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#1
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Veggie Filter Maintenance
Should the water hyacinth be removed from the filter from time to time and
the silt rinsed off the roots, then replaced? Or do I need to do additional filtering before the VF to get the silt caught first? Thanks, -- Heather SW Ontario (Zone 5) |
#2
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Veggie Filter Maintenance
Haether,
Here are some thoughts about cleaning your vf. Therat them with a grain of salt as they apply to my pond and may not be relevant to yours. The roots of the wh are great as mechanical filters and biosurface (bacteria that you want). If they are filled with silt, they are working. Count on them to be grabbing nutrients as well as filtering. If your water is clear and the sediment seems to stay in the VF, leave it alone til winter or next spring before the growth starts. Then suck out the gunk. Our vfs are cleaned once per year in the spring. The first filter pond has over an inch of muck by then (5' kiddie pool). The next ponds have very little muck. Conclusion, the first one does the trick. We have a bottom drain in each vf, so draining in the spring is just opening the stopcock and flushing by pouring some pondwater over the plants till the bottom is clean. Are your wh growing well? Have they good roots? Is the water clear? If so, leave it. It's doing fine. Our wh grow at a huge rate in the Mississippi summer. We pull bushels of them out. We also cut bushels of parrots feather and water celery. The Irises are pretty, but don't grow as much (i.e. grab as much nutrient). Good luck. Ours are up for view in the pondsite below. home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley Jim -- ____________________________________________ See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley Ask me about Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $120+ per child) at: jogathon.net "Heather" wrote in message ... Should the water hyacinth be removed from the filter from time to time and the silt rinsed off the roots, then replaced? Or do I need to do additional filtering before the VF to get the silt caught first? Thanks, -- Heather SW Ontario (Zone 5) |
#3
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Veggie Filter Maintenance
"Heather" wrote in message ... Should the water hyacinth be removed from the filter from time to time and the silt rinsed off the roots, then replaced? Or do I need to do additional filtering before the VF to get the silt caught first? In my first year of ponding, I had very orange water due to clay run off and uh...digging errors. Anyway, for a time, we would take the large WH out of the VF, and gentyly wring the roots out. This removed TONS of the clay. I would not recommend this for smaller WH as you can easily remove their roots, but the larger ones faired pretty well in this matter. I'd also recommend not doing this until at least mid-summer to ensure there are no little critter babies in the roots that may get squeezed on to the ground. BV. |
#4
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Veggie Filter Maintenance
Hi Jim
I really LOVE your pond. It is most appealing May I suggest a large Japanese lantern, I think it would look great for your setup -- **So long, and thanks for all the fish!** "Jim and Phyllis Hurley" wrote in message ... Good luck. Ours are up for view in the pondsite below. home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley Jim |
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