Water lettuce.

[Alpravinosh]

Hi forum this is just my experience on something I learnt about water lettuce. I am not sure if it is full prove...
I built a pond in my yard, not something to big but just nice to fill up the area allocated for it. I was all excited when I had filled it up as its time for the fun part the "deco". Added in small stones, medium size stones and even large rocks. When hiding the edge of my pond I used some cheap gravel from a hardware store, and I completely forgot about washing the gravel down. After a few days the pond was complete my entire family loved it and I added some fish, and all was running well. that's when my uncle told me to get some water lettuce to help make the pond more natural and the next day there were four large lettuces in my pond. Do take not pond water is crystal clear at that time. Then one day it rained so heavily the area surrounding my pond was flooded. Mud water flowed into my pond carrying along with it metal precipitates of the unwashed gravel into my beautiful pond. Soon my pond water turned brown, I consulted my dealer from which I bought my pump , filter and so on and she advised me to leave the pond as it would be a good chance to see how good the pump and filter operates. So I let my pond be for three days and that's when I noticed my water lettuce turning into an awful looking brown and yellow. At that time the water looked greay which indicates that the mud has been filtered but the metal residues can't be filtered of. So thats when I added in the pond clear which within a day turned the water from grey to a sheet of glass it was absolutely amazing. And after a day my water lettuce also changed from an awful yellow and brown to a beautiful green. So what I am trying to say is the water lettuce acts as an indicator to the water quality of the pond.

 

[Dave 54]

The problem is Alp your going to have to set in place a number of experiments to prove this concept of the water lettuce as an indicator
First and formost though you have to remember that water lettuce cannot be used to check water quality a pond test kit has to do this for you as you need to know exactly the balance of Ammonia, Nirtite, Nitrate, Ph etc .
I would also suggest you to look into the effects of these metals that have been washed into your pond find out exactly what they are and what they could do to your fish , the worst case senario is that they may poison them which you dont want.
Sadly for us in the UK water lettuce simply wouldnt survive the winter months as its too cold .
But we await these trials with interest.
Photo's would help to explain things

Dave

 

[sissy]

Depends when it comes to water lettuce .It seems to always need more fertilizer than the water hyacinth .I put mine in a concrete mixing tub with miracle grow to see how much better they did and the grew like weeds .I put them in my filters and in plant rings .The ones in the filters grew great .But the ones in the pond only did OK . I kept having to take the ones out of the pond and exchange them for the ones in the concrete mixing tub .I started with 3 plants of each

 

[Mucky_Waters]

At that time the water looked greay which indicates that the mud has been filtered but the metal residues can't be filtered of. So thats when I added in the pond clear which within a day turned the water from grey to a sheet of glass it was absolutely amazing. And after a day my water lettuce also changed from an awful yellow and brown to a beautiful green. So what I am trying to say is the water lettuce acts as an indicator to the water quality of the pond.

First of all, what is this "pond clear", you are talking about? Second of all, what makes you so sure there were "metal residues" in your pond? What sort of tests did you do that showed metal residues in your pond? Thirdly, I've seen plenty of water lettuce and water hyacinth growing fantastically in very murky water, providing it has a high nutrient content. In fact murky water is more apt to have a higher nutrient content then crystal clear water, and most "water clearing" products are apt to reduce nutrient content.
Lastly, having your water lettuce swing all the way from awful yellow and brown to beautiful green in single day seems nothing short of a miracle, are you sure it didn't take 3 to 5 days?

 

[sissy]

True and even the ones in my filters did not get enough nutrients and the ones in the pond either .The ones in the tub with miracle grow had plenty of fertilizer .Could fertilizer from your yard or neighbors property have been washed into your pond .I never have luck with water lettuce ,but in fertilizer they grow great and get pretty big

 

[adavisus]

It usually takes a while for plants to adjust to a different pond, after they establish new roots, new top growth follows. Some call it plant shock.

Regards, andy
http://www.pinterest.com/adavisus/pondering/

 

[Lisak1]

iLife many people I can't grow water lettuce or hyacinth to save my life, but all my other plants grow great in my pond. So I think you put two and two together there and came up with the wrong answer. There may be a certain quality to the water that encourages or discourages water lettuce, but it's not an overall indicator of good water quality.

 

[Alpravinosh]

Hi forum, well it was not me who found out that it was metal residues contained within my pond but it was my supplier. I sent her a pic and she confirmed it. A pond clear is a chemical added to pond water it clumps together residues that cannot be filtered of by the filter so that it is big enough to be filtered. And lastly yes it is a miracle that the water lettuce turned an awful yellow and brown to a beautiful green. I will do more test in the future to confirm this theory. Thank you all for the feedback.

 

[Dave 54]

Hang a moment Alp surely any metals going into your pond would sink flucctuation would not effect it s it woul be sitting on the bottom of the pond and not floating about in it , Flucctuation only attracts and clumps together any residue floating about in the water column such as food residue algae etc .
Metals would therefore just sit on the bottom of the pond and do nothing , this is why it was suggested to you to find out exactly what metals you have there, I suggest she sold it to you to clump together any particals washed into your pond during the rain from the soil to clear your water .

Dave