Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
Hi
I've had continual problems with my large barrel pond going stagnant since I got it earlier in the summer - it stinks if bad egg to high heaven a lot of the time and it is really spoiling the garden! I've got one dwarf waterlily in it which is actually thriving well and putting out lots of leaves and 2 irises in a medium-sized basket filled with soil sitting near the top of the water level. I've tried adding several bunches of Elodea Crispa which seemed to just sink and rot (I thought it would have free-floated and been OK) and I kept having to fish out slimy black stems which were obviously rotten and dead. The plant has now disappeared completely. I then added some frogbit which a kind person on this newsgroup sent me from their pond, and although it has thrived and flowered in a plastic container which I also have filled with water, it has not done well at all in the barrel and looks on its last legs, going brownish and dwindling, with only a few small green leaves struggling, so I might have to fish that out next. The water is very murky, almost a greyish brown and you can't see anything below the surface. I can't understand what it is that is killing the plants - is there anything else I can do as oxygenating plants don't seem to be working? I am getting to the limits of my tolerance now as I just cannot stand the smell (it was particularly awful in the hot weather). I assume the winter temperatures won't do anything to curb the smell once things warm up again? I'm pretty sure the pond is not 'poisonous' as I found a lesser water boatman in the net I was using to fish out mosquito larvae the other day - gave me a shock I can tell you! It leapt back into the water and dived right down so it must be OK in there. My husband is getting so sick of it that he wants us to drain it, but I want to try a bit more before we reach that stage, and of course I'd have to re-home the water lily. Can anyone suggest anything else I can try? Thanks Lynda |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
"Lynda Thornton" wrote in message ... Hi I've had continual problems with my large barrel pond going stagnant since I got it earlier in the summer - it stinks if bad egg to high heaven a lot of the time and it is really spoiling the garden! Its gone "Anaerobic" & there are bacteria in there giving off Hydrogen Sulphide. The water would be pretty poisonous to fish. The problem is that the water is dead and starved of oxygen - you need to find a way to get it to circulate. Easy options would be to drop a small pump in the bottom that just pumps water from bottom to the top or alternatively an Airpump to inject airbubbles into the bottom of the water - as they rise they will circulate the water. A small aquarium powerhead (£10-£15) or a small pump designed for water features would be enough. If you wanted to go the Airpump route then this would cost about the same but you'd have to find a way to keep the airpump itself dry. If you can't get power to the thing then maybe you could look at one of those solar powerd pumps. Circulating the water a bit should cure the problem - you get oxygen exchange at the surface. Once the water has some oxygen in it then the Anaerobic bacteria will die back & also you will get other bacteria growing that will break down rotting material (without stinking!) - but these will only survive in water that is oxygenated. Having lots of plants can help (in theory) but there is a balance because although plants give off oxygen during the day, they actually take it in at night so in some cases plant's growing too fast can actually cause a problem themselves - particularly for fish which can suffocate overnight in some circumstances. rgds I. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 12:54:05 +0000 (UTC), Lynda Thornton
wrote: Hi I've had continual problems with my large barrel pond going stagnant since I got it earlier in the summer - it stinks if bad egg to high heaven a lot of the time and it is really spoiling the garden! I've got one dwarf waterlily in it which is actually thriving well and putting out lots of leaves and 2 irises in a medium-sized basket filled with soil sitting near the top of the water level You could get Herr Blix to have a look at it. -- ®óñ© © ²°°³ |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
In article , Iain
Miller writes "Lynda Thornton" wrote in message ... Hi I've had continual problems with my large barrel pond going stagnant since I got it earlier in the summer - it stinks if bad egg to high heaven a lot of the time and it is really spoiling the garden! Its gone "Anaerobic" & there are bacteria in there giving off Hydrogen Sulphide. The water would be pretty poisonous to fish. The problem is that the water is dead and starved of oxygen - you need to find a way to get it to circulate. Easy options would be to drop a small pump in the bottom that just pumps water from bottom to the top or alternatively an Airpump to inject airbubbles into the bottom of the water - as they rise they will circulate the water. A small aquarium powerhead (£10-£15) or a small pump designed for water features would be enough. If you wanted to go the Airpump route then this would cost about the same but you'd have to find a way to keep the airpump itself dry. If you can't get power to the thing then maybe you could look at one of those solar powerd pumps. Hi Thanks for responding. The problem with pumps in the barrel is the water lily - I thought they didn't like constantly moving water and needed it still most of the time? I know that circulating the water helps because I have a smaller barrel with a solar fountain in it which doesn't smell at all and I've had it since early last year. Circulating the water a bit should cure the problem - you get oxygen exchange at the surface. Once the water has some oxygen in it then the Anaerobic bacteria will die back & also you will get other bacteria growing that will break down rotting material (without stinking!) - but these will only survive in water that is oxygenated. Having lots of plants can help (in theory) but there is a balance because although plants give off oxygen during the day, they actually take it in at night so in some cases plant's growing too fast can actually cause a problem themselves - particularly for fish which can suffocate overnight in some circumstances. I have no plans to keep fish in it anyway so that's not a problem but I think the oxygenating plants aren't going to survive for long from what you're saying here. I guess I'll have to consider either some form of pump which doesn't disturb the water too much or abandon it? Lynda |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
I have no plans to keep fish in it anyway so that's not a problem but I think the oxygenating plants aren't going to survive for long from what you're saying here. I guess I'll have to consider either some form of pump which doesn't disturb the water too much or abandon it? It really won't need to be a very big pump. you just need to move the water from the bottom of the barrel to the top. As I suggested something like an aquarium power head would do - most of those can be valved down to limit the flow. Suggest you put some kind of big sponge over the intake so it doesn't clog up too quickly. Your best bet is probably to take everything out the barrel & get rid of the debris & then re-assemble. Another option would be to mount the pump near the surface and shoot the water to the bottom - the effect will be the same - you just need to keep it moving. I. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
Xref: kermit uk.rec.gardening:162346
"Lynda Thornton" wrote in message ... In article , Iain Miller writes "Lynda Thornton" wrote in message ... Hi I've had continual problems with my large barrel pond going stagnant since I got it earlier in the summer - it stinks if bad egg to high heaven a lot of the time and it is really spoiling the garden! Its gone "Anaerobic" & there are bacteria in there giving off Hydrogen Sulphide. The water would be pretty poisonous to fish. The problem is that the water is dead and starved of oxygen - you need to find a way to get it to circulate. Easy options would be to drop a small pump in the bottom that just pumps water from bottom to the top or alternatively an Airpump to inject airbubbles into the bottom of the water - as they rise they will circulate the water. A small aquarium powerhead (£10-£15) or a small pump designed for water features would be enough. If you wanted to go the Airpump route then this would cost about the same but you'd have to find a way to keep the airpump itself dry. If you can't get power to the thing then maybe you could look at one of those solar powerd pumps. Hi Thanks for responding. The problem with pumps in the barrel is the water lily - I thought they didn't like constantly moving water and needed it still most of the time? I know that circulating the water helps because I have a smaller barrel with a solar fountain in it which doesn't smell at all and I've had it since early last year. Circulating the water a bit should cure the problem - you get oxygen exchange at the surface. Once the water has some oxygen in it then the Anaerobic bacteria will die back & also you will get other bacteria growing that will break down rotting material (without stinking!) - but these will only survive in water that is oxygenated. Having lots of plants can help (in theory) but there is a balance because although plants give off oxygen during the day, they actually take it in at night so in some cases plant's growing too fast can actually cause a problem themselves - particularly for fish which can suffocate overnight in some circumstances. I have no plans to keep fish in it anyway so that's not a problem but I think the oxygenating plants aren't going to survive for long from what you're saying here. I guess I'll have to consider either some form of pump which doesn't disturb the water too much or abandon it? Lynda A little bit of water circulation won't be an issue, I have a reasonable amount of water movement in my pond and soem very healthy lillies. If I were you, and you do install a pump / air pump (an air pump will also give water circulation), I'd start by cleaning the whole thing out just to give a good start rather than trying to fix the problem you have got now. FWIW air pumps can be a bit noisy, while you wont be able to hear a small pump in the water at all. Try and get something for a home aquarium that has the ability to vary the output, a pond pump will probably be too powerful though you can probably kludge this with a bit of plastic tubing niftly directed anyway. Finally, given the time of year, I'd start again next spring anway, since there is probably only another 6 weeks or so of lily growing left. Finally finally, you could probably get by until then by just refilling the barrel with clean water, that will give the lily soemthing better than rotting gunge to overwinter in. -- Tumbleweed Remove theobvious before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups) |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
"Tumbleweed" wrote in message . .. "Lynda Thornton" wrote in message ... In article , Iain Miller writes "Lynda Thornton" wrote in message ... Hi I've had continual problems with my large barrel pond going stagnant since I got it earlier in the summer - it stinks if bad egg to high heaven a lot of the time and it is really spoiling the garden! Its gone "Anaerobic" & there are bacteria in there giving off Hydrogen Sulphide. The water would be pretty poisonous to fish. The problem is that the water is dead and starved of oxygen - you need to find a way to get it to circulate. Easy options would be to drop a small pump in the bottom that just pumps water from bottom to the top or alternatively an Airpump to inject airbubbles into the bottom of the water - as they rise they will circulate the water. A small aquarium powerhead (£10-£15) or a small pump designed for water features would be enough. If you wanted to go the Airpump route then this would cost about the same but you'd have to find a way to keep the airpump itself dry. If you can't get power to the thing then maybe you could look at one of those solar powerd pumps. Hi Thanks for responding. The problem with pumps in the barrel is the water lily - I thought they didn't like constantly moving water and needed it still most of the time? I know that circulating the water helps because I have a smaller barrel with a solar fountain in it which doesn't smell at all and I've had it since early last year. Circulating the water a bit should cure the problem - you get oxygen exchange at the surface. Once the water has some oxygen in it then the Anaerobic bacteria will die back & also you will get other bacteria growing that will break down rotting material (without stinking!) - but these will only survive in water that is oxygenated. Having lots of plants can help (in theory) but there is a balance because although plants give off oxygen during the day, they actually take it in at night so in some cases plant's growing too fast can actually cause a problem themselves - particularly for fish which can suffocate overnight in some circumstances. I have no plans to keep fish in it anyway so that's not a problem but I think the oxygenating plants aren't going to survive for long from what you're saying here. I guess I'll have to consider either some form of pump which doesn't disturb the water too much or abandon it? Lynda A little bit of water circulation won't be an issue, I have a reasonable amount of water movement in my pond and soem very healthy lillies. If I were you, and you do install a pump / air pump (an air pump will also give water circulation), I'd start by cleaning the whole thing out just to give a good start rather than trying to fix the problem you have got now. FWIW air pumps can be a bit noisy, while you wont be able to hear a small pump in the water at all. Try and get something for a home aquarium that has the ability to vary the output, a pond pump will probably be too powerful though you can probably kludge this with a bit of plastic tubing niftly directed anyway. Finally, given the time of year, I'd start again next spring anway, since there is probably only another 6 weeks or so of lily growing left. Finally finally, you could probably get by until then by just refilling the barrel with clean water, that will give the lily soemthing better than rotting gunge to overwinter in. Surely the most straightforward way of coping is to simply replace a quarter or so of the water daily until the problem disappears? Franz |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
... snip Finally finally, you could probably get by until then by just refilling the barrel with clean water, that will give the lily something better than rotting gunge to overwinter in. Surely the most straightforward way of coping is to simply replace a quarter or so of the water daily until the problem disappears? Franz Dont forget there are no fish. I doubt the lily would care whether the water was 25% changed or all in one go,and you'd also be sure to get all the rotting gunge at the bottom which a water change wouldnt necessarily touch and which appears to be the root of the problem. -- Tumbleweed Remove theobvious before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups) |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
"Tumbleweed" wrote in message . .. "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... snip Finally finally, you could probably get by until then by just refilling the barrel with clean water, that will give the lily something better than rotting gunge to overwinter in. Surely the most straightforward way of coping is to simply replace a quarter or so of the water daily until the problem disappears? Franz Dont forget there are no fish. I doubt the lily would care whether the water was 25% changed or all in one go,and you'd also be sure to get all the rotting gunge at the bottom which a water change wouldnt necessarily touch and which appears to be the root of the problem. -- Tumbleweed Remove theobvious before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups) |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
"Tumbleweed" wrote in message . .. "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... snip Finally finally, you could probably get by until then by just refilling the barrel with clean water, that will give the lily something better than rotting gunge to overwinter in. Surely the most straightforward way of coping is to simply replace a quarter or so of the water daily until the problem disappears? Franz Dont forget there are no fish. I doubt the lily would care whether the water was 25% changed or all in one go,and you'd also be sure to get all the rotting gunge at the bottom which a water change wouldnt necessarily touch and which appears to be the root of the problem. But surely one would scrape up any excesive amount of rotting stuff by hand as a first step towards clearing up the barrel? Franz |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... "Tumbleweed" wrote in message . .. "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... snip Finally finally, you could probably get by until then by just refilling the barrel with clean water, that will give the lily something better than rotting gunge to overwinter in. Surely the most straightforward way of coping is to simply replace a quarter or so of the water daily until the problem disappears? Franz Dont forget there are no fish. I doubt the lily would care whether the water was 25% changed or all in one go,and you'd also be sure to get all the rotting gunge at the bottom which a water change wouldnt necessarily touch and which appears to be the root of the problem. But surely one would scrape up any excesive amount of rotting stuff by hand as a first step towards clearing up the barrel? Franz Indeed, but it was you who advised 'simply' a 25% water change and no mention of removing gunge..... Besides which to remove the gunge, probably the simplest way is it to take out the lily and then just wash the whole barrel out. Otherwise you'll stir up the gunge and create a mess which will stay there if you only change 25% of the water. Tw |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
"Tumbleweed" wrote in message . .. "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... "Tumbleweed" wrote in message . .. "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... snip Finally finally, you could probably get by until then by just refilling the barrel with clean water, that will give the lily something better than rotting gunge to overwinter in. Surely the most straightforward way of coping is to simply replace a quarter or so of the water daily until the problem disappears? Franz Dont forget there are no fish. I doubt the lily would care whether the water was 25% changed or all in one go,and you'd also be sure to get all the rotting gunge at the bottom which a water change wouldnt necessarily touch and which appears to be the root of the problem. But surely one would scrape up any excesive amount of rotting stuff by hand as a first step towards clearing up the barrel? Indeed, but it was you who advised 'simply' a 25% water change and no mention of removing gunge..... My fault for being too brief........ Besides which to remove the gunge, probably the simplest way is it to take out the lily and then just wash the whole barrel out. Otherwise you'll stir up the gunge and create a mess which will stay there if you only change 25% of the water. Actually, when all's said and done, that is obviously the answer. Franz |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
|
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
|
#15
|
|||
|
|||
Oxygenators seem to be dying
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... snip Also, it's on gravel, so it could make quite a mess if gunge etc splashes out all over during cleaning. I'm not feeling like going through all this as I'm sure lots of you can guess! Also, in response to someone's comment, I hadn't realised that water lilies were regarded as annuals, even in this climate - I thought that once established they would come back every year? I certainly wouldn't want to have to fork out every spring for one season's growth and a few flowers!! I really don't want to go down the electric pump route - there's no easy way of hooking it up to a power supply or laying cable. I was hoping there might be a solar option, ie a solar panel with a submergible pump attached which could sit at the bottom and hopefully not disturb the water too much, but in such a small barrel I suppose it would be likely to be too turbulent and extremely costly as I can't find this kind of thing on the web. Maybe the only answer is to get rid of the water lily, even though this was what I really wanted in the barrel in the first place, so that I can put my floating solar fountain on it next summer and re-oxygenate the water that way. It's just a shame and I really would have liked a water lily feature in the garden, but I'd much prefer to be rid of the stench! Lynda Franz has made the good suggestions re siphoning so I wont add to that. As to the lily, yes its perennial, but its leaves will die off* completely and it will be dormant until late next spring. Re a floating solar fountain, I'd guess, not having seen one (except pics on the web just now), that the area required for solar power took up a good deal of your barrel. certainly the picture here http://www.gardenitems.co.uk/solar_f...s_original.htm makes it look huge even though it mentions a half barrel. As you have gravel I'd have thought it would be easy to lay cable. If you got a pump with a low voltage supply you could also use thin two core cable. Or if you really dont want to do that how about a solar powered pump http://www.nclsolar.com/p_gard.htm (£85 though) Or, more decorative (and expensive) one of these http://www.water-garden.co.uk/water_...olar/solar.php Or, they might be able to sell the solar panels/pump/cables that power these, separately and cheaper? OR try here http://shopping.lycos.co.uk/query.ht...re=4&x=29&y=10 (if that doesnt work its Kays catalogue, do a search on solar pump) Obviously (??) with a solar pump you can adjust the output by how you place the solar panel. BUt one of those cascade jobbies will also lessen the flow into the barrel. HTH -- Tumbleweed * adding even more to the rotting gunge!! Remove theobvious before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups) |
Reply |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
What Oxygenators For Alkaline Water? | Ponds (moderated) | |||
Are Oxygenators Needed If Have No Fish | Ponds (moderated) | |||
Pond snails eating oxygenators | Ponds (alternative) | |||
Substrate for oxygenators | Ponds | |||
Vine plants seem to be dying | Edible Gardening |