Category Archives: XNews

Water Garden Pond, Traditional Koi Pond, or Hybrid Koi Pond – Which Is Best for You?

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Deciding to build a pond is an exciting process, but before you begin digging there are many things you should decide on before construction begins and ordering your supplies. The first main decision is what type of water feature you want. We will be discussing informal ponds which have irregular shapes and mimic a natural pond or waterfall that would be found in nature. Three different ways you can build an informal pond are a water garden pond, traditional Koi pond, or a hybrid Koi pond.

Water Garden Pond

Water garden ponds are often mistaken as Koi ponds simply because many people add Koi to their water garden along with Goldfish and other fish species. The difference is that these type of water features are designed mainly for looks and creating an environment where homeowners can sit back and listen to the beautiful melodies of a waterfall and watch the fish swimming around and spend time with family and friends. And a traditional Koi pond is built around providing and ideal environment for Koi fish.

Water garden ponds are the most popular of the three because of the ease of installation and availability of kits on the market. Water Garden ponds generally consist of a a biological waterfall filter, a mechanical filter which is generally a skimmer, EPDM flexible liner, a pump and plumbing, fish, and aquatic plants.

Most water gardens are only 2 feet deep and feature built in shelves to make them safe and natural looking. The entire bottom and shelves are covered with boulders and decorative gravel to hide the liner and filters.

This system forms a natural ecosystem with fish, plants, and filters that work to balance itself and do a majority of the maintenance by using good old mother nature.

Traditional Koi Pond

Be careful the Koi hobby can be very fun and addictive! Once people discover the joys of owning Koi fish with a water garden many go Koi crazy (or koi-kichi). Traditional Koi ponds aim to create a home where the Koi can grow and thrive and are the main focus of the feature instead of the pond itself.

There is a big difference between the construction techniques used in a water garden pond and a traditional Koi pond. In a Koi pond the filtration system is drastically increased over a water garden to handle the additional bio load from the Koi. These filtration systems usually include pressure filters, skimmers, bottom drains, settlement tanks, external pumps, UV lights, UV Clarifiers, Aerator, Ozone generators, Bead filters, multiple valves, and more. So as you can see the design and installation of these systems can be difficult for a beginner.

Their shape is generally different as well, usually Koi ponds are a geometric shape like an oval or circle. Traditional Koi ponds do not have plants or gravel in them like a water garden would and have steep walls without shelves. Not using shelves and having a deeper depth (3-5 feet) helps protect the Koi from predators by not allowing them to stand along side the pond and snatch them out of the water.

The added filtration and no gravel and plants give the Koi better water quality and provide a environment that is less likely to injure them. Without plants you can also view the Koi better.

Hybrid Koi Pond

Hybrid Koi ponds are the combination of a water garden pond and traditional koi pond. Think of it as the best of both worlds. You can provide the fish with a better environment than with a water garden pond alone and also have plants to give a natural look.

The design of Hybrid type ponds vary from one project to the next and all types of filtration can be used depending on the water features needs. Back flushable biological filters have become popular with this type of installation for ease of biofilter maintenance. Hybrid Koi ponds are in the middle of the road with depth usually being 3-4 feet deep.

What to Choose?

Whichever type of pond you choose you cant go wrong. Each one properly designed will be like bringing a piece of paradise to your home.

Buying Comfortable Modular Lounge Furniture

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If you are looking to buy good looking and comfortable options to furnish your home, you should definitely consider modular lounge furniture. A lot of people consider functionality and necessity over luxury, when it comes to buying new furniture due to the costs involved. Not a lot of people can afford to spend a lot of money on a luxurious lounge suite. Modular lounge furniture provides an optimum balance between price and comfort.

Compared to traditional lounge furniture, modular options are a lot less expensive. Most manufacturers also offer long term guarantees and as long as it is within the warranty period, you will have no problem in getting a damaged piece replaced or repaired.

With traditional lounge furniture, rearranging the items can be a difficult task since they tend to be big and heavy. Therefore, a lot of people avoid doing it, and the décor of the room could become stale after some time. Traditional sofas and other items might only fit in certain parts of the room due to their girth. This severely restricts your options when it comes to redecoration. Modular lounge furniture is much lighter and easier to move around. This provides lots of versatility if you are thinking of sprucing up your room. If you like to reinvent your living space on a regular basis, modular lounge furniture is an excellent option.

If you are throwing a party, one of the biggest problems you will face is to make enough space in your house. Traditional furnishings are heavy and can’t be moved easily. Modular pieces, on the other hand, can be rearranged easily to provide seating in even tiny spaces.

Apart from being versatile, modular lounge furniture is also extremely comfortable, which adds to its popularity. No matter what you are doing, from spending some quality time with your family to just kicking back and relaxing, you will be able to find furniture that perfectly meets your needs. There is great variety when it comes to designs, colors and fabrics, and you will be able to find items that go well with the rest of the room. You can also use furniture to make a bold statement.

There is another great advantage to getting modular lounge furniture. A lot of these pieces are completely recyclable and do not put a lot of strain on the environment. Therefore, you will face no issues when you are looking to have them replaced in the future. Modular lounge furniture will last for a long time and in case you want to fluff them again, you can do so without spending a lot of money. Not only will you be able to use them for a long time, you will also be able to save on reupholstering charges.

When buying modular lounge furniture, it is always a good idea to shop around and not just settle for the first item you see. This will allow you to get the exact item you need, at an affordable price. You can find a number of online retailers who sell furniture at extremely low rates.

Epoxy Floor Coating Makes a Great Garage Floor Coating

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A lot of people would use the garage as a place for storing old things and items that are no longer being used inside the house: like high school yearbooks and soccer trophies to old cassette players to camping gears. We have a lot of junk in the garage that we sometimes forget how important it is that we keep it in good condition.

Whether it be for storing old items or for parking a car, garages are just as crucial as any other area of the house and that needs to be kept in great condition all the time. One section of the garage that always wears out the fastest is the floor area. Moving around everything or driving your car in and out causes friction which degenerates the floor material.

Traditional coating on floors cannot withstand the constant tire contact and would surely wear out easily. To guarantee quality coating for your garage floor you should make use of an epoxy floor as a substitute for regular inferior materials.

An epoxy floor serves as an excellent coating since it provides maximum protection and is very sturdy. In addition to that, epoxy also offers aesthetic qualities that make your garage versatile in terms of purpose. Epoxy coatings come in different designs that cover minor blemishes of your floor.

Opting to have an epoxy floor saves you time on scrubbing and vacuuming. Epoxy requires minimal maintenance and at the same time offers improved resistance against cracks and corrosion. This implies that no matter how much oil or gasoline drops on the floor, you spend reduced time cleaning them off and they don’t leave stains easily. This is because these epoxy coatings are beautifully made with high chemical resistance.

Making use of quality construction materials for your garage will help you cut down expenses on maintenance and upgrades. Whether your garage is meant for storage, parking or a place to practice your musical band, you should use epoxy floor coating. This is one sure way to make this part of the house “multi-purpose”.

There are also different types of epoxy. Each are prepared and mixed differently, based on the treatment and application. This sort of garage coating is also very easy to put up and definitely cost effective.

If you are looking for a coating company that can guarantee durability and flexibility, then you should stick with epoxy. No more boring, dingy cement floors!

Wind Electricity Power – Energy From the Wind is Free

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How many times have you heard it said…the best things in life are free. There could never be a more factual statement than in the case of wind electricity power. Energy from the wind is free, as it is a renewable source of energy. Wind power is not just a free source of energy — it is also an unlimited energy source. It cannot be depleted as opposed to the conventional source of energy (fossil fuel/coal). Therefore, it is no surprise that wind power is among the renewable sources of energy, expected to supply a huge percentage of the world’s energy in the future.

Home owners can also benefit from free wind power, since they have the option of building or buying their own systems. Building wind electricity power systems is, however, the cheaper method other than buying commercially sold systems. But in order to build a wind generator, there are several things that will be needed.

Instructional guides:

Before getting started with building and generating your own wind electricity power, you will first need a guide to direct you through all the steps involved, especially if you are a complete novice to the procedure. Instructional guides can easily be purchased off the internet. They are often created with the beginner in mind, so, you will have no problem following them, whether you are technically sound or not.

Components needed for building a wind generator:

Necessary materials for creating the blades. This can be small thin sheets of metal, if metallic blades are the desired choice. Otherwise, lumber can be use to create the blades.

A DC motor – this is the primary component of the wind generator, as it is what generates electricity from the rotation of the blades.

Electricity inverter–required to convert the DC generated power to AC.

Batteries–preferably automotive. And a charge controller–necessary to regulate the charge to the batteries.

Most of these parts can be purchased from your local hardware and electrical stores, while some parts can be obtained from salvage yards or junk yards. But usually, buying all the required parts will not set one back over $200.

Tools required in building a wind generator:

The required tools are a jigsaw–required particularly to shape the blades, a socket set–to tighten nuts and bolts, screw drivers and a drill. These tools should be enough when seeking to build wind generators, in order to create wind electricity power.

It is quite clear that building wind generators is not as difficult as the thought of it seems. Therefore, for anyone looking to benefit from using free wind electricity power, the cheaper way to go about it is to build and install their own systems.