"Michael Grossman" wrote in message
...
I've been lurking in this group for a while and I'm very
pleasantly surprised that it is not full of bots and trolls.

Anyway, I have a pond that has been green since August. It's about 1000
gallons and has 3 small fish: 2 6-inch koi and one tiny 2" shubunkin. I
noticed that all my plants started to look ragged and rot within the fi
rst
month of setting up the pond, so I figured the goldfish were eating the
m
and I set up a 30 gallon plastic tub and put what was left of my hyacin
ths
and hornwort in it. I stuck a big hose on the pump and connected it to
the tub. Then I added a pipe from the tub back to the pond so the wate
r
could drain back. The plants still just fall apart and die!

What about fertilizer? Those 3 fish in 1000 gallons are surely not produc
ing
enough for even a few small plants.


Even the water hyacinth has just barely hung on to life; after 2 months
I
still only have one. The hornwort just turns dark, sinks and dies.

What is the PH and hardness of your water? Is the pond in full sun?

The pond liner has a peculiar smell: sort of minty. I noticed that it h
as
imparted this odd smell to the water. Even 6 months after starting the
pond, I can still smell this strange smell if I touch the water. The p
ond
liner was bought from pricebully.com and says that it is made for fish
ponds. It's 40mil and 10x10.

If it was toxic the fish would be dead by now. Maybe you can call them
and ask about it being plant safe. I can't imagine a pond liner not safe
for pond plants.


So to test whether there is something wrong with the liner, I set up a
60
gallon plastic pond about 20 feet from my big pond. The second pond
doesn't smell funny, but I get the same results. One water hyacinth ju
st
kind of stays alive and doesn't spread. Hornwort just sinks and rots.
There are just a couple of platies swimming around in there to prevent
mosquitos from breeding in the pond. This was in september.

Again.... PH, hardness and what fertilizer are you using? Plants starve j
ust
like fish if "unfed."


Now by october, I was figuring that cooler weather would slow down the
algae and maybe help the plants some. Also, with the rains stopping, th
ere
would be no more run-off getting into the pond. Now it's november and t
he
temperature rarely tops 79. Overnight lows are 50s and 60s. Still both
ponds are green and I only see fish when I feed them.

The tap water around here has kind of high phosphate and nitrate: both
are
typically over 10 mg/L. I use this water in my fish tanks and the plan
ts
do well enough, even the hornwort, which is not a difficult plant anywa
y.

What about POTASH? To utilize the other two, plants need potash. I add a
ll
3 to my ponds now that the fish are gone.


Against the recommendations of LFS salespeople, who are pushing RO/DI
systems, I use regular tap water in my lightly stocked 55 gal marine ta
nk.
The fish seem fine, there is lots of coralline algae and several specie
s
of macroalgae are thriving in my refugium. I do not keep corals and oth
er
expensive invertebrates because I'm afraid they're being unsustainably
collected.

Anyway, I just can't figure out why my pond is always green. I'd like
to
see the fish more than once a day when I feed them!

Run another test, this time for Potash.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
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