The Wave Breaker

By Cliff Shumaker

Do you have your lilies close to your waterfall? Do your lilies have less blooms per season than you think they should? One reason might be that your lilies need a still water surface for best growth.

The wave breaker can reduce or eliminate undesirable water surface motion. Still waters provide a better blooming environment for your lilies. Here are instructions for making a wave breaker:

MATERIALS:

Desired length of corrugated plastic sump pump drain tubing 1 1/2” – 2” in diameter
Large lead fishing sinkers, 2 per 12” of tubing
Medium expansion foam (black)
1/8” – 1/4” nylon rope or cord long enough to cross the desired surface area of your pond and tie to stakes.
2 anchor pins or stakes to tie wave breaker in place on the sides of your pond.

Wave Breaker Diagram

F -->= Place to inject medium expansion foam 6” to 12” spacing
O = Insert your lead sinker at the foam injection site as you do each hole.

DIRECTIONS:

You need to make a small slit in the tubing and then inject foam for 2 – 5 sec. Remove injector tube and immediately insert a lead sinker in the same slit. Repeat this across the tubing and be sure there is enough nylon cord to allow all the tubing to lie flat on the water surface. Start your injection spacing at 12” and if the tubing isn’t at least submerged half way, start adding foam and sinkers at the 6” intervals. The tubing should be submerged half the diameter or more but, not totally.

You can camouflage the tubing with water hyacinths or lettuce. I put a row of these plants up against the tubing on the waterfall side. You have just built a small surface dam and can add hornwort if you develop an over abundance. Your new natural bio filer is working to help keep your pond cleaner. The root system on the hyacinths and lettuce keep the hornwort in place. Your fish may have eaten the root systems if you notice hornwort going under your wave breaker. Wrap the hornwort around the tubing at numerous places, as fish are less hungry for hornwort.

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