Maintenance of your pool
The maintenance of a natural swimming pool is a lot less demanding than with conventional pools, which require weekly testing and chemical dosing to maintain the chemical balance, and regular cleaning to remove all the unwanted silt and foreign particles from the pool.
The Natural Swimming Pool maintains itself through most of the year, as long as it has been designed and built well. It should be treated like a pond in all but the most formal designs, with most work to be done preparing for winter. This is far more enjoyable than winterizing conventional pools, and will be especially enjoyable to gardening enthusiasts.
Winter preparation for ponds and natural swimming pools
While ponds should not be allowed to completely ice over, as it prevents oxygen from getting into the water and allowing noxious gases from escaping (formed from rotting organics such as plant matter), this is not such a problem in natural swimming pools. They are built and maintained to minimize organic input and so the build up of noxious gases is minimal. Moreover, the shear size of such pools maintains a reasonable level of oxygen for organisms that are in a very dormant state anyway. Conventional swimming pools have the problem of having to be drained somewhat to deal with ice that may break the walls (water expands by 10% as it freezes), generally, the shallow slope across areas of the periphery of a natural swimming pool prevents such concerns. In more architectured vertically-sided designs, plastic bottles or toy balls can be used to take up the squeeze of expanding ice.
Pumps may need to be detached and taken indoors before the first frosts to prevent any damage to their internal mechanisms. This is very easily done. However, well protected pumps can be left in place, and leaving waterfalls running over winter is a great way of giving life to a sleeping garden, with the water movement and the wildlife that will attract.
Plants
It is absolutely vital to cut back the plants before the winter die-back as any nutrient uptake that they have offered through their year of growth will just be reintroduced back into the pool in winter as the leaves rot. Native flowering water plants in deeper water are generally hardy to winter conditions but must have all their dying leaves removed at the base. For instance, the water lily; all their leaves will die off in October/November and must be plucked from the tubor at the very base of the stem. Exotic species will be grown in pots and will have to be moved indoors. If any flowering plants are within an area subject to freezing move them into deeper water.
Some Floating plants such as Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) must be taken indoors as they are not tolerant of frost. Others such as water violet (Hottonia palustris), water soldier (Stratiotes aloides), frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae ) and water chestnut (Trapa natans) form nuts or buds that sink to the bottom and rise again the following year. Although the water chestnut’s dormant fruits survive well through UK winters, in our cold climate their germination can be erratic and could be helped along by collecting them and leaving them in a shed or the greenhouse over winter.
Marginal Plants
Early to mid autumn is a good time to cut back marginal plants (i.e. those that grow at the very edge of the water) leaving enough of a stump (2” above the water level), especially on hollow tender plants, to prevent water collecting and freezing at the crown, which may cause damage and induce rotting. If you have exotic and tender marginals in your pond/pool then they must be removed and stored away from frost.
Late winter
This is the best time of the year for major operations to a pond or pool, and the best time for planting new introductions.
FAQs
- Can fish be kept in my natural swimming pool?
- Can a natural swimming pool be heated?
- Is it muddy on the bottom?
- What about diseases in the water?
- I don’t think I can afford a swimming pool…could I maybe afford a natural pool?
Can fish be kept in my natural swimming pool?
If you are going for a wildlife pool and do not mind the possibility of unfortunate algae blooms in the spring, then maybe small schools of fish that will not grow very large are possible but generally the answer is no, they are too messy and add too many organics to the water. This counts for ducks and geese too!
Can a natural swimming pool be heated?
Yes. A natural swimming pool already has a passive solar heater in the shape of its regeneration zone. Its shallow water heats rapidly in the spring sunshine and temperatures of up to 28°C can be achieved in the summer without any additional heating. However this effect can be augmented with renewable energy systems or combination boiler systems without compromising the biology of the regeneration zone. The cost of heating swimming pools is prohibitive these days and so we are striving to promote renewable energy systems which reduce your running costs to virtually nothing.
Is it muddy on the bottom?
No. The key behind natural swimming pools is controlling the amount of organic matter in the pool. A well designed pool will keep silting to an absolute minimum without excessive maintenance demands. However, if your pool must be positioned under trees or is to be very heavily planted it will take some effort by you (or us!) later in the year to keep the silt away.
What about diseases in the water?
A balanced ecosystem means pathogens and unwanted bacteria are kept under control by the plants and microorganisms in the regeneration zone, without the need for things like UV sterilizers. Remember, reed bed treatment systems (which the regeneration zone is comparable to), if designed well, are so effective they can turn sewage water into drinking water.
I don’t think I can afford a swimming pool…could I maybe afford a natural pool?
Well, in terms of cost, natural swimming pools tend to be comparable to conventional swimming pools to build, if slightly cheaper, however there are options. The state-of-the-art natural swimming pool filter, which Clear Water Revival is proud to offer, has been perfected to the point that extremely small designs are possible (plunge pools) which still look so beautiful that its well worth it. Also, we are able to offer self build kits that, although are provided with very simple designs, will work well with a little care and effort on your part, and are very affordable. Moreover, with our renewable energy options provided on top, the maintenance and running costs of natural swimming pools are virtually nothing compared to conventional pools.
