Bring Water To Life: Choosing the Right Water Feature For Your Space

Water features invite peace to your life with soothing, natural beauty. They are one of the best ways to cultivate a peaceful, living outdoor space for year round parties, relaxation, and rejuvenation. However, not all water features are the same. Some water features allow for water gardening, fish keeping, and even swimming, while others have no visible water pooling, plants, or animals.

The biggest factors to consider when choosing a water feature are ongoing maintenance, budget, plant and animal preferences, and how much space you have available for your water feature. Once you know this, choosing the right water feature for you becomes a walk in the park.

Recreation Ponds

Recreation ponds are the biggest, most immersive water feature experience. Their crystal clear water makes a thriving home for plants and animals, and because of their robust upflow bog filtration system, they also make for a pleasant swimming experience, allowing for the ultimate connection with your new aquatic environment. However, due largely to their impressive size, recreation ponds also require the most space, maintenance, and upfront costs. If you want the full water feature experience, there really is no other option than a recreation pond.

Ecosystem Ponds

Ecosystem ponds are like a scaled back version of a recreation pond. They are great for plants and animals, and due to their smaller size, they are also more accommodating to a wider variety of spaces and budgets. Ecosystem ponds also tend to be lower maintenance as well due to their shallower waters and smaller footprint. These are great for people who love the natural aspects of a water feature, but don’t have any intention of swimming or getting inside their pond.

Pondless waterfalls

Pondless waterfalls are artful living creations that bring a soothing energy to their space. They do not have a significant pooling body of water which is why they are called a pondless waterfall. This significantly reduces their cost, maintenance, and spatial requirements at the cost of making them unsuitable for animals. These can, however, still be used to grow a wide selection of plants. These are loved by people who enjoy the atmosphere of a water feature without worrying about taking care of fish.

Fountains

Fountains are simultaneously the most diverse and limited type of water feature. There are many striking and artistic forms that fountains can take, from basalt pillars to custom dinner tables with water flowing through them. While they do provide peaceful sounds and a charming energy to their space, they are typically limited in their planting options and they are almost never suitable for fish. Fountains are perfect for someone who wants a relatively small, artistic element in their yard that produces pleasant sounds with much lower cost and maintenance requirements than other water features on this list.

If you are ever curious about water features or would like to learn more about the vast world of water gardening, we encourage you to give us a call at (828)337-9975 or check out our website at blackkoiwaterfeatures.com.