Garden Bog

[koifishgirl]

Hi I was just wondering would a garden bog work with a mud pond in helping keep water clear?

[dick benbow]

If I understand your intent from getting to know you from your previous posts my answer would be no it wouldn't. In some articles i have seen published on mr maeda from momotaro ,you'll see his growth ponds with water hyacyths in them. They offer shade as well as work on water quality. Just be careful in buying them as i have seen problems introduced with these plants that were not disinfected!

[Arthur]

Disinnfect all plants going into a koi pond in a Potassium Permanganate solution at 100ppm for one hour (including leaves).

[koifishgirl]

Hi Dick and thanks , I know the plants will help with water quality, but am not sure if they will do much good for clarity in a mud pond. I am going to use the hay in the bottom since I have found out that it helps and decomposes and helps to feed the fry. I have planned a garden bog on my big pond and if it helps with clarity I will let everone know. Just a experiment to see.

[ranskye]

mainly checking if my picture works.

it could be hard to balance such a situation, but thats what nature has come up with so i reckon give it a go on your big fish pond. think plants are tiny complete biofilters.
if only you could hold back tiny algal cells easily..and light em up all night long.

hyacynth,tomatoes, lettuce.. the list goes on. its been done with good results in plenty of places. unless you have a lack of air, water flow and get a root rot off i dont see why it would be bad. if they go bad just pull em out and rethink.

[ranskye]

oh yeh but i dont think it will help the clay particles much either though.
its weird but i used to panic a bit about the clayey ponds, not ideal but they seem to go ok.
has anyone come up with application rate for gypsum so she can try that.

maybe ill go through some papers and find it someday.
im thinking it was 40mg/l. dont try it and kill your fish though. check it first. i should write disclaimers from now on.

on a different note, ive got some source water that is stained tea from all the organic matter.
i recently noticed that when i run it through a biofilter for about three weeks on a closed recirc system it became much clearer, initially i had a sechi reading of about 8 inches then after a few weeks i could just about see the bottom. maybe the colour went into the bacterias gut.

[ranskye]

i got an equation for kfg and her fry pond and anyone that wants to know.

gypsum application mg/l = total alkalinity mg/l - total hardness mg/l x 4.

i dont think that this application rate has been calculated to remove clay.

anyway..its safe enough for your fish..how much youd use depends on your source and once its mixed with your pond/.
i wouldnt go over 80 mg/l with the gypsum myself (though some do.)


total alkalinity is the quantity of titrable bases present in your water,- mainly carbonates and bi carbonates but also hydroxides.
whereas total hardness is the overall concentration of divalent salts.
being calcium, magnesium and iron etc.. confused yet?
(not a real concern for you yet)
id advise you to take it on the side of easy application, easy fertilisation, straw bales are ok and work up from there.

[koifishgirl]

I wounder what a layer of gravel would do? Just bounceing around things in my head. You can put a potted plant in your pond that is full of clay and cover the top with gravel and it does not mess up the water. How can gravel hold clay particals.

[gregbickal]

Gravel = Bad. The koi can scrape themselves on the gravel and then get an ulcer. After a season with koi rooting around, the mud pond will have all kinds of exposed rocks everywhere. The Japanese have to go around with a tamping machine and tamp the soil down.

[koifishgirl]

Hi Greg that is a idea that might help some when I get ready to fill my ponds. What about a layer of sand do you think that would help any?