2 Useful Tips - on Indoor Fountains and Pest Control (OT)

I want to share two useful tips I learned from my own experience: about maintaining water quality of an indoor fountain and about pest control.  

Related to modern architecture: not completely, more like "somewhat". Interesting and useful: Yes. – Still with me? Please read on.


Pest Control

It doesn't matter if you live in Florida or anywhere else in the sunbelt, or even in areas with winter freezes – household pests, the polite way to describe yucky crawly things like Palmetto bugs, German cockroaches or a whole army of sugar ants, are a fact of life. They were here long before us. And I believe they will be here when the human race has left the planet.

But: I don't live in their space, and I don't want them to live in mine.

As a former commercial landlord, former property manager and 30+ year-Florida resident, I know monthly pest control is a necessity, so much it's in the Florida Landlord and Tenant statutes. But the services I tried were not very impressive. Except for my newest discovery: Ortho Home Defense.

After successfully using up a 24oz/700 cc bottle "Ortho Home Defense Max Insect Killer Spray for Indoor and Home Perimeter" – can that name get any longer? –  I reached for the Big Momma: a nice round 5 litres (1.3 gal) container of Home Defense, with electric (!) spray wand. Yeehaw!

Through business travel and forgetfulness I found out the stuff still kills even after three or more months, and even through repeated floor mopping and cleaning. My rating: Highly recommended!

(Available at the usual suspects such as Lowe's, Home Depot, Amazon etc. On Amazon, I recently saw the 1.3 gal with wand for nearly the same price as a 24 oz spray bottle, under $17)


Indoor Water Fountains

Not only do they provide the soothing sound of flowing water, they also play a role in improving your home's Feng Shui: The presence of moving water fills the requirements of the Shui or water component.

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My own little water feature was in my office for 10+ years, until the fountain finally completely crumbled and disintegrated. I kept the pump until I created a minimalist modern fountain from a straight-walled clear glass bowl and pebbles I picked from the Starnberger See, the lake near Munich where I'm from.

Maintain water quality was a bit of a drag, mostly due to algae multiplying like little bunny rabbits overnight, until I found the by far best solution: purified water with salt.

No vinegar, no distilled water, no chlorine or any other additive are as simple or effective. Even after a three months travel pause during Covid, where I had turned the pump off and covered the vessel with clear food wrap: no slime, no algae, nothing.

The simple solution: I fill an old soda bottle (0.75 cc) with purified water from my fridge's filtration system, mix a small pinch of salt with it, store the bottle in the fridge and use that solution to keep the fountain at the right level. I still replace the water every three months or so, and YMMV, but I couldn't be happier with the overall water quality.
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Thank you for reading this post. Any feedback on my two tips?