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  GRANT OSBORNE January 15, 2011 at 7:24am

  Thanks Richard, all taken on board. Water garden people here do a copper - ion you mentioned but need to replace injector often. I think we will go with Matt's idea on this situation and drop the occassional bromine tablet in, see how that goes first.

  Regards Grant
  
  Richard A. Falk said:

  Since there shouldn't be a concern about fast sanitation, and you don't have fish or anything else living in the water, you could use a copper-ion algaecide -- there are many different brands and most contain copper sulfate pentahydrate.  Staining can be a concern if the reflection pool or fountain uses light plaster and the pH rises too much, but if this isn't your situation then this should work.  If you also wanted to inhibit additional bacterial growth and didn't use UV or ozone, then you could use silver ions as well.  Of course the techniques that were described by others involving filtration are better, but I just wanted to put out something that should work even for fairly stagnant water without having to add anything regularly.
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  Richard A. Falk January 14, 2011 at 11:39pm

  Since there shouldn't be a concern about fast sanitation, and you don't have fish or anything else living in the water, you could use a copper-ion algaecide -- there are many different brands and most contain copper sulfate pentahydrate.  Staining can be a concern if the reflection pool or fountain uses light plaster and the pH rises too much, but if this isn't your situation then this should work.  If you also wanted to inhibit additional bacterial growth and didn't use UV or ozone, then you could use silver ions as well.  Of course the techniques that were described by others involving filtration are better, but I just wanted to put out something that should work even for fairly stagnant water without having to add anything regularly.
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  GRANT OSBORNE January 14, 2011 at 10:08pm

  
  
  David Penton said:

  I would be concerned that if you went with a CD ozone that you would smell the ozone, and that is bad, especially indoors, Plus these are not small systems (at least I am not aware of a small CD system). And even with ozone, there is always the possibility of algae growth, which is why it is recommended that a very small chlorine residual (around 0.5 ppm) be maintained as well. 
  
  GRANT OSBORNE said:

  Thanks guys, yes I have been ask to build this body of water. There will be no features as such just a reflection pond. We will be cutting the floor slab out to create a new pit for pump filter. Been looking at the oase brand which has a attatch filter. These apparently also have a UV incorporated. So going by your advise do we go Corona Discharge or UV. I will be fitting a return line at opposite end to pit to create water movement. Depth above pit will be aprox 6". The vessel will be fiberglass/gel coated in polished black.

  Cheers Again
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  GRANT OSBORNE January 14, 2011 at 10:07pm

  Thanks mate I think we are off and running now with this. Cheers
  
  Matt Cellura said:

  Grant,

  I have a client who owns a restaurant that has a small water wall with a similar setup to what you are describing.  They have a pump with an inline filter and also a small UV unit attached to it.  While it works well, we have found that in order to keep it pristine and in order to keep zero algae in it, they have to add one bromine tablet to the fountain on a regular basis.  Remember that UV only treats the water as it passes through the unit, not the entire body of water so if you have dead spots in it you may start to grow algae.  I am a big fan of UV, but in my personal opinion and all of the bodies of water we service, you still need a small residual of some sort of sanitizer, otherwise you will not have clean and clear water.  UV manufacturers will also tell you this, as they are aware that UV by itself is not a valid option. 
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  David Penton January 14, 2011 at 8:00am

  I would be concerned that if you went with a CD ozone that you would smell the ozone, and that is bad, especially indoors, Plus these are not small systems (at least I am not aware of a small CD system). And even with ozone, there is always the possibility of algae growth, which is why it is recommended that a very small chlorine residual (around 0.5 ppm) be maintained as well. 
  
  GRANT OSBORNE said:

  Thanks guys, yes I have been ask to build this body of water. There will be no features as such just a reflection pond. We will be cutting the floor slab out to create a new pit for pump filter. Been looking at the oase brand which has a attatch filter. These apparently also have a UV incorporated. So going by your advise do we go Corona Discharge or UV. I will be fitting a return line at opposite end to pit to create water movement. Depth above pit will be aprox 6". The vessel will be fiberglass/gel coated in polished black.

  Cheers Again
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  Matt Cellura January 14, 2011 at 5:17am

  Grant,

  I have a client who owns a restaurant that has a small water wall with a similar setup to what you are describing.  They have a pump with an inline filter and also a small UV unit attached to it.  While it works well, we have found that in order to keep it pristine and in order to keep zero algae in it, they have to add one bromine tablet to the fountain on a regular basis.  Remember that UV only treats the water as it passes through the unit, not the entire body of water so if you have dead spots in it you may start to grow algae.  I am a big fan of UV, but in my personal opinion and all of the bodies of water we service, you still need a small residual of some sort of sanitizer, otherwise you will not have clean and clear water.  UV manufacturers will also tell you this, as they are aware that UV by itself is not a valid option. 
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  GRANT OSBORNE January 14, 2011 at 3:11am

  Thanks guys, yes I have been ask to build this body of water. There will be no features as such just a reflection pond. We will be cutting the floor slab out to create a new pit for pump filter. Been looking at the oase brand which has a attatch filter. These apparently also have a UV incorporated. So going by your advise do we go Corona Discharge or UV. I will be fitting a return line at opposite end to pit to create water movement. Depth above pit will be aprox 6". The vessel will be fiberglass/gel coated in polished black.

  Cheers Again
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  David Penton January 13, 2011 at 5:20pm

  Don't you need to worry about offgassing the ozone indoors?

   

  I believe Copy Centers (think Kinkos) need to address the ozone generated by their copiers, to make sure that there is a safe work environment.

   

  
  
  Dennis Mino said:

  People use ozonators for indoor bodies of water to eliminate odors. It is such a small amount of water, a spa ozonator unit may be used, but you will need some plumbing and a small filter.
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  Dennis Mino January 13, 2011 at 10:19am

  People use ozonators for indoor bodies of water to eliminate odors. It is such a small amount of water, a spa ozonator unit may be used, but you will need some plumbing and a small filter.
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  Matt Cellura January 13, 2011 at 4:55am

  Grant,

  Unfortunately there is no miracle product or device that will require no work be done on the homeowners part or yours.  We service many different fountains(we have found it to be a good influx to our revenue in the winter months) and they are no different than a spa or a pool.  It all boils down to a body of water that in order to stay clear, clean, and safe needs filtration(of some sort or at a minimum water movement) and balanced water which is sanitized.  there are numerous ways to do this, but it sounds to me like this is an enclosed feature that has no plumbing run to an external pad, am i correct?