The water of our pond is enormously clear just now. It also looks
like the algae is virtually gone in the ponds. Has anyone a theory
beyond the roots are bigger? It does not look to me that things have
stopped growing. On the contrary, the hyacinths seem to be thriving.
We throw out a dozen or more a week.

Jim

On the contrary, the hyacinths seem to be thriving.
We throw out a dozen or more a week.
Jim

I'm giving up on hyacinth till the goldfish start reproducing. I seem to
have great skill at it dying off. I have a little one in a small pot with
mud doing okay, one in the stock tank & lily pond hanging on. The rest have
a lot of brown on them, and I've started tossing those. :-( Apparently it
takes 27 koi in 1500 gallons to grow giant WH, don't want to go there
again.

And funny thing. I had duck weed in my pre-filter, and it has been
disappearing. There are no fish in my pre-filter. I can only assume not
enough nutrients for it either. Ah-mazing.

Cannas, lilies, etc. all growing and blooming great. Lotus doing the best
ever. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Sounds like effective veggie work...nutrients being grabbed. That
gives an idea of who competes the best. Our duckweed seems rather
like yours: it thrives until the other plants get going.

Jim

well I just made a convert of the Goldfish Guru, Jo Ann Burke. She
sold the GF business but kept her koi. They are absolute monsters in
a 16,000 gallon pond. Even tho they only feed a pint of food a day the
ammonia has been climbing thru the roof. Partly it is because Jo Ann
has had 2 operations on her eyes and Steve had a double knee
replacement (he climbed poles for the phone company). So they been a
bit out of commission in keeping an eye on things.

I been yammering at her about putting in a veggie filter especially
cause when the hurricanes hit they cant get out to do their 3000
gallon per day water changes (yeah, they got their own well). They
have a huge generator for storms so the pumps and air work. But Steve
always resisted the idea.

She finally got some 4 food kiddie pools and nailed them to the edge
where the big pipes return water from the big sister filters dumps
into the kiddie pools. I yanked up a huge clump of my water celery
(had about a 2 feet spread in my filter), boxed it up and sent it. She
dumped it into her filter where it sank in. The next day the plant
was above the water line and has been spreading.

WELL... her ammonia is vanishing, the last couple days it has been cut
in half and I suspect it will zero out soon... all this WITHOUT any
water changes. I also suspect that when the ammonia was too high the
biofilters werent working either and they are not kicking in as well.
She still needs to fill up the other filter, she is waiting for
somebody to send some plants. Wish there was somebody in Mobile with
an excess could give her some stuff.

Anyway...... what she said was she can see the mulm accumulating right
behind the roots in the little filters. so I suspect that the water
is clearer cause the roots slow the water waaaaay down and trap the
sediment. Ingrid

On Wed, 8 Aug 2007 21:27:27 CST, Phyllis and Jim
wrote:
The water of our pond is enormously clear just now. It also looks
like the algae is virtually gone in the ponds. Has anyone a theory
beyond the roots are bigger?

That is great to hear. Do you have any pictures on your website of her koi
ponds? ~ jan


On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:23:36 CST, wrote:

well I just made a convert of the Goldfish Guru, Jo Ann Burke. She
sold the GF business but kept her koi. They are absolute monsters in
a 16,000 gallon pond. Even tho they only feed a pint of food a day the
ammonia has been climbing thru the roof. Partly it is because Jo Ann
has had 2 operations on her eyes and Steve had a double knee
replacement (he climbed poles for the phone company). So they been a
bit out of commission in keeping an eye on things.

I been yammering at her about putting in a veggie filter especially
cause when the hurricanes hit they cant get out to do their 3000
gallon per day water changes (yeah, they got their own well). They
have a huge generator for storms so the pumps and air work. But Steve
always resisted the idea.

She finally got some 4 food kiddie pools and nailed them to the edge
where the big pipes return water from the big sister filters dumps
into the kiddie pools. I yanked up a huge clump of my water celery
(had about a 2 feet spread in my filter), boxed it up and sent it. She
dumped it into her filter where it sank in. The next day the plant
was above the water line and has been spreading.

WELL... her ammonia is vanishing, the last couple days it has been cut
in half and I suspect it will zero out soon... all this WITHOUT any
water changes. I also suspect that when the ammonia was too high the
biofilters werent working either and they are not kicking in as well.
She still needs to fill up the other filter, she is waiting for
somebody to send some plants. Wish there was somebody in Mobile with
an excess could give her some stuff.

Anyway...... what she said was she can see the mulm accumulating right
behind the roots in the little filters. so I suspect that the water
is clearer cause the roots slow the water waaaaay down and trap the
sediment. Ingrid

On Wed, 8 Aug 2007 21:27:27 CST, Phyllis and Jim
wrote:
The water of our pond is enormously clear just now. It also looks
like the algae is virtually gone in the ponds. Has anyone a theory
beyond the roots are bigger?
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

they are koi ponds, period. nothing decorative and they are under a
green shade cloth. Ingrid

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:31:28 CST, ~ jan wrote:
That is great to hear. Do you have any pictures on your website of her koi
ponds? ~ jan

Good testimony to roots! Celery is great stuff.

Jim

Our veggie filters are now in full swing. Here is a link to pics of
April and August. Amazing what heat and light will do!

http://groups.google.com/group/The-F...2b62486fc4a499

Jim