POND PULSE

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                        Volume 1, Issue 5, May, 2007  

                                                                                                                       

 


 

 

 

                                                                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pondapalooza

 

IPPCA will have a booth at this event on August 11-17 in Savannah, Georgia.  We are going to need volunteers to help MAN/Women the booth.  IF you are interested in helping out in the booth, please contact us at info@ippca.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Meaningful Messages”

"You don't love a person because they are handsome or beautiful, but they are beautiful and handsome because you love them."

 

 

2006 Top Guns To Be Announced in June's Issue of Pond Pulse

 

Catfish----Friend or Foe of the Pond Owner

Is Mr. Whiskers an algae eater that’s going to miraculously clean the bottom of your pond of all gunk and algae? Absolutely NOT!!!!!! Those horny plates on his lips are there to grip and hold struggling live prey, or to twist a chunk out of whatever he grabs hold of. Your Koi and Goldfish are the true algae eaters in your pond!!!!!

Let Mr. Whiskers get to the same size as your goldfish, and you’ll notice ‘Ol Bubbles tail starting to look dilapidated. When Mr. Whiskers gets about twice the size of Bubbles…. Bubbles will disappear some night and Mr. Catfish won’t be real hungry for a day of so. More than one catfish in your pond may have a tendency for them to attack another, possibly even larger fish and tear it to pieces like a wolf pack.

Another interesting tactic of ‘Ole Whiskers is to rigidly stand the poison tipped spikes of his pectoral fins straight out to the side and forcefully swing his head side to side during feeding time, "spiking" any other fish with the temerity to invade "his" feeding area. Yes, he’ll scar your fish, even other catfish.

Now, after thoroughly albeit briefly explaining the downside of an affectionate relationship with Mr. Whiskers, let’s look at any potential benefits of having him around. He does look cool to the un-initiated. The catfish primarily sold in the U.S. pet trade are channel catfish. Channel catfish are one of the fastest growing fish know to man. I’ve personally seen 3" fingerlings reach 14" in length in 2 ½ months!!!!!! There are three native types of catfish in the U.S.. In order of size, biggest first, Flathead catfish, Blue catfish and Channel catfish (blue and channel run real close). Literally all of the "albino" catfish I’ve seen are channel cats. These pretty little pale gold or yellowish looking guys can fool the un-knowing in regards to their true habits and preferences.

Catfish have a very primitive digestive tract (they’ve been around since the time of the dinosaur) that poorly utilizes food, so quantity is preferred over quality when it comes to feeding catfish, but, if you give them what they want, Jack’s bean stalk would hardly keep ahead of them in growth!!!! That’s why cheap catfish foods are harmful to the "younger" species of fish such as Koi and Goldfish that have a far more efficient digestive tract than the catfish. Cheap fillers that go right through a catfish contribute to all kinds of health issues with your "real" fish, the most common of which is fatty liver disease.

In closing, if you only want to have large fish and not have to bother with finding loving homes for last years baby fish, then you definitely could benefit from Mr. Catfish’s residence in your pond (as long as you’re not concerned about potential scars on your other fish). I would however strongly recommend not giving him any "pack" buddies to hang out with while he’s there. They may follow their instincts.

Dave Jones
The Pond Professional
5-2-07
Executive Director/ Chairman of the Board
IPPCA

        

 

IPPCA & Dow Chemical Team Up To Make Big Splash

At National Hardware Show In Orlando, Fl.


May 7th thru the 10th 2007 was the mother of all trade shows in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.

Dave Jones, Ex O, and Rocke’ Huntington, President, of IPPCA spent three days assisting Dow representatives introduce Great Stuff, Pond and Waterfall foam. The IPPCA team built a display pond on site, inside, (without a leak). IPPCA’s point man Freddie Combas, from Winter Park, a suburb of Orlando, was the first IPPCA member at the site and was joined by Dave and Rocke’ to finish the build and landscape the  area. Our thanks to IPPCA member Freddie Combas for the hard work setting up and tearing down and the clean up of the booth.

Great Stuff Pond & Waterfall foam is the next generation of waterfall foam. No pun intended but this is great stuff! This foam has an adhesive quality that actually holds rocks together, they actually foamed a handle on a retaining wall block, (about 40 lbs) and you can pick it up! The BEST part is it stays open in the "straw" for about 4 hours. Anybody that has used a can of D-I-Y waterfall foam knows that if you are not quick like a bunny using the can of foam its Ooops!

From a technical stand point, to the best of my understanding, this foam is unique because the black color is part of the foam not a color added, and the adhesive is of a new generation of Dow Products.  Wow, Cool stuff!!!

We met many pond related vendors, which is pretty amazing considering the Orange County Convention Center is Huge! Almost any thing and everything you would ever want and many things you had no idea about. The program guide was/is bigger than most phone books here in Central America, (Nebraska). There were two sections and four events. The main building had everything you would find in a hardware store, our building, the lawn and garden building, had the outdoor stuff, a gourmet cooking show and a textile show


by
Rocke' Huntington
IPPCA President

 

 

Planting Tips

     The first thing that you want to do is to keep the plants wet and out of the sunlight.  Float the plants in the pond or put them in trays of pond water in the shade.  The soil that you use can be out of your flower or vegetable garden.  Heavy soil with some clay base is good to use.  Stay away from commercial potting soils as they are too light and will float out of the pot.
     Use any pot that you have for planting your water plants.   If the pots have holes in them, line the bottom of the pot with burlap, newspaper or some other heavy-fibered material.  Most bog plants will work in 2 to 3 gallon pots.  Lilies do best if they have more room, so a 3 to 6 gallon pot is desired for them.
     To prepare the soil, mix the soil with water from the pond to make a nice thick mud.  Then fill the pot that you have chosen to about 2" from the top with your mud mix .  Newly potted plants can be placed at shallow depths until they become established.  Also keep lilies away from waterfalls and fountains as they like still water.  Now follow the specific directions for the type of water plant that you are planting.

PLANTING HARDY WATER LILIES - - - Place the tuber at a 45° angle with the non-growing end against the side of the pot.  Add several tablets of plant fertilizer right in front of the crown (growing end) of the tuber.  Lilies are heavy feeders and should be fertilized once a month after planting.  Be careful not to cover the crown.  It is better to plant lilies too high, than to plant them too deep.  We like to use gravel that is at least 1/2"  in diameter.  Gravel keeps the fish from digging into the soil.  Hardy lilies go to the bottom of the pond 18" to 30" deep.

PLANTING TROPICAL WATER LILIES - - - Make a mound of mud in the middle of the pot and around the sides of the mound push several of the plant fertilizer tablets into the mud.  Tropical lilies should be fertilized at monthly intervals.  Place the lily in the middle of the pot and let the roots go down over the mound.  Add mud to about 1" below the crown of the plant, and then add gravel up to the crown.  Be careful not to cover the crown.  Tropical lilies go to the bottom of the pond 18" to 30" deep.

PLANTING BOG PLANTS - - - Plant these as you would tropical lilies, again making sure that you don't cover the crown of the plant.  Most all of the bog plants that are sold come in  2" net pots.  Care should be taken when removing the plants from these pots.  Bog plants should only be in water deep enough to cover the pot.

PLANTING WATER LOTUS - - - We recommend that you float your lotus tuber in aged pond water for 10 to 14 days in a warm sunny place before planting.  This allows the tuber to sprout and will increase your success in growing lotus.  When your lotus is ready to plant fill up your 5 to 10 gallon pot with 6" of mud.  Then place the lotus tuber with the growing tips straight upwards. Gently press the tuber into the mud being very careful not to damage the growing tips.  Add a thin layer of gravel to cover the tuber and to keep the tuber from floating.  Lotus are very heavy feeders but should not be fertilized until they have put up two or three leaves.  After they have set leaves they should be given 1 or 2 tablets of fertilizer per gallon of soil.
     Once your plants have started put up new growth or leaves, you can now transplant them into your pond.
        Rock & Gravel Ponds:  Rinse all the soil off the roots and plant directly into your pond using pea gravel around your roots.
          Bare Line Ponds:       Rinse all the soil off the roots and plant directly into your pond  pot using pea gravel around your 
          roots. 

You try to keep dirt out of your pond why would you willingly put in plants planted in DIRT.

 

 

Green Water Syndrome

So, you’ve got a case of Green Water Syndrome? Cheer up, it’s not as bad as you think! With a little thought, education (which we’re supplying here) and detective work, your obviously complete ammonia-nitrate cycle can be put to use to give you clear water.

     Why is the water green? Whenever there is a surplus of available plant food (nitrate), Mother Nature steps in and supplies something to use it, in an attempt to achieve “Balance”.  Balance is the key to clean, clear water. With-in normal pond water Ph parameters (6.8 – 8.0), having enough “regular” plants to take up the excess nutrients is usually all that’s required to achieve balance. Your water is green because of an explosive growth of small algaes and phyto- and zoo-planktons. In a balanced pond, they are still there, just under control and not multiplying until the water is “green”. These small nutrient consumers can TRIPLE their numbers in one day during summer type conditions.

SOLUTION: There are several things to check, but it boils down to having something growing, ie “real plants” to consume this food (Lilys, marginals, floating plants) and starve the green stuff back to its balance point. NO, CHEMICALS AREN’T THE SOLUTION!!!!!!

THINGS TO CHECK:

1)      OVER FEEDING FISH: How much are you feeding your fish? Think of each handful of food as being a handful of fertilizer thrown out on your lawn. The more fertilizer, the more lawn it needs to be spread over. Excessive fish food = excessive fertilizer = not enough plants to use it = green water. With a green water problem, the recommendation would be to stop or radically reduce the amount of food given to fish until you’ve reached balance. Once you’ve balanced, you can slowly increase your food amounts. Maybe not back to pre-balance levels if your water starts to green up again, but you’ll find your balance point usually within 10-14 days after stopping the food to the fish AND adding sufficient plants to make up the difference. Your fish will not starve to death in this amount of time, and will benefit tremendously from the clearer water by having more oxygen available to consume. (See #5 also).

2)      TOO MANY FISH: If you have too many fish in too small of an environment, you may have to thin them out, or enlarge their environment to handle all the fertilizer they produce. In nature, they are spread out over thousands of cubic feet of water per fish. With good circulation and filtration of a pond, we can get away with a denser population, within certain limits. The more fish, the more oxygen they require, thus more frequently circulated and oxygenated water. A waterfall or fountain nozzle radically increases the amount of available oxygen in water versus un-circulated, stagnant water that has a low level of oxygen. There is still a balance point involved (See #5). Once crossed, bad things start to happen, to your fish and to your water quality and clarity, not to mention your enjoyment of the pond and fish.

3)      NOT FEEDING FISH- WATER STILL GREEN: If you’re not feeding your fish, but your water is green, you either have too many fish, or not enough plants to achieve balance. Also think about the circulation rate of your pump compared to the volume of water your pond holds. On a pond under 5000 gallons of volume, your pump should be moving the total volume of water of the entire pond (called “turnover”) through a filter and over a waterfall or through a fountain nozzle at least one or more times per hour. The smaller the pond, the more frequently you can economically “turnover” the water. This keeps your oxygen levels high, thus making it easier to achieve balance (see #5 also).

4)      NO FISH–GREEN WATER: Having no fish in a pond doesn’t mean the fertilizer isn’t still going to happen. Any organics, like tree leaves, plant stems and dead flowers all start to break down the second they die. This is part of the circle of life. As they break down, they convert eventually into, you guessed it, plant food. See #5. Having good circulation and adding oxygen to the water will help the existing plants optimize their nutrient intake, as well as it possibly being necessary to add even more plants to achieve balance.

5)      BENEFICIAL BACTERIA'S: Adding a bacteria blended to eat and convert these organics can’t hurt, and usually helps. A liquid blend, like Aqua-one™ will get into action faster than a powdered form that is usually a freeze-dried blend. Liquid goes to work immediately, while powdered takes 3-5 days to get “resurrected”. Powdered has a longer shelf life. Liquid should be used with-in a year of packaging, not purchase, (Aqua-one™ date stamps their product to expire 9 months after packaging, so you know how fresh it is. I know of no one else who does this) while dry may last 2-3 years.

6)      UV CLARIFIERS: Some people swear by Ultra Violet clarifiers. That you’ll never have clear water without one. I disagree. With BALANCE, (plants-moving, oxygenated water- beneficial bacteria's and adequate filtration) you’ll have clear water every time. GREEN WATER ONLY OCCURS IN AN UN-BALANCED POND!!! A UV might help clean up a green water problem initially, but long term, with out balance, it’s just a band-aid™ or crutch. Learn and establish BALANCE, and Mother Nature GIVES you that clear water for FREE.  UV clarifiers (the term sterilizer is often incorrectly used) will damage the cell wall of the green-water causing organisms that pass through its exposure chamber. As long as you don’t pump the water through too fast, and the bulb is new enough to maintain the proper spectrum of light necessary to do this. Even if still glowing, after 6-8 months, the bulb degrades, and is no longer giving off light in the proper spectrum to do its job. This necessitates a bulb change every year. When it does function properly, it damages the organisms passing through it enough to prohibit their ability to reproduce, causing them to eventually mature and die, without reproducing. The down side, if not trapped in a proper filtration system that is frequently cleaned, the dead algae's lay there and rapidly decompose, releasing their nutrients into the water to feed more algae's, or create a rapidly degrading water quality, that while possibly clear, may be sucking oxygen out of the water faster than you can replace it. I prefer BALANCE for a pond, feeling that UVs do have their place in specialized Aquaculture, not in a properly balanced and maintained pond or watergarden. A UV clarifier could be used to assist with balance, but should not take its place. Thus a balanced pond doesn’t really need one.

CONCLUSION:

These are the primary clues and reasons of classic green water syndrome. I hope the information you found here helps you to resolve your problem, and as a result, increase your enjoyment of your pond or watergarden.  REMEMBER, it takes time to achieve balance. Be patient, and let nature and knowledge take over.

 Be sure to check out the rest of the “IN” websites (IPPCA Internet Information Network). With any specialized additional problems, call the IPPCA Pond Hobbyists Hotline at (770) 592-9790.) A pond and watergarden specialist will be able to help you.

      

            Dave Jones, 2-26-06               

 

 

Copyright IPPCA 2006

 

 

 

Contractor Of The Month

Brian Buchholtz, Pottstown, Pennsylvania

Brian Buchholtz PondWorks is a small business which focuses on aquatic design, construction, and maintenance as well as the products which are needed to create and maintain ponds, fountains, and many other types of aquatic elements.

PondWorks or at least its beginnings started around 1993 when Brian Buchholtz expanded his interest in water gardening and began installing small garden ponds as a part time job.  The business grew but was still seasonal as Brian completed his studies as Philadelphia University where he graduated with a degree in architecture.   Since that time PondWorks has grown to its current size of five dedicated and knowledgeable staff members.  By taking advantage of many relationships with other design and construction professionals PondWorks has been able to broaden their scope of work.

PondWorks currently undertakes many types of aquatic design and construction.  Garden Ponds are still a large part of the schedule but are now integrated with projects that range from inner city fountains, and indoor water features in offices and restaurants, to golf course ponds and long winding man made creeks and waterfalls.  Currently the PondWorks staff provides regular service to over 100 businesses and residences in the greater Philadelphia area.

 

Associate Member Of The Month

Wisconsin Water Gardens, Suamico, Wisconsin

Wisconsin Water Gardens is a family owned and operated retail/wholesale water garden center specializing in water garden installation.  Located 10 minutes north of Green Bay WI.,
we have a full line of water garden products, as well as pond and lake management supplies.

We are Wisconsin's Easy Pro pond products distributer for wholesale contractors and landscapers. We also have a large inventory of aquatic plants, water lilies, water lotus, and more! We have a large inventory of koi, both domestic and Japanese imports, and goldfish!

                                                                                                                                         

Sponsor Of The Month

Russell Watergardens, Redmond, Washington

Russell Water Gardens was excited and wanted to be part of the first and only Neutral Association.  Here is an Association that will accept contractors that install all types of products not just one manufacturer's.

Thanks John, Pam and the Russell Water Gardens Team for your support.

 

Home

 

Hit Counter