Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Managing Hard Water - Waterfall staining rocks

I just built my first pond (1 acre) and I am excited to start filling it up. I have a aeration feature which drops water out of a water tower, splashes on rocks and flows into the pond. My concern is that I am filling the pond with my well which is hard water. I suspect that once I turn on the water feature it will splash iron rich water all over the rocks and they'll be rust stained in no time. Does anyone have a good remedy to this problem?

Thank you!!

- Jon

Put an iron filter in the line between the well and the pond.

Enjoy the nice orange color of the rocks. Not being a smart A, just giving advice Bobby Knight would have wrt stress.

If you have the strong desire to avoid iron discoloration and the funds to filter the amount of water that your pond requires...filtration is and option, albeit an expensive one that requires periodic maintenance. I would not even venture a guess as to what a filtration system would cost for this type of application and lean towards embracing the "natural" discoloration of the rocks.

Now that I re-read your post. It sounds like you are recirculating water from the pond to the water feature. I will assume that the pond does receive most of its water from a watershed and that it is not wholly coming from the well. If this is the case, the iron staining will be minimal once the pond is full and filled more by mother nature than the well. Consider holding off on running the water feature until the pond is full and stabilized.

The rocks will develop staining to some degree. Minerals in the water, of course, bacteria's, algae, silts, etc will all play a roll in how they patina.

I'd say embrace what ever happens...it's sounds beautiful...how about some pictures?

Welcome to PB, btw!

Jon, you aren't too far away, I'm near Rt 30 and State Road 23, about 12 miles West of Plymouth.

I'll send you a more detailed PM, but yes, you do have iron rich water there. Look into building a packed column. Run the water down through that, and into a pit, then have the pit overflow into the pond. The iron in the water will precipitate out once the water is oxygenated and collect in the pit. Once the water is in the pond you can run that over the stones and not have the stones stained by the iron because it will be out of the water. Like QA says, the rocks will discolor a bit from other things in the water and might grow a bio film too. You can clean the rocks when that happens by shutting off the water, sprinkling Phycomicin over the rocks, let it work for 20 min and then turn the water back on. That is nothing more than powdered Hydrogen Peroxide. It won't harm the pond.

Packed column to precipitate the iron out of the water by aerating the water and off gassing any harmful gasses.

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