How does a pond work?
If you are new to ponds, and find yourself the proud owner of one, follow this step by step to find your pond equipment. Once you know what you have, you can go from there.
This Biofall is not hidden by rocks. It actually is about 2 feet deep!
This skimmer has a fake rock and is pretty easy to identify. Sometimes they blend in with rocks around them.
Here is a look at the inside of a skimmer. Not all skimmers look like this!
This is a photo of my skimmer in the winter. You can see the basket and a pipe (bottom right) that goes to the pump.
An external pump could look something like this, or it may be more complicated. There are creative ways to set up pond equipment and plumbing!
This shows the inside of my skimmer with the basket out. The water is usually higher, but I had it lower for this picture.
If you look closely, you can see there there is a column of bubbles coming up and bubbling to the surface. This shows there is an aerator in the water.
An aerator disc may look like this. It is in the water and has a tube going to it.
This is an Aquascape aerator with 2 outlets. The discs would be in the water and the motor would be hidden under a fake rock.
This is the top of an Aquascape Autodose. THe rest of it is guried. (about the size of a long loaf of bread) It has bacteria in it during the warm months to slowly dose the pond daily with exactly what it needs. Usually this is covered with a fake rock to protect the display.
You can see the GCFI button between the 2 outlets. Sometimes this pops and has to be pushed back in. It could pop again right away, indicating a problem with something plugged in to it.
This is the basics of a typical pond. Your pond may be slightly different and have different equipment.
Check out our Pond Equipment Photo Comparison page to figure out what equipment your pond has.
Ready to figure out how many gallons of water is in your pond? Get a tape measure and follow our directions before measuring. Pop in your numbers and we will tell you how many gallons your system has. (just click the calculator!)
