Modern Design Aquascaping is in Knoxville, TN revisiting one of our favorite Koi ponds we’ve ever built! We’re going to show you the amazing features of this pond including negative or zero edges, wetland filters, fish caves, and of course the fish.

The Negative Edge or Zero Edge:
The carnivorous plants are the beginning of the negative edge and give you the most pristine water quality in a pond because that water is falling off the surface of the pond. This means you’ll never have that collection of bubbles or anything else that gets trapped on the surface of the water. Also, the negative edge is wide horizontally and extends farther into the pond, making it difficult for fish to travel to the lower pond. The negative edge and one inch of water make it harder for fish to travel this helps detour the fish try taking this path.

Feeding Stone And Fish Caves:
The feeding stones or interactive areas are built in for you to sit and enjoy nature and your surroundings while interacting with your pond and fish. The key to the interactive stone is to place it inside the liner and deeper in the water. This interactive stone is four inches below the water, and four inches above the water this keeps the spiders and other creepy crawlies out so you can feel comfortable putting your feet in the water.
Fish caves are another feature in this pond. The purpose of a fish cave is to protect your fish during colder weather and from predators.

Waterfalls And Wetland Filter:
This feature has two waterfalls the main waterfall was built so the homeowner could see and hear the waterfall from the kitchen. The workhorse filter of the feature is with the main waterfall the water flows over the negative edge and the gravel at the bottom acts as a prefilter. This area is going to collect the solids and debris then the water will flow to the top to the wetland filter. Our go-to is the up flow wetland filter for crystal clear pond water and will be featured on all of our best projects.
 
The view:
One of the best things about this feature is the view! The pond was build to maximize viewing from the homeowners most utilized living area. The benefit of having the pond down on the lower level is the amazing view from the living area and complement of the waterfalls, and the sounds of the pond add to the overall experience of the home and the favorite feature of the landscape.
 
Go to YouTube to view the full video with many more features of the pond and to see why it’s one of our favorites! Call Modern Design Aquascaping today to get started on your water feature!
 

​Modern Design Aquascaping is walking you through one of our award-winning and most amazing builds located in Maryville, Tennessee. We’re going to show the before and after and talk you through all the amazing aspects that set this water feature apart from the rest. The build we’re featuring won us a national award  Water Artisans of the Year Awards (WAOTY) for Most Naturalistic Water Feature.
 
We’ve been building ponds and water features for more than 20 years so you can feel confident in contacting Modern Design Aquascaping for your water feature. We bring award-winning talent, creativity & Experience. Ready for the walk through? Let’s get started! 

​ Meet The Pond #1: Intake Bay – Super Sized Skimmer
The intake bay is the location of the pumps underneath the gravel. Everything that happens flow wise originates from the intake bay. The pumps pull all the water in through the stones creating that slight movement seen on the top of the water. Basically, it sweeps all the debris off the surface and enters the intake bay. This area serves as a skimmer for a pond of this size.
 
Meet The Pond #2: Interaction Stones – Get People Involved
We enjoy including areas in our water features that encourage people to interact with their pond and fish.  Anything we can do to get people to put their feet in the water and get outside and enjoy nature. The interactive stone is placed where it hangs over the edge of the pond, allowing you to sit down, put your feet in the water, and interact with the fish as well.
 
Meet The Pond #3: Japanese Koi – The Oldest One is About 25 years old
The fish in this pond are all Japanese Koi. The fish were initially 4-5 inches long when Modern Design Acquascaping first got the fish and have thrived for over a decade. The oldest fish is Chester about 25 years old.
 
Meet The Pond #4: Fish Cave – Protect Your Pets
A fish cave is a protective area where your fish can go and hide during dormant times or protection from predators. Fish Caves are a key feature of a well-constructed pond is having that area that the fish can go to get away from nature. Everything likes to eat fish. Unfortunately!
 
Meet The Pond #5: Secret Falls – Mimic Nature
One of the elements that helped us win the award is all of the tiny waterfalls. We spend the time in nature looking at natural waterfalls and recreating that in our work. There are large 10 thousand pound boulders, but you have these tiny waterfalls that travel through the natural cracks in the stone to create an unmatched authenticity in our work.
 
Meet The Pond #6: Pumps & Jets – Circulation Explained
All the water and the pumps are flowing into the intake bay and Jets that create circulation which accounts for the movement that you see on the surface of the water. We’ve created a flow of water where it pushes around the pond in a circular pattern. This circular pattern encourages debris to go around the outside and into the intake bay.   
 
Meet The Pond #7: Up-Flow Wetland Filter – Biological Filtration
Think of a fish tank with an under gravel filter; this works similar to that.  The same things that filter water in nature are happening here. The jets and high-efficiency pumps create movement and push water to give you the volume that you need to create the beautiful waterfalls.
 
Meet The Pond #8: Led Lighting Tricks – Night Time Is Magical
When you put the light down in the water in the right environment, you don’t see the light you the result of the light and the effect it creates. In this water feature, we separated the lighting so that when the landscape matures, you have lighting for the fish and waterfalls.  The benefit at night when viewing the pond from within the home you’re able to turn off the lights and create a reflective effect with the pond giving you a whole different look at night.
 
Meet The Pond #9: Artistic Tips – It’s The Little Things
You have beautiful stones integrated into the side of the pond. Since the pond liner is behind the boulders, creating these micro-environments within the edge of the pond. The artistry we bring to builds with amazing edge work is what makes the feature next level amazing.
 
 Meet The Pond #10: This Is Not A Swim Pond – Technically Speaking
The pond featured is 4-feet deep, and we have taken a swim with the fish. This is not technically a recreation pond, but if you happen to have people fall in and take 15-20 minutes getting out.. I’m not sure what you would call that!
 
Let Modern Design Aquascaping help you get outside and enjoy nature with your own award-winning pond or water feature!

Ponds and water features are a beautiful addition to any home and will be where you spend the most amount of time. Make sure you pick a pond and water feature that is right for you and your space. The team at Modern Design Aquascaping is here to guide you through that process give us a call.  This video is going to walk through all the different variables that can affect the cost of a pond and help you set realistic expectations of the total cost. Think of the cost as you would a car there is a different price for a standard model and a bigger price tag for the model with all the upgrades.

Base Model:
Modern Design Aquascaping base model ponds with install start at around $8000. The more complexity, upgrades, and features will affect the price. We urge you don’t make a fast decision on your pond do your research. Don’t be fooled if it sounds too good to be true it is!

Stone Selection:
Tennessee River Stone if your in love with this stone you’re in luck it’s the most cost-effective stone. Mountain Stones have to be stacked and arranged in a certain way to achieve the desired effect. The size of the stones affects the cost. The larger the stone, the more involved the process is to maneuver and position that stone.

Driftwood Accents:
When adding driftwood to the feature cedar, cypress, and juniper are species of wood that will last a long time. How are you using the driftwood? Is it going to be small accents that sit on the edge of the pond or is this a huge piece of wood that is a major component of the pond? The addition of a large stump of driftwood can take half a day to maneuver and manipulate the driftwood into its final position with heavy machinery. The goal is to make the stump look like has been there a hundred years and grew out of the side of the bank. What we do artistically with the driftwood comes with a whole different price tag than a simple piece of driftwood on the side of your pond. 

Fish Caves:
In East Tennessee, we have a ton of predatory birds; unfortunately fish are like chicken everything likes to eat it. Build your pond accordingly to protect your fish adding a fish cave will ensure your fish have a place to retreat when scared or hibernating and be protected from predators above. A fish cave is a structure built into the bottom of the pond to provide cover and can be built simply or elaborately as your budget allows.
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Interaction Areas:
The is place in the water feature that you walk up and interact with the feature. The interaction area can be a large flat stone where you and your family sit and put your feet in the water or feed the fish. Another stone feature that creates an interaction area is a set of stone steps to access the feature more easily. There are a lot of ways for us to build a spot for you to interact with your pond. The more elaborately you build, the more that will affect the cost of the pond. 

We at Modern Design Aquascaping hope this has been informative about the cost of a pond or water feature and understand why the price varies and some of the contributing factors to higher costs. If you enjoyed part 1 stay tuned for part 2 or give us a call today to get your pond started! 

​The Modern Design Aquascaping team had the opportunity to travel to Nashville for an excellent six fountain build. In this video we're going to walk through the installation process for a 20-foot diameter fountain to show what's underneath the fountain. What's underneath the fountain is just as important as what's above. A 20- foot diameter fountain install might be more adventurous then you were thinking.  Follow the link in the video to find the fountain for you.  

The installation begins by putting together all the necessary parts and equipment. These materials didn't come pre-assembled and will have to be put together onsite. Once that is completed we turn our attention to the 20-foot circle drive at the front of the home and begin excavating the soil. No Job is without complications! First, the driveway with exposed aggregate driveway which requires caution not to grind the gravel with the heavy machinery. We used plywood as the mechanism to sit and consistently maneuver the plywood to ensure the protection of the driveway.

Secondly, there was nowhere to get rid of the dirt! The solution was to find a place in the back yard to burn through the soil, which means load after load of dirt being loaded into the dump trailer and hauling it to the back yard to be offloaded. The soil was then maneuvered by small machinery to where we want it. There's no way around it when you put a fountain in of this size there is a lot of soil!
 
The dirt has been removed, and the splash zone has been set 20 feet in diameter. The edges in the circle have been tapered to the center so all splashed water will run back to the middle. If we do any pitch at all, we level the whole thing slightly to the pumps located at the lowest point in the feature. The aqua blocks are perfectly level and fit inside tight together to create a durable surface to build the fountain. 
 
The next step is to put a protective underlayment layer to keep from puncturing the waterproof liner. Another layer of the underlayment is added to the middle to cover any sharp corners of the blocks. This extra protection will make sure we have no holes and leaks down in the bottom.
  
The underground portion of the install is complete! Now we focus on the six fountains and all the pumping. Also, We'll drill holes in the fountains for lighting and place fountains at various heights to achieve the desired look.  You want to make sure artistically it looks good from every direction. Once the fountains are situated, that will determine if each fixture gets three or one watt LED lights. Every light is put in with a specific purpose to create a particular effect.
 
To finish make sure the fixtures are level, and test run the pumping to make sure everything is running as you have ball valves to adjust in each fountain. With this complete, we add the rocks to create different elevations. To complete the look big natural boulders, mountain stones, and mix river rock are added. The addition of the stones will cover all the man-made stuff. The finished look will be fountains of different sizes and elevations running water that disappear into this natural stone.
 
We at Modern Design Aquascaping hope this install inspires you to do something water feature-ish in your own space.  

​This phase of the project is about enhancements. We’re taking the fountain at its basic level and amping it up to increase the water flow and the aesthetic appeal. To achieve this, we’ve added accent boulders, driftwood, custom lighting, and greenery for overall appeal. This phase will also explain why the same fountain can be at different price points. Think in terms of a car you have the basic model and then you have the model that has all the extras, in short, all the bells and whistles.

Let’s Get Started!

Upgrade The Pump:
First and foremost, we begin by upgrading the pump to the Aquasurge 2000 pond pump. This upgrade takes you from double flow 1000 GPH to 2000 GPH.  This pump is our go-to-pump for fountain installations.  

Upgrade The Intake:
Upgrade to the Auquasurge Low Suction Intake Attachment. This attachment allows the pump to run in low-water conditions and go longer without fill-ups.

Switch Out The Plumbing:
Replace the basic plumbing that came with the fountain, which is about ¾ of an inch to 1 ½ inch PVC pipe. More water can flow through bigger plumbing. The change to the PVC pipe will require you to take the bulkhead and drill a bigger hole in the top of the urn. When drilling the hole make sure you use the right size saw.

Accent Lighting:
Once you’ve drilled a bigger hole to accommodate the bulkhead now you’ll need to drill holes in the side to recess the lighting at the top. The recessed lighting will cause the water bubbling at the top to glow. The current lights at the bottom of the urn give a nice glow to the outside but leave the top dark. The recessed lighting at the top will help to tie the whole look together.

Plumbing The Urn:
To install the plumbing and ensure a tight fit you glue these parts together, both the plumbing inside the urn and the PVC pipe your connecting. It’s important to cut the PVC pipe the right length to make sure that the bottom and the top of the urn slide together and lock in place. Important kids! This connection is a compression fitting only DO NOT GLUE. Otherwise, you’ll never get it apart again. Also, a single lighting wire was run in so that when gravel is added for stability, you won't have to borrow it out later.

Time For Enhancements:
​ After making the rest of the connects you’re ready to fire it up. Now that you have higher water flow and top lights installed it’s time to make the fountain more decorative. Accent Boulders are places; we’re using Missouri weathered limestone.  The largest stone placed was so for stability — something to consider if you have small children or grandkids. Add driftwood at different lengths and contours. For the plant layout evergreens were used to surround and flowers for the front.
 
The video of the transformation from the basic fountain to the enhanced fountain gives you a better understanding of the amount of work involved and why the price can vary. Let the team at Modern Design Aquascaping take your fountain from the basic model to the enhanced model. If you like the content, subscribe to the YouTube channel and like us on Facebook for more content and live videos of projects and builds. 

​Our goal is to improve your life with water. We do this by building custom ponds, waterfalls, and fountains from natural stone and wood. Taking ordinary spaces and transforming them into places where you spend time with the people you love.
 
Our Passion is to give you an organic water feature that represents the natural splendor and beauty of the Smoky Mountains. If you’re looking for something formal then we’re probably not the right fit, because we make water features to be enjoyed, gathered around, and add value to your life.

What you can expect from our channel is 25 years of experience, pond tips, installation, and maintenance. Subscribe and like the YouTube channel to stay up-to-date on the latest content and projects.

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​John Adams and the team at Modern Design Aquascaping are going to walk you through their 4 step process to help prepare your pond for the winter. If you have a pond then you need to make sure your prepared for winter to ensure a healthy pond and fish for the winter.

Step 1: Effective Cleaning of your Biological Filter 
The most important thing is cleaning the filter without sanitizing. Let John walk you through how to use the pond water to clean the filter and the accumulated debris. This process eliminates the use of chlorinated water (such as hose water), and uses the water from the pond. The use of the pond water allows you to remove 90% of the solids and the mass from the filter without losing the beneficial bacteria.

Step 2: Mechanical Filer – Skimmer Box
It’s important to do a complete cleaning of the skimmer box. This includes removing the ridged debris basket, filter pads, and checking the valves. Everything is removed from the skimmer. Once all those things have been removed you will need to remove the remaining debris out of the skimmer.

Step 3: Pruning Aquatic Plants 
When pruning Pond plants you want to cut the plant off just above the water level. Anything that goes dormant in the winter time you want to remove to keep the water quality pristine throughout the winter. The fishes metabolism slows making them more susceptible to problems.

Step 4: Supported Net System  
A well installed net will keep your fish happy through the winter. Installing a support system over the pond and stretching a net tightly across the support system will allow the debris to stay out of the pond.
Don’t feel overwhelmed by this process contact John and the team at Modern Design Aquascaping and let them help you get your pond ready for winter and a great spring.

Modern Design Aquascaping partnered with Second Chances Wildlife Education Center to build a new pond Habitat for a rescue named Justin Beaver. John and the team at Modern Design Aquascaping were excited to combine their passion for building amazing ponds and the conservation effort to create a great new habitat for Justin.
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Justin was a new born orphan beaver when he came to the Wildlife Education Center where he has been for a year and a half. Justin has finally out grown his current water feature in the bath tub and is getting a pond of his own. Justin serves an important purpose at the center teaching tolerance and co-existing with wildlife.
The pond features a wetland filter to provide the water quality needed alongside a steam that connects down to the main pond. Since beavers build dams the team created a drainage system to allow water to overflow and provide a way for the excess water to flow back into the pond. The team also had to keep in mind that beavers chew through everything, and with that in mind on top of the rubber liner a concrete wall was placed to provide a barrier. For added measure the bottom of the pond was covered in stone slabs and many tons of boulders were added.
 
The end result was an amazing pond for Justin beaver, helping to continue the great work of the wildlife center, and one really happy beaver. Modern Design Aquascaping doing things that matter with people that matter. 

Here at Modern Design Aquascaping Inc., we get so many calls from people who have water features and they think they may have a leak. Often the conversation goes, “I think my feature is leaking, can you have someone run by and see what they can find?” This note will cover the procedures we follow in order to be efficient with a clients time and money.

Let’s start by saying that having someone run by and take a look, while it sounds like a good idea, is a ways down the list of to-do’s in order to properly diagnose a potential water loss issue. The first thing we want to, in order to solve your issues, is to break the feature down into pieces. If there is a pond and stream, for example, we will turn off the pump in order to eliminate the stream and plumbing from the equation. We can then fill the pond to it’s capacity, take an EXACT water measurement, and then set a timer. Keeping a log of this information is invaluable to the technicians who are working on your feature.

The timer allows you to tell how much water level goes down per 12 hours. The more information we get, the better! Feel free to take measurements for 48 hours at least. Important: If you have fish and/ or a biological filter, there are precautions you need to take in order to maintain healthy oxygen levels. Reach out to us for more information on that if you need to. (LINK TO CONTACT FORM) What happens next is you will find out one of two things, the pond is loosing water (more than 1/4” in 12 hours) or it is not. If the pond is loosing water, you will have to let it leak down to the level where it stops leaking and then search for the problem and fix it. Remember that if the water level drops more than what is safe for your fish, you will have to deal with that as well.

If the pond is not leaking, you have successfully eliminated that portion of your feature from the problem. The next thing to test is the plumbing. In order to test the plumbing system, we simply cap off the plumbing where it connects to the pump, fill the filter system (from the top side) to the point of over-flowing, and wait some more. Twelve hours is enough time to see if the plumbing is holding water. If that level doesn’t drop, you have eliminated that from the equation. If water level in the plumbing system drops, you have located a potential problem and you can then look deeper into that area.

The next area to inspect is the stream. Look closely at all edges to ensure that there are no low-edges in the liner. Inspect the connection from the filter box to the liner. Look for blockages or obstructions in the stream that have made a dam and caused the water level to go up over your liner.

Each scenario here will give you insight into a problem that cannot be seen by just quickly looking at the feature. Folks often think we are trying to avoid coming out but I always ask, “What do you think we will see that you cannot?” If you have spent any effort at all to look for the obvious, we will need to dig deeper to find solutions! With a bit of time bantering back-and-forth on the phone, we can almost always diagnose a problem and come up with a solution. Some people even end up finding it with our help and don’t need hiring us to do anything. We are always available for free phone consulting for troubleshooting and answering questions. 

Call our office at Modern Design Aquascaping Inc. at 865-995-1234 or fill out the on-line form at http://www.mdaquascaping.com/contact.html and we’ll call you. We would love to give you a no-cost estimate right over the phone and help get your pond up and running this year! ​