

Finally, who's to say we can’t have a two-tone pool? What about lighter sides and dark bottom? This feature can distort depth perception though so, a couple of strategically placed tile mosaics can solve that issue. That would make sense if all that needed to be weighed in the balance were family members favouring different shades. These days there are shimmer coloured pools that look absolutely fairy-tale fabulous. There is always a way to please everybody so that, whether light or dark or anywhere in between our family and friends will love spending time together in our beautiful ‘shades of blue’ swimming pool.

Remember that fresh scent in the air after the first spring rains? That’s ozone, we’re smelling and its undeniably sweeter than chlorine. In fact, the word comes from the Greek ozein, meaning “to smell”. Starting as far back as 1893, ozonised air has been used in drinking water treatment plants and there are now over 2000 such plants worldwide. Since the early 50’s ozone has been used for spas and swimming pools in leading European countries and the US joined in from 1975.

The Low-Down on Ozone Water Treatment

There are three issues any pool sanitizer has to see to. It needs to disinfect, oxidize and control algae. It is of interest to note that most of the chlorine in pools is used up in oxidation. Ozone equipment takes up that burden completely. There are an alarming 700 organic products and swimmer wastes in our pools. Ozone water treatment blitzes the lot. Once ozone has done its job of oxidation it reverts back to oxygen, which is great for the water. It tastes great smells wonderful and makes the water sparkle. Today, pool and spa owners can avail themselves of ozone and UV water sanitising systems sophisticated enough to have options of lowering chlorine levels to a minimum just to see to varying demands or eliminating the use of chlorine altogether, especially in domestic size pools. With an efficient injection and mixing system in a normal temperature pool, you only need 1-2 grams of ozone per hour for perfect ozone water treatment. Industry shifts are seeing pool pumps running for longer periods at lower rpms. This means less time for the pool water to lie stagnant, more time in the pipes where the ozone is injected and more time for circulation to sanitise it. With low-flow systems, treating water with ozone and UV, in combination with salt (in greatly reduced quantity) means a having a system that is less expensive to operate and more effective in sanitization. In short, although chlorine does a good job, its side effects do not. Olympic pools may not use it. Ozone water treatments in combination or as stand-alone units are delivering fabulously clean pools and managing sanitization with zero side-effects. Make a plan to bring these benefits to your family pool as soon as possible. To make the shift, contact us on +27 11 7931381/2/3 or +27 11 793 6722. info@poolspa.co.za and let our experts assist you.