I REALLY WISH I HAD THESE WHEN I STARTED

[GreatDanesDad]

PLEASE READ THESE HOLY WOW BEST INFORMATION ON THE WEB!!!!! I dont think I can put in enough explaination points.
https://www.azgardens.com/c-155-free-algae-advice.aspx
http://jnfkoifarms.com/thescienceofwater.html

Changed my pond and understanding of what I am doing (or suppose to be doing) 100 percent.

 

[sissy]

had trapdoor snails and fish ate them .Peroxide is just what barley straw breaks down to be .So why add the yucky messy barley .I have used peroxide for years and crushed oyster shells and gravel in your water fall yes and I use lava rock in my filters and in my one waterfall area .Plants well I can't keep many plants koi destroy them and I add a little disolved solar salt

 

[Waterbug]

Next week I plan on selling a cold fusion powered pump. Just like barley straw my claim is also based on a single study, in my case a 1989 study by Pons-Fleischmann, very respected electrochemists that showed cold fusion does work!!! Your pump can run just on water, no electric. I accept PayPal, cash, or check.

Full barley straw story here.

 

[sissy]

never heard of cold fusion waterbug,I guess when it comes to some stuff the old always works and the new is out there to make money off us suckers :cheerful: .I now my parents water wheel just runs on stream power ,there is an underground and above ground stream and water has always been clear .I wish I had that .I don't even have a smart phone just a plain old cell phone as long as I can call out in an emergency ,it's all good .I still want to find that stupid quarry open so I can buy haydite and try that in a filter .Seems like they are never open and I call and all you get is a message .

 

[Citizen arcane]

Good reading and no matter our level of mastering of keeping fish we should all review the core items pointed out by both postings.

If nothing else we should all take this away with us in our journey:

Part 2
“IF YOU DO NOT REGULARLY TEST YOUR WATER FOR KH, YOUR FISH ARE GOING TO DIE. IT IS NOT A MATTER OF "IF" BUT ONLY A MATTER OF "WHEN"!

I became complacent in my attendance of my aquaria, quit testing years ago and suffered a major pH crash that lost 5 out of 6 of my large goldfish. I am now testing weekly; keeping my kH up and battling the horrible water I pay for from the City. Fortunately I found a person who is selling their home that let me net a couple of large Sarrassas yesteday and will try to get a couple of Shubunkins this week end. Being blessed, I shall remain ever vigilant in my fish keeping duties from here on out.

 

[sissy]

That's why we use crushed oyster shells to stabilize ph .

 

[rebelangel_3733]

definately worth the read...I just dont like green, but will wait for my new pond to cycle I guess.

 

[crsublette]

PLEASE READ THESE HOLY WOW BEST INFORMATION ON THE WEB!!!!! I dont think I can put in enough explaination points.
https://www.azgardens.com/c-155-free-algae-advice.aspx
http://jnfkoifarms.com/thescienceofwater.html

Changed my pond and understanding of what I am doing (or suppose to be doing) 100 percent.

Yeah, John Hanover at jnkoifarms has written some interesting posts on koiphen, but he left from there some time ago. Although, his post history is still available. Some of it is interesting.

I read it once a long time ago, but just very quickly skimmed over it again.

Even though some of his info is a bit dated, I generally do not have a problem, for the most part, with what he wrote except for his recommendations on stocking levels. He wrote a very dangerous recommendation when stating, "for the average beginner, I usually recommend no more than one fish (any size) for every 100 gallons of water, and this would actually be considered a considerably high stocking rate to some." One goldfish per 100 gallons would be a perfectly fine recommendation for the average beginner. One koi per 100 gallons would be an extremely dangerous recommendation for the average beginner, since he is referring this advice to an average beginner. One koi per 250 gallons is pushing it as well although it is more manageable if the filtration is decent. For beginners, who likely may not have suffucient filtraiton from the getgo, with koi due to how they grow incredibly big quite fast, then 600 gallons per one koi or pond should be at least pond 1000 gallons then one koi every 300 gallons for the average beginner. Also, diseases can be easily managed in an overstock pond with a proper system depending on the quality UV sterilizer device, pond turnover rate, efficiency of filtration, extent of water changes, and overall management of the pond, which would go far over the head of beginners.

 

[crsublette]

Good reading and no matter our level of mastering of keeping fish we should all review the core items pointed out by both postings.

If nothing else we should all take this away with us in our journey:

Part 2
“IF YOU DO NOT REGULARLY TEST YOUR WATER FOR KH, YOUR FISH ARE GOING TO DIE. IT IS NOT A MATTER OF "IF" BUT ONLY A MATTER OF "WHEN"!

I became complacent in my attendance of my aquaria, quit testing years ago and suffered a major pH crash that lost 5 out of 6 of my large goldfish. I am now testing weekly; keeping my kH up and battling the horrible water I pay for from the City. Fortunately I found a person who is selling their home that let me net a couple of large Sarrassas yesteday and will try to get a couple of Shubunkins this week end. Being blessed, I shall remain ever vigilant in my fish keeping duties from here on out.

Yeah, it is a test that is good to do since Nature's tendency is to deplete KH, especially after a heavy rain storm, but frequency of testing is quite circumstantial.

Some folk's water have such a high alkalinity, that is high buffer potential, so all they need to do is to "top off" the water due to evaporation or just do very small 5~10% weekly water changes to replenish the water's alkalinity and minerals and this would be more than enough, but other folk are not this lucky

 

[Citizen arcane]

That's why we use crushed oyster shells to stabilize ph .

Crushed corral here. I forgot just how soft our water is, as crsublette pointed out.

I found through testing that my water source's pH is 7.6 but when I take up 32 gals. for top off, a few days later it is < 6. I slowly killed my filter through top offs and water changes. Though I've had numerous amounts of aquaria through my 30 some years of keeping fish I stopped testing water about 8 years ago and it caught up with me.

 

[crsublette]

As far as the Arizona Gardens article goes, it is what I would expect from an organic proponent of managing a ponds and shows a bit of dishonesty by not sharing the potential negatives of the approaches.

The article is correct in that Barley produces hydrogen peroxide, but it also provides complex organics for bacteria to decompose which further depletes the inorganic carbons, oxygen, and minerals in the water. The better approach would be to use a high frequency, very low concentration, very low dose measurement of hydrogen peroxide. The ironic part about barley, when I tried it out, there was actually algae starting to grow on the barley. So, it just one of those products pond stores are trying to make money off of from their customers.

I am glad to read how the author writes more careful about the usage of hydrogen peroxide. Folk can easily over dose with hydrogen peroxide significantly hurting or killing fish and plants. So, if there any desire to use it, then I highly recommend obtaining and using a low concentration hydrogen peroxide test kit so to make sure the peroxide does not linger around for more than 12~24 hours; if it does, then either a water change or toss in some sodium thiosulfate crystals to nuetralize the peroxide. To understand more about sodium thiosulfate (ST), then read my post#17 in the thread adding water. Simply just dissolve a handful of crystalls in a bucket of water then dose the water. Any leftover ST is broken down by bacteria and into fish/pond/plant healthy sulfate residuals. The dosage rate the article mentions for the peroxide is quite high so I would be careful with it. In the beginning, just to see how it reacts in the pond, I would do half his dose at first.

It is funny that the author would recommend hydrogen peroxide yet rails against using algaecides, since most algaecides are just an oxidizer or a microbicide.

I would be extremely cautious about the articles comments about salt. To actually accomplish what the author suggests, the concentration would have to remain quite high. To get a better idea, then read is salt healthy for the pond?


Overall, I think it is a decent and typical article and one of the more will mannered articles I have read. The references to the various fish options are quite interesting, which I think I will look further into.

 

[sissy]

I understand a little salt but not what that says .I know because a few years ago I was told by a doctor I needed some salt in my diet and since I don't eat processed foods and no meat i was not really getting any salt in my diet ,Salads and fresh fruit carry only very minimum amount and that is only some of them .I never thought keeping salt out of my diet can be just as bad ,just like keeping meat out of my diet does .I have not eaten meat since I was 4 .I know when I add some to the pond I can tell the difference in the fish slime coat .

 

[addy1]

all about balance Sissy, my last hubby drank so much water due to dry mouth, due to pain meds, he was salt depleted. We had to give him a salt pill every day ow his electrolytes were out of balance.

 

[sissy]

yeh funny you always think salt is a bad thing and then you realize you need some .Even my mother only bought salt for the ice cream maker .I see people load there food up with salt and wonder how they can taste anything but salt .But then I wonder how people can eat meat too . :cheerful:

 

[JohnHuff]

We should bump this thread once in a while if not for the 2 articles, then for WB's cold fusion reactor.