South is to the right, photo taken from the west. Please ignore the mess to the right, we're half way through the garden project.
@Pete.8, there was plenty of blanketweed in April, which I treated with Nishikoi Clear Water. That did a fantastic job, clearing out the blanketweed after two treatments. The struggling plants were struggling before that. I must say that I'm delighted with the water clarity as well - quite a welcome surprise.
The pump is a 6000l/h job, which feeds a pressure filter which feeds a biofilter in the waterfall box. There are six small fish in the pond, a couple of tench and a few shubunkin.
Some plants are going great guns - you can see the typha at the back and the eriophorum at the front. The scirpus near to the waterfall also does well - I've just given it a trim and refresh. The pontederia that you can just see breaking the surface at the front and back had a good year for foliage last year but only put out a couple of flowers. Its tips are unfortunately frost-bitten this year.
Here is the JBL scan. It's a pro water monitor:
The chlorine is up slightly after a water change. I'm just waiting for the sodium thiosulphate to bring that down. The nitrate level is only very marginally high. And oddly, that excess should contribute to algal growth, of which there is none!
@Dovefromabove posted whilst I was typing, but yes, it's a paper water test (not "pro" as my post reads!). It's recommended over the likes of Blagdon's tests as being much more reliable. Results are consistently as above, with chlorine and nitrate levels being brought into check and then sometimes creeping outside of the ideal, as they are this week. No real issues with any of the other readings.
First - what a lovely looking pond! You must be well-pleased.
What stone have you used to build the sides?
The one thing that does stand out is the planting around the perimeter. You have plants (hosta, primula and carex I think) planted in soil at the edge of the pond. When it rains, the rain water will filter through the soil and into the pond. If anything that would likely increase the amount of fertilizer to plants and would often cause problems with algae. That could be what is causing the NO2/NO3 spikes.
As you're probably aware, the chlorine is down to using tap water. Is there any way you could save rain water in a butt and use that for your pond? Fortunately I have 2x240L butts quite close to mine so always use that to top up.
A few of the plants seem to be fine and the lily seems to be growing nicely. The pond is only 2 yrs old and I know that mine took 2-3 years before it settled. Unless you've used some sort of limestone for the walls (which can be problematic), I think it's just a matter of letting the pond mature. Adding bunches of oxygenators (the type you just throw into the pond) will use up lots of excess nutrients and help with the balance.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I don’t know anything about tests, things to put in for this or that, mine’s just a wildlife pond, no fish so I suppose it’s not so important. It was established within 2 years of building, and has just gone from neat and tidy to desperately needing a clear out.
This is less than 2 years later. The plants were in pots at the beginning but didn’t seem to be growing much, we took them out of the pots and they started to grow well. It’s now covered on the surface with plants. There’s lots of underwater oxygenating weed.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
@Pete.8, thank you for your help. The walling is reclaimed stone so there will be some limestone mixed in. The bog garden is separated from the pond to avoid leeching; I've built the pond liner lip up above the soil level and hidden it with rocks. The bog garden sits effectively in its own liner, albeit it's just punctured compost bags!
I generally have topped up with rain water. The benefit of being on a worksite is that we've got half a dozen trugs collecting water, and it's really only this past week that I've needed to get the hose out to top up. As I say, generally chlorine is within tolerance.
I've taken out a lot of the oxygenators as they were a bit too rampant, but I've got a good amount of hornwort, spiked water milfoil and starwort. The fish love it as their hiding spot.
I think you may be right, a bit more patience needed. I built it two years ago but really only planted it up last year. In fact, there might be something in the fact that the 'best' plants are the only ones I had in two years ago - the scirpus and typha! I'm not confident the forget-me-not will make it but, other than that, things may be limp but they're at least green. I'll see what the autumn and next spring brings!
The limestone will leach carbonates when it rains as rain water is slightly acidic, so that will increase the hardness of the water somewhat, but I wouldn't think it's particularly significant. If the oxygenators are growing fast, there's not much wrong with the water.
I think it's just a case of letting nature work its magic - which of course can't be rushed.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Interestingly, the issue we had initially was with water hardness dropping when it rained - although that isn't generally an issue now. So the leaching could help to counteract that.
I look forward to posting pictures of a verdant and lively pond next year!
I used the same anti-blanket weed stuff. A lot of my new pond plants recently died. I can't say there is a direct causation, but your post was interesting to me. I lost all water forgetmenot and water primulas. It was a total mystery. It did sort the blanket weed, but perhaps at a cost. I, no doubt, used far too much powder in a tiny pond. It would be interesting to hear if anyone else had a correlation. I don't want to just jump to the wrong conclusion.
Did you use something like Cloverleaf that is really fine and powdery like cornflour? It's something I use in my fish pond if needed. It is just crushed diatoms which should have no effect on anything than the algae even if you significantly overdose. I've used it on and off for 20+ years and not had any problems subsequently. I don't use it in my wildlife pond.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Posts
South is to the right, photo taken from the west. Please ignore the mess to the right, we're half way through the garden project.
@Pete.8, there was plenty of blanketweed in April, which I treated with Nishikoi Clear Water. That did a fantastic job, clearing out the blanketweed after two treatments. The struggling plants were struggling before that. I must say that I'm delighted with the water clarity as well - quite a welcome surprise.
The pump is a 6000l/h job, which feeds a pressure filter which feeds a biofilter in the waterfall box. There are six small fish in the pond, a couple of tench and a few shubunkin.
Some plants are going great guns - you can see the typha at the back and the eriophorum at the front. The scirpus near to the waterfall also does well - I've just given it a trim and refresh. The pontederia that you can just see breaking the surface at the front and back had a good year for foliage last year but only put out a couple of flowers. Its tips are unfortunately frost-bitten this year.
Here is the JBL scan. It's a pro water monitor:
The chlorine is up slightly after a water change. I'm just waiting for the sodium thiosulphate to bring that down. The nitrate level is only very marginally high. And oddly, that excess should contribute to algal growth, of which there is none!
Sure is a head scratcher, @Pete.8!
I'm always a bit suspicious of paper-based water tests, but I guess they give some idea.
@Astraeus if you can let us know what the results are that may help.
Do the results change over the course of a few weeks?
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
What stone have you used to build the sides?
The one thing that does stand out is the planting around the perimeter.
You have plants (hosta, primula and carex I think) planted in soil at the edge of the pond.
When it rains, the rain water will filter through the soil and into the pond.
If anything that would likely increase the amount of fertilizer to plants and would often cause problems with algae. That could be what is causing the NO2/NO3 spikes.
As you're probably aware, the chlorine is down to using tap water.
Is there any way you could save rain water in a butt and use that for your pond?
Fortunately I have 2x240L butts quite close to mine so always use that to top up.
A few of the plants seem to be fine and the lily seems to be growing nicely.
The pond is only 2 yrs old and I know that mine took 2-3 years before it settled.
Unless you've used some sort of limestone for the walls (which can be problematic), I think it's just a matter of letting the pond mature.
Adding bunches of oxygenators (the type you just throw into the pond) will use up lots of excess nutrients and help with the balance.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
It’s now covered on the surface with plants. There’s lots of underwater oxygenating weed.
@Pete.8, thank you for your help. The walling is reclaimed stone so there will be some limestone mixed in. The bog garden is separated from the pond to avoid leeching; I've built the pond liner lip up above the soil level and hidden it with rocks. The bog garden sits effectively in its own liner, albeit it's just punctured compost bags!
I generally have topped up with rain water. The benefit of being on a worksite is that we've got half a dozen trugs collecting water, and it's really only this past week that I've needed to get the hose out to top up. As I say, generally chlorine is within tolerance.
I've taken out a lot of the oxygenators as they were a bit too rampant, but I've got a good amount of hornwort, spiked water milfoil and starwort. The fish love it as their hiding spot.
I think you may be right, a bit more patience needed. I built it two years ago but really only planted it up last year. In fact, there might be something in the fact that the 'best' plants are the only ones I had in two years ago - the scirpus and typha! I'm not confident the forget-me-not will make it but, other than that, things may be limp but they're at least green. I'll see what the autumn and next spring brings!
Thanks so much again folks.
If the oxygenators are growing fast, there's not much wrong with the water.
I think it's just a case of letting nature work its magic - which of course can't be rushed.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I look forward to posting pictures of a verdant and lively pond next year!
It's something I use in my fish pond if needed.
It is just crushed diatoms which should have no effect on anything than the algae even if you significantly overdose.
I've used it on and off for 20+ years and not had any problems subsequently.
I don't use it in my wildlife pond.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.