I have a 6m x 4m new wildlife pond with no fish (only tadpoles and
insects) in SW Wilts, England. So are it is doing well, very clear,
some water lilies and some marginals - but a bit sparse.

Do I really need to add oxygenators? I calculate that according to
the recommendations that I have read I would need about £100 worth.
What will happen if I don't have them?

thanks, Davy

wrote:

I have a 6m x 4m new wildlife pond with no fish (only tadpoles and
insects) in SW Wilts, England. So are it is doing well, very clear,
some water lilies and some marginals - but a bit sparse.

Do I really need to add oxygenators?

No. But...

I calculate that according to
the recommendations that I have read I would need about £100 worth.
What will happen if I don't have them?

I've always _felt_ (I have no hard evidence, as I've rarely had ponds
without fish) that oxygenators help with overall water quality - including
keeping down algae. So I'd get some anyway, but don't go overboard. If
you get native oxygenating plants, they'll survive your winters and
multiply to the point where you start using them for compost.
--
derek
- Unless otherwise noted, I speak for myself, not rec.ponds.moderated
moderators.

I don't think you need them.
But you can add a few if you want.
Underwater plants give tadpole and aquatic
insects a place to hide and hang out.

k :-)

So far no reply from someone who has a wildlife fishless pond. Maybe this
group is mostly for koi owners ?? Perhaps I should try a 'nature' group?
thanks Davy

wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a 6m x 4m new wildlife pond with no fish (only tadpoles and
insects) in SW Wilts, England. So are it is doing well, very clear,
some water lilies and some marginals - but a bit sparse.

Do I really need to add oxygenators? I calculate that according to
the recommendations that I have read I would need about £100 worth.
What will happen if I don't have them?

thanks, Davy

On Sat, 12 May 2007 08:25:49 CST, "Davy"
wrote:

So far no reply from someone who has a wildlife fishless pond. Maybe this
group is mostly for koi owners ?? Perhaps I should try a 'nature' group?
thanks Davy

I started to reply, then got a bit distracted, I live a little West of
Lake City, Fl. I have no fish (that I know of) in my pond. I have a
mud bottomed or "natural" pond. Well, I call it a pond, it used to be
a really wet garbage heap, and when the garbage was hauled away, there
was a big puddle I call a pond. Normally the water is almost 20 yards
in diameter, but what with the lack of rain we've had in northern
Florida I can only manage to keep it about 10 yards in diameter. I
was most interested in clear water, as long as I was going to have
something nearby. I didn't plant anything special, but I did put in a
(probably much bigger than necessary) airstone and aerator. Many
aquatic plants have since grown, though I didn't plant them, and many
folks have remarked on how clear the water is. Maybe it is the
aerator, I don't know, but I have two other "natural" ponds on the
property that are nowhere near as clear.
--
Galen Hekhuis
I may have mispoken

I ran a shallow water pond, the 'bog', for years
without fish.
Also consider my pond more of a wildlife pond,
with fish, as all are welcome at my pond including
herons.

What you want to do is mimic a natural pond.
Natural ponds have lots of water, a few fish,
lots of critters and plants galore. So put in
underwater plants - oxygenators, put don't
worry about a stocking rule as you don't have
the fish to worry about.

k :-)

http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

On Sat, 12 May 2007 09:06:50 CST, Galen Hekhuis
wrote:

I started to reply, then got a bit distracted, I live a little West of
Lake City, Fl. I have no fish (that I know of) in my pond. I have a
mud bottomed or "natural" pond. Well, I call it a pond, it used to be
a really wet garbage heap, and when the garbage was hauled away, there
was a big puddle I call a pond. Normally the water is almost 20 yards
in diameter, but what with the lack of rain we've had in northern
Florida I can only manage to keep it about 10 yards in diameter. I
was most interested in clear water, as long as I was going to have
something nearby. I didn't plant anything special, but I did put in a
(probably much bigger than necessary) airstone and aerator. Many
aquatic plants have since grown, though I didn't plant them, and many
folks have remarked on how clear the water is. Maybe it is the
aerator, I don't know, but I have two other "natural" ponds on the
property that are nowhere near as clear.

What seems like a gazillion years ago now, we use to have to person in old
RP always talking about the wonders of aeration, course he sold them.... so
it didn't help his case, even though I and others agreed with him. I've
noted that many of the golf course have them running.... and they use them
in those open sewage treatment places. So I vote for aeration. ~ jan :-)
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

In article , Davy
writes
So far no reply from someone who has a wildlife fishless pond. Maybe this
group is mostly for koi owners ?? Perhaps I should try a 'nature' group?
thanks Davy

I read here rather than post but since I am in the same country as you
thought I would answer. I have an *almost* fishless wildlife pond in the
NE of England. It is full of frogs and insects and the water is crystal
clear but I do have lots of plants including oxygenators. They didn't
cost me anything like £100 though - I bought half a dozen bunches and
planted them 7 years ago. Now I have to seriously cut them back every
year or they would fill the whole pond. The *almost* comment re. fish is
that I have a 7 year old Golden Orf in there who started out at 2" long
and is now 10" long who feasts on the tadpoles every year. I run a
fountain intermittently. I must have been very lucky because I don't do
any of the clever chemical juggling people in here do - I just leave it
all to take care of itself apart from the weeding every year.

Angela.

Hi Angela!
Your pond sounds wonderful and the orfe
sounds like one happy fish.

When I ran the fishless bog I never had green
water and all sorts of stuff when in there. Tons
of plant debris, so much so, it eventually filled
itself up. Nothing could make that pond go green.
To my mind fish are the biggest culprit in green
water.

Glad you decided to post.

k :-)
http://tinyurl.com/6bguh ~ new pond keeper info
http://tinyurl.com/yp64db ~ slide show of pond

In article .com,
kthirtya writes
Hi Angela!
Your pond sounds wonderful and the orfe
sounds like one happy fish.

It certainly seems so.

When I ran the fishless bog I never had green
water and all sorts of stuff when in there. Tons
of plant debris, so much so, it eventually filled
itself up. Nothing could make that pond go green.
To my mind fish are the biggest culprit in green
water.

My water never goes green. I am sure that is more down to good luck than
good management however!

Glad you decided to post.

Thank you. I was sent here some good while ago by Cybe R Wizard but I
was on dial up at the time so couldn't look at all the photo links. I
can now though.

Angela.

In article ,
Angela Lamb wrote:

In article , Davy
writes
So far no reply from someone who has a wildlife fishless pond. Maybe this
group is mostly for koi owners ?? Perhaps I should try a 'nature' group?
thanks Davy

I read here rather than post but since I am in the same country as you
thought I would answer. I have an *almost* fishless wildlife pond in the
NE of England. It is full of frogs and insects and the water is crystal
clear but I do have lots of plants including oxygenators. They didn't
cost me anything like £100 though - I bought half a dozen bunches and
planted them 7 years ago. Now I have to seriously cut them back every
year or they would fill the whole pond. The *almost* comment re. fish is
that I have a 7 year old Golden Orf in there who started out at 2" long
and is now 10" long who feasts on the tadpoles every year. I run a
fountain intermittently. I must have been very lucky because I don't do
any of the clever chemical juggling people in here do - I just leave it
all to take care of itself apart from the weeding every year.

Angela.

As soon as you find the "sweet spot" for your eco system: the right
balance of plants, water, critters, etc., the need to artificially
adjust things will disappear. I think too many ponders try to
over-engineer their ponds (I have beeen guilty of that).
Nature does things really well, and we need to do is pay attention.

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

Yeah, Mother Nature seldom gets it wrong!

k :-)


http://tinyurl.com/6bguh ~ new pond keeper info
http://tinyurl.com/yp64db ~ slide show of pond

Kurt wrote:

In article ,
Angela Lamb wrote:

... but I do have lots of plants including oxygenators. They didn't
cost me anything like £100 though - I bought half a dozen bunches and
planted them 7 years ago.

That's the point I was making about buying (or just transplanting) native
oxygenators. If the plants grow wild in your area, then they'll overwinter
and eventually fill your pond.

I must have been very lucky because I don't do
any of the clever chemical juggling people in here do - I just leave it
all to take care of itself apart from the weeding every year.

As soon as you find the "sweet spot" for your eco system: the right
balance of plants, water, critters, etc., the need to artificially
adjust things will disappear. I think too many ponders try to
over-engineer their ponds (I have beeen guilty of that).
Nature does things really well, and we need to do is pay attention.

Yeah, we've probably all been guilty of that, but you're mostly right. I
would point out that the natural order of things is for ponds to become
bogs and for bogs to dry out - we try to stop things short of that
point :-)

So, in a sense, we never do want a "natural" pond, but we can come pretty
close.
--
derek
- Unless otherwise noted, I speak for myself, not rec.ponds.moderated
moderators.