On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 13:14:45 CST, k wrote:

From the web page
Good bacteria, working well, can consume up to 15cm (6") of mud in 6 months.

This may be an incorrect use of terms, mistake on the manufacturer's part?
Since mud is more dirt than consumable organic matter (YMMV greatly on this
one depending on location). Nothing, other than a shop vac, bottom drain,
or well placed pump & flow, will remove dirt. I think mulm would have been
a better term... or even sludge... which is still a lot of mud, but is more
like pond ewww.

Okay, that's what the little buggers eat. What do they excrete? I
feel safe in assuming they don't grow into big floating globes that
conveniently take off into the atmosphere, somehow also removing all
the pollutants up there? And what happens to their little bacterial
bodies when they die? Unless someone around the pond has discovered
cold fusion there's this thing that's called conservation of matter.
It all changes, but it's still there. Cyli

Chuckled at that first part, kind of like that idea of them floating off
into space, that would be kind of cool....

I'm taking an educated guess that the bacteria's excretions go into the
water column, where with a good filter, will be filtered out, rather than
stuck to the bottom. This may be over simplifying it, but imagine bacteria
like an earth worm, they suck the muck in, and the organics are used to
grow the worm with some waste given off into the water column, but the dirt
still comes out as dirt. Sticking tight to the bottom unless there is flow
to remove it. ~ jan
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Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us