Hi all,
I have recently built a pond (8mtrx4mtrx900mm) and have a stream 1mtr
wide 200mm deap and is 14 mtrs long, which has plants in it, in the
pond I have 2 lilly and a few floating plants, I initially put in 10
koi (about 8 weeks ago) and now I have an extra 15/20 baby koi !! I am
not really sure how many really as the water is quite murky most days,
I was just wondering if there is anyone who has a similar simple
setup, and what kind of plants you have found to be best for
filteration, I have read a lot here about filter media bio filters and
bacteria, are the plants doing a similar thing ?
cheers ,
Ray.

water celery is excellent but cyperus is tall and great looking and also can be put
in bare root and do very well. Ingrid

(Ray) wrote:
stream 1mtr
wide 200mm deap and is 14 mtrs long, which has plants in it,
what kind of plants you have found to be best for
filteration,

On Wed, 5 Mar 2003 09:02:50 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

"Ray" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
I have recently built a pond (8mtrx4mtrx900mm) and have a stream 1mtr
wide 200mm deap and is 14 mtrs long, which has plants in it, in the
pond I have 2 lilly and a few floating plants, I initially put in 10
koi (about 8 weeks ago) and now I have an extra 15/20 baby koi !! I am
not really sure how many really as the water is quite murky most days,
I was just wondering if there is anyone who has a similar simple
setup, and what kind of plants you have found to be best for
filteration, I have read a lot here about filter media bio filters and
bacteria, are the plants doing a similar thing ?
cheers ,

Ray, my pond is not yet complete, so I do not speak from experience, but it
appears the common belief on the NG is that watercress, water celery and
water hyacinth are great VF plants.

BV.

Thanks BV,
I will check it out at the w/end

Ray

On Wed, 05 Mar 2003 15:15:38 GMT, wrote:
Thanks Ingrid, I do have some cyperus, no celery though , so I will
see if I can find some at the w /end

cheers
Ray
water celery is excellent but cyperus is tall and great looking and also can be put
in bare root and do very well. Ingrid

(Ray) wrote:
stream 1mtr
wide 200mm deap and is 14 mtrs long, which has plants in it,
what kind of plants you have found to be best for
filteration,

"Ray" wrote in message
...
I have read a lot here about filter media bio filters and
bacteria, are the plants doing a similar thing ?
cheers ,
Ray.

No,Ray. Plants and bio filters do different things. In simple terms, the bio
filter converts waste to nitrates and then the plants use the nitrates to
grow. Actually the process is more complex than this, but the idea is that
the bio filter and the plants work together to eliminate fish and other
waste. If the fish load is low, one can eliminate a dedicated bio filter
since there will be bacteria throughout the pond environment that will be
sufficient to do the waste to nitrate conversion. Plants to use the nitrates
will always be present. Either you provide desirable ones that are of your
choosing or mother nature will provide plants of her choosing, usually
various forms of algae.
I hope that this over simplified explanation helps.
Paul

On Sun, 9 Mar 2003 10:24:06 -0800, "Paul in Redland"
wrote:


"Ray" wrote in message
...
I have read a lot here about filter media bio filters and
bacteria, are the plants doing a similar thing ?
cheers ,
Ray.

No,Ray. Plants and bio filters do different things. In simple terms, the bio
filter converts waste to nitrates and then the plants use the nitrates to
grow. Actually the process is more complex than this, but the idea is that
the bio filter and the plants work together to eliminate fish and other
waste. If the fish load is low, one can eliminate a dedicated bio filter
since there will be bacteria throughout the pond environment that will be
sufficient to do the waste to nitrate conversion. Plants to use the nitrates
will always be present. Either you provide desirable ones that are of your
choosing or mother nature will provide plants of her choosing, usually
various forms of algae.
I hope that this over simplified explanation helps.
Paul

Thanks Paul, and yes your explanation helped me a lot, I like simple
explanations , I don't intend on over stocking the pond (8mtrs x
4mtrs x 8/900mm deep ) I have 10 decent size Koi and now 15/20 baby
Koi , so I will be happy with this number , in fact I intend to give
away most of the babies, maybe just keep a couple , and I am quit
happy with the water as it is (murky) as long as the fish are happy
with it ,
Ray.