natural swimming pools

[Cathulhu]

I'm thinking pretty seriously of putting in a swimming pool this summer, and have been learning a bit about the chlorine-free (my sinuses suffer enough as it is) pools. Any opinions? This is the website I've been most interested in: http://www.biotop-natural-pool.com/system.html

A daily swim would be excellent therapy for my back problems, although I could have troubles with visiting herons. I'm not joking, there's a big colony not far from here and they've visited my yard before to raid the goldfish pool. I could acquire a new nickname, Swims With Really Big Birds. Or enclose the new pool in a greenhouse.

[Burnaby49]

We get herons here in Vancouver. The local trout farms have extensive nettings over feeding ponds or they'd be stripped clean, same as your goldfish pond. However I'm not aware they favour swimming pools. They can see there are no fish and they seem to prefer quite shallow water for lurking about.

[JamesVincent]

We never had problems with cranes or herons. The house I used to have I had a large goldfish pond that had issues with Mallards. We had a couple that came back every year. Im not sure what you could do to keep them out, we never really tried.

[Cathulhu]

Herons also enjoy frogs and toads, and we have little bitty ones lurking in the flowerbeds. I feel sufficiently sorry for the tiny guys (they could easily fit on a nickel) that I've built little piles of rocks here and there for them to hide in. But the visiting herons, which look really cool hanging out in your yard, are why there currently are no fish in the goldfish pond. They even raid the local drainage ponds for frogs; I've seen them many times. Finding one on your patio is rather like living with a local pterodactyl. They are impressive.

I've kept up an aquarium and the enclosed lily/goldfish pond (aka heron buffet) for years; the whole concept here appears to be a people aquarium. All the touchy-feely pseudoscience aside, I really don't do well with chlorine. Every swim in a chlorinated pool means burning eyes and sinuses for hours afterward. But there are also potential raccoon problems; they come back to raid the grapevines every year. The pool won't have fish in it, but I fully expect it to be fouled by raccoons if I don't figure a way to handle that. My backyard is fully fenced--and they like to walk along the top of it.

[Burzmali]

All those with goldfish or koi ponds - don't forget racoons. A friend of mine had to build a small electrified barrier around his koi pond to keep the racoons out.

As for a "natural pool" just dig a really huge hole and let it fill with water. Job done, now enjoy.

Depending on where you sit on the water table, the type of soil and the presence of a septic leech field, you might want to investigate slightly more complicated options

As for non-chlorinated pools, many use chemicals that are still pretty powerful to keep things clean. So you should have options if you just want to cut out the chlorine.

[The Observer]

As for non-chlorinated pools, many use chemicals that are still pretty powerful to keep things clean. So you should have options if you just want to cut out the chlorine.

One of the more "natural" options is a salt-water pool. It relies on the natural chemistry of salt interacting with water to produce minutes traces of chlorine for sanitation. From what I understand the saltiness of the water is undetectable since it is only a 1% solution. But I don't know if it would irritate Cathulhu's body.

[Cathulhu]

Neither does Cathulhu--actually, come to think of it, I used a salt water pool almost daily in Hong Kong, and it was fine. Easy to float in, salt water. Having learned to swim in glacier-fed rivers, it seems too easy to just float around in nice warm pools, but it's excellent for my back.

[Prof]

I strongly recommend the salt water pool; my townhouse unit at the coast shares one with the other members of the association; maintance is minimal, sanitation excellent. Have had two standard pools over the years, and dealing with the chlorine and attendant chemistry problems, I strongly recommend the salt water alternative.

[webhick]

putting in a swimming pool this summer

my ... goldfish pool

I had a large goldfish pond

I've kept up an ... enclosed lily/goldfish pond

my townhouse unit at the coast

Have had two standard pools over the years

FML.

[The Observer]

FML.

You will be saying that if you ever get a pool of water. Once you start dealing with all of the problems in maintaining the pool:

trying to keep the pH of the water balanced
from putting in too much chlorine
I can't clean the pool now - the brown bear and her two babies are frolicking in there at the moment

not enough acid
too much soda ash
g*d***n heron/duck/Canadian goose just crapped in the pool and now I get to start over again
wait a minute - I have to factor in that I am using DE in my filter as well?
OMG, now I have black algae as well as green and yellow algae?
Why didn't the weatherman tell me he was going to be right about it raining today?
holy cow - I'm color blind so how can I tell if my chemical levels are on target?
WTF the baby just crapped in the pool and made the heron/duck/goose crap look tame in comparison

I just frickin' ran out of chems and the pool supply store is closed since they are busy releasing flocks of geese/ducks/herons in the area to boost their sales

To paraphrase the saying about boatowners, the two happiest days for a poolowner is the day that they get their pool and the day that they pour concrete into it and fill it to the brim.

[JamesVincent]

To paraphrase the saying about boatowners, the two happiest days for a poolowner is the day that they get their pool and the day that they pour concrete into it and fill it to the brim.

A friend of mines grandmother got so tired of dealing with hers that when the concrete surround developed cracks she had the whole thing filled with topsoil and planted a garden in it. And it had a nice walkway around it.

[webhick]

FML.

You will be saying that if you ever get a pool of water.

Not about the water, about the pocket change behind the option to have water.

And I'm never going to get a pool. Only good for three months of the year (if that) up here and it massively jacks up the property taxes. Also no matter how much I tried, I could never swim. Wait, not entirely true: I could never not sink like a ton of bricks.

[The Observer]

Not about the water, about the pocket change behind the option to have water.

But typically, anything that you buy with that pocket change comes with a requirement for maintenance and investment of time. Unless you buy mummies. Those low-maintenance babies can just stand around the house for centuries.

[Cathulhu]

The big selling point for the natural pools (I understand they're common in England and Europe; around here seawater pools are to be found, but you need to live on the beach for them to really work. I'm a couple miles inland and 500 feet up from the saltwater. And five miles from a heron sanctuary with a resident population that likes to visit.) is that they're low maintenance, as in a balanced ecosystem. I'm about to have a significant age reached, and have a heap of cash suddenly available. Losing baby sis has convinced me I'm too friggin' old to not have my pool. Webbie, this is why it can pay to be old; your investments mature. Sadly, so do all your joints.

The system is two-leveled; the swimming hole and the bog that biologically filters the water. There's a deck that conceals the pump (like an aquarium, runs 24/7; obviously will require maintenance, probably monthly) and the phosphate binder, and a skimmer built in there. The bog is heavily planted with water plants, and filters out the nitrates as plant fodder.

I suppose if I ever got tired of swimming in it I could put in tilapia. Just not sure I want to suffer through the joys of contractors, etc. But if I want to do it this summer, I need to get started with bids now.

[Cathulhu]

Update: I haven't posted much because dealing with contractors. Sunroom about to be built, but all the discussion on the maintenance of swimming pools (and the resident raccoon population) has me reconsidering, especially since there's a nicely-maintained pool across the street a block away. Just bought a vanilla orchid for the sunroom! Looking for a Meyer lemon and Moro orange next! And definitely gonna try growing an avocado, Mephisto!

[Montana Notasovrun]

We have lots of natural swimming pools here in Montana and I've swum (is that a word?) in lots of them. Some are spring fed and others are essentially melted snow. I prefer the heated variety now. When I was a kid, the mothers in my home town had a rule; no swimming in the big lake until all the snow was melted off the mountain. You can guess where all that melted snow went. It was and is a great place for kids and adults to spend the summer. I am sure you won't have much to worry about with your pool as long as you keep the "food" for the birds out of your pool. The ducks might show up anyway as that's what they do. Hope it works for you.