Is my pond OK?
 

Sorry if this is a little long, but being a noob, I didn't
want to accidently leave out any important details.

I have a 6-week old 1000 gallon pond w/ a short stream and
waterfall and about two dozen 3" fish. About 1/3 of the pond
is covered with water lettuce and hyacinths, plus I have one
lily, an umbrella palm, and a taro. The pond sits in a 50/50
mix of sun/shade (5-6 hours of sunlight a day). Equipment-wise
I'm using a Savio Livingpond biofall, skimfilter, and a Tsurumi
TMU-2 2700 GPH pump. Last night I returned from a week-long
vacation and noticed that most of the hyacinths had yellow
leaves (far more than when I left). The water is crystal clear
and the fish seem happy, but I also noticed nearly all of the
moss algae on the liner and stream rocks is gone. I checked
the water this morning and got the following readings: PH: 7.8,
Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: between 0 and 5 ppm. I know
zero Ammonia and low Nitrites are good, but what should the
Nitrate level be? Before I left it was between 5 and 10 ppm.
Isn't a coating of algae a healthy sign or does it just mean
I have more than enough plants now for the number of fish?
Could the yellowing leaves on the lettuce just be due to age?

Thanks in advance!

I could be due to heat, or it could be due to insufficient nutrients
to keep em happy. LAck of algae is a sign of no excessive
nutrients........Yes algae is a sign of good water, for plants anyhow,
not necessarily fish, but algae and WH likes nutrients and use a lot
of it. With WH being such heavy feeders its all together possible you
depleted what nutrients you had......Lilys are also heavy feeders.

I dunno what others say, and its a mixed bag with nitrate levels, but
I have read that a nitrate level up to 40 and even 60 ppm is safe for
fish.......

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 08:30:14 -0400, Dan wrote:

===Sorry if this is a little long, but being a noob, I didn't
===want to accidently leave out any important details.
===
===I have a 6-week old 1000 gallon pond w/ a short stream and
===waterfall and about two dozen 3" fish. About 1/3 of the pond
===is covered with water lettuce and hyacinths, plus I have one
===lily, an umbrella palm, and a taro. The pond sits in a 50/50
===mix of sun/shade (5-6 hours of sunlight a day). Equipment-wise
===I'm using a Savio Livingpond biofall, skimfilter, and a Tsurumi
===TMU-2 2700 GPH pump. Last night I returned from a week-long
===vacation and noticed that most of the hyacinths had yellow
===leaves (far more than when I left). The water is crystal clear
===and the fish seem happy, but I also noticed nearly all of the
===moss algae on the liner and stream rocks is gone. I checked
===the water this morning and got the following readings: PH: 7.8,
===Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: between 0 and 5 ppm. I know
===zero Ammonia and low Nitrites are good, but what should the
===Nitrate level be? Before I left it was between 5 and 10 ppm.
===Isn't a coating of algae a healthy sign or does it just mean
===I have more than enough plants now for the number of fish?
===Could the yellowing leaves on the lettuce just be due to age?
===
=== Thanks in advance!


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

"Dan" wrote in message
...
I have more than enough plants now for the number of fish?
Could the yellowing leaves on the lettuce just be due to age?
========================
It sounds like they're starving. You can either remove some of the water
lettuce or add some potash to the pond. You can buy potash at almost any
nursery. The recommended amount is 1 Tbs. per 1000 gallons. A little more
wont hurt and wont encourage algae. They may also need iron! I use Ironite
in the soil I pot my pond plants in and what seeps from the pots seems to be
enough for the water lettuce and hyacinths.

CR....

Reel Mckoi wrote:

"Dan" wrote in message
...

I have more than enough plants now for the number of fish?
Could the yellowing leaves on the lettuce just be due to age?

========================
It sounds like they're starving. You can either remove some of the
water lettuce or add some potash to the pond. You can buy potash at
almost any nursery. The recommended amount is 1 Tbs. per 1000 gallons.
A little more wont hurt and wont encourage algae. They may also need
iron! I use Ironite in the soil I pot my pond plants in and what seeps
from the pots seems to be enough for the water lettuce and hyacinths.

CR....

Thanks! I'll pick some up tomorrow on my way home from work.

"Dan" wrote in message
...
Reel Mckoi wrote:

"Dan" wrote in message
...

I have more than enough plants now for the number of fish?
Could the yellowing leaves on the lettuce just be due to age?

========================
It sounds like they're starving. You can either remove some of the
water lettuce or add some potash to the pond. You can buy potash at
almost any nursery. The recommended amount is 1 Tbs. per 1000 gallons.
A little more wont hurt and wont encourage algae. They may also need
iron! I use Ironite in the soil I pot my pond plants in and what seeps
from the pots seems to be enough for the water lettuce and hyacinths.

CR....

Thanks! I'll pick some up tomorrow on my way home from work.

YOu may walso want to add some potash to the ironite.

Dan wrote:
Sorry if this is a little long, but being a noob, I didn't
want to accidently leave out any important details.



Too long. Shorten it a bit.