Subject: Re: water hyacinth
From: Matt Trahan <matttrahan@geocities.com>
Organization: CampusMCI
Date: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 16:09:17 -0500
Message-ID: <MOD$971213.28019@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$971212.22911@rec.gardens.ecosystems> <MOD$971213.7254@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
> I agree again! Mom started leaving the pond alone. Algae everywhere, fish still
> proliferating even though each morning there is about 2 inches of ice on top.
> No hyacinths but I dunno if they're all that hardy anway. Lately it's been
> anywhere from 17 to 30 degrees each night.
The hyacinths are strictly tropical. 2 inches of ice?! My mistake, I
thought you were in a warmer zone. If it's that cold, what killed your
mom's hyacinth was probably just the weather.
You could have a lot of stirred up sediment instead of just algae. Our
pond has a 1200GPH pump running in summer. We can only see down to about
a foot and a half, and that's just with light colored stuff. We leave
about 2 inches of dirt/muck at the bottom for insect larvae and other
critters.
In the winter we turn off the pump. About 5 days later the water is
crystal clear.
Is she still running the fountain? How old is the pond? Have there been
leaves etc. falling into it for a few seasons? About how many fish does
she have? What size are the fish?
Does she have any underwater plants? One of the underwater plants main
benefits is to produce oxygen and absorb the wastes from the fish. The
algea does the same thing.
Removing the algae without replacing it with some other underwater
plants will usually stress or kill the fish in a full to capacity pond.
> >What was the original reason your mom was adding the
> >'conditioner'?
>
> She thought it was the right thing to do. I think she wanted something closer
> to a swimming pool but I most certainly do not with the pond I'm trying to
> construct (in between rainstorms and Santa Anas....Portland Cement and 80 mph
> winds do not mix!!!)
>
> Vince
Smimming pool clear is easily obtainable, but it will usually involve
at least a small mechanical filter, reducing number of fish or size of
fish, underwater plants to outcompete the algae, or a good biological
filter.
I'm just too lazy/cheap to be bothered with it. My idea of ponds is for
watching them and occationally feeding the fish.
Another thing with small lined ponds, perfectly clear water shows off
the liner material and any wrinkles real well. If it's supposed to be in
a natural setting, it's just that much more obvious it's not.
You can try rec.ponds and a number of sites for great info.
http://w3.one.net/~rzutt/ Internet Pond Society
http://www.h2olily.com