"ythread" wrote in message
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" wrote in message
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This summer I learned 1st hand how great a pond can look with enough
plants. I have a top and bottom pond. The top pond is sparking clean
and covered in lilies. The bottom pond is so full of algae you can't
hardly see the fish. The only difference in the ponds is that the top
pond has enough plants and there is only one lily in the bottom pond.
The koi just uses plants as a snack in the bottom pond. It took me a
while to figure out the right number of plants for my pond. I can
across these suggestions and wanted to pass them on. Here's the
numbers for each kind of plant based on common sizes of ponds. 4'x6'
1 Lilly, 5-8 bog plants, 3 floaters, 24 submerged plants. 6'x11' to
11'x11' 2 lilies, 9-13 bog plants, 6 floaters, 44 submerged plants.
11'x11' to 14'x16' 3 lilies, 10-15 bogs, 8 floaters, 90 submerged
plants. 16'x10' to 16'x21' 5 lilies, 13-18 bog plants, 12 floaters,
160 submerged plants. 21'x21' to 26'x 26' 7 lilies, 20-28 bog plants,
15 floaters, 200 submerged plants.
http://www.richdeer3.com/site/1566246/page/720126

I wish I could get my goldfish to stop eating my lillies. I noticed a good
way to keep algae down is to use a good algae control in small doses and
cover the edges of the pond, where the algae starts, with landscaping
rocks. Shove your rocks out over the edge far enough to block the sun
light from the edge. The rocks knocked down the algae dramatically. If you
can shade your pond it helps too.

Now if I could keep frogs from mating in my pond. Getting rid of tadpoles
is a hassle.


Try cutting back on the fish feed a little and the fish will take care of
many of the tadpoles.