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The Disadvantages of Barley Straw

While there is no question that barley straw submersed in a garden pond will prevent the development of algae in the water I have never seen any report of the harmful effect it can have on the fish in such a situation. To understand the problem it is necessary to understand the biology of the process. When you place any form of barley straw into water the straw starts to decompose "rot" and in the process steals oxygen from the water to fuel the breakdown, even if the water is low on dissolved oxygen the decomposition will still take the oxygen necessary for the rotting process with the possibility of reducing the waters oxygen levels that endanger fish stocks. The product of such a process is to make the water slightly stagnant and stagnant water cannot support any form of algae. This situation is most unhealthy for any life form relying on obtaining their oxygen through the water. On trials we conducted on our farm in the U.K. three to four years of regular use of barley straw and the fish lose body weight, look very ill and usually die, an examination of the fish will show that they are very anemic and have low blood cell count induced from living constantly in oxygen depleted water. The above statement is the result often years research carried out in twenty ponds that were used for the various experiments to find a cure for the algae problem which nearly Every pond keeper is unfortunately familiar with. As well as straw we experimented with other organics which included:-leaves of various trees, the bark and the roots, reeds and rushes. Their effect on the algae varied but none were outstanding but they all relied on the same principle of making the water tainted and undrinkable. The next step was to look at separating the algae from the water. The first step was to introduce Daphnia (water fleas) into the pond as their main source of food is algae, that worked providing the pond had no fish otherwise the fish consumed the Daphnia at a higher rate than the Daphnia can consume the algae. That was followed by a mechanical idea which we recommended to our customers for several years and that was to make a temporary filter outside of the pond, this was a plastic tub or barrel with a hole cut in the side at the base, the tub positioned so that the hole is just over the pond edge so that any water going into the tub is returned to the pond, then three quarters fill the tub with any old clothing. Fabrics of most types except jeans are suitable finish off with a single sheet of cloth draped over the top with the surplus hanging over the outside, then with a small water pump placed in the deepest part of your pond and the delivery hose in the top of your tub and switch on. The sediment and algae will soon sink your sheet until it rests on the clothing and it would be as well to watch the process as the top sheet can quickly become full, when it does switch off the pump and remove the delivery hose and pick up the loose ends of your sheet and lift it out of your tub disposing the contents on a compost heap or garden where the nutrients will be used then replace the sheet and continue the process, providing you have done the process as described the water returning to the pond should be clear and free of any algae. This idea usually clears a garden pond in less than one day and will generally stay algae free for a considerable time period as you have removed the algae and its food from the pond unlike chemicals that kill the algae only to drop to the pond base and decompose releasing more nutrients to fuel another algae cycle. While this idea worked we knew that there must be a better way and after a great many failures the idea emerged to steal the food that fed the algae without causing any harm to the fish or insects living in the water, after a few years we came upon a combination of natural elements that did just that, it kept our lily ponds which were three feet deep with a base covering of pebbles and you could see every stone through the water throughout the U.K. summer. That was our pubic display area for our hardy water lily collection which numbered almost four hundred species and varieties. After several years of use and constant requests from our visitors we finally made the product marketable for various size ponds, we patented the process and named it Water Wych, it is now being manufactured in the U.S.A. and distributed throughout the U.S.A. Canada, England and Europe. Reginald Henley MISM. AMISM Phone 209-667-4631 e-mail www.waterwychusa.com

Well, we are burning through this year like a hot knife through butter! We are approximately 90 days away from INFO-TANZA 2009. That’s a give or take depending on when you actually check E-Mails. October 22nd thru October 24th in Atlanta GA. INFO-TANZA 2009, BE THERE! www.INFOTANZA.com . There will be hands on classes to hone your field skills and manufacturers to talk to about “pond stuff”. The manufacturers are there to speak to you about product, but also to learn from your hands on experience with their products in the field. For a full calendar of the events scheduled, check out www.INFOTANZA.com and set your schedule for October 22nd thru October 24th to be at the only open venue pond trade event in 2009!      It is time now to do a quick review of what your IPPCA has been up to in 2009! For starters, the hobbyist side of IPPCA, the International Pond and Water Garden Society (IPaWGS), in an effort to protect water and wildlife resources, began a certification program. Anyone can now apply to have a Certified Wildlife “Ponditat”™. A “Ponditat”™? Yup! The word “Ponditat” best describes what this certification means. A pond is a vital water resource for wildlife, and a Ponditat is vital for the survival of many of our back yard types of wild or really wild inhabitants. Over fifty percent of IPPCA’s corporate members are supporting this program and distributing applications. My hat is off to this great show of support for this very important endeavor.      As a direct challenge to the Industry Professionals out there that haven’t made up their mind to become IPPCA members yet or have been procrastinating, IPaWGS, our hobbyist branch, has already surpassed the IPPCA in terms of growth over its first 6 months. The Hobbyists are showing their support of the industry and their hobbies in rapidly growing numbers, how about you?      The IPPCA Legislative Action Team (LAT) continues to have dialogue with the EPA on the guidelines for the proposed “Water Sense New Home” program. The impact this new “voluntary” program could have on pond hobbyists and professional pond and water garden installers will be fully measured once the final draft has sifted through the system. On a related note, one of the best controls for water use is a water meter. A water meter will let you know when water use increases and will blow the whistle on a possible water leak somewhere around your pond. It will tell you that your “auto-fill” has been pinched by the skimmer net and used an extra 5,000 gallons that day.     Ooh! An awesome time in Kentucky for the fourth annual Ponditat For Humanity™ event! Larry Moore and crew were all over it for “Ponditat” this year, along with other members that attended. The support again this year by both corporate and contractor members of the IPPCA was fantastic! A big thank you to our sponsors of this year’s event, it couldn’t happen without their generous support. The Ashland Terrace Retirement Community of Lexington Kentucky was our pond makeover recipient for 2009. Check out the “Ponditat” site for shots of the team, the build and the awesome residents that cheered the “Top Guns” on! www.PonditatForHumanity.com . Just in case you are wondering, Lexington Kentucky is the thoroughbred capital of the world! Now if I was going to move to Lexington Kentucky, it would probably not be to build ponds, but fences! I flew in to the Lexington airport over miles of white fences made just to keep horses at home. Fences! Mile after mile of white fences!      The Bio Safety Team (BST) has been busy so far this year, helping dozens and dozens of pond hobbyists with fish health and water quality issues all over the world. The Pond Hobbyists’ Hotline has been averaging 6 calls a day, 7 days a week for the year to date. The IPPCA Message Board now features a new “Ask A Pro” section that is getting hits from day one. (It just got launched two days ago) Awesome!    In closing, the IPPCA is hosting the only open venue trade event in 2009 for the pond industry and pond builders. That’s a first for the industry in and of itself in the new millennium.  Don’t forget to sign up to attend INFO TANZA ‘09, www.INFOTANZA.com , we are now less than 3 months away, and true to our mission statement, we stand in the forefront with information and education. Information about new products or procedures or perspectives, information and education to keep you from falling into marketing traps. Yes, IPPCA is about information and education, keeping you the contractor and pond professional informed. Rocke’ Huntington President 2009

Ponditat For Humanity 2009

Corpus Christi, Texas David Price has been in the pond and water garden business for appoximately 7 years.  He has a lifetime of experience in aquariums, plumbing & electrical, construction, which has lead to his expertise in designing and installing water features.  He is also an installer of  Spray-on Polyurea Liners.

Sandy, Utah Fielding Pump Company is the exclusive distributor for ShinMaywa, serving all of the United States.  ShinMaywa has over 50 years experience as a pump manufacturer, producing over 50,000 Norus series pumps a year,  with an   outstanding reputation for high quality.  As a company, they are noted for their commitment to the customer, working hard to satisfy their needs, providing a product that is reliable and affordable. Fielding has the knowledge and ability to offer assistance to customers, both at wholesale and retail levels. Fielding Pump, we guarantee our products and our service, customer satisfaction is our primary goal.

Weeki Wachee, Florida We consult on filtration, pumps and electric. We do repairs and replacements for pumps, filtration and electric for ponds and swimming pools. We also do new pond filtration install for other pond builders. The ponds here are all wood framed and are partly gutted too show how different types of filtration could be done. My systems are set up for raising and selling fish in volume and give people an idea on what type filtrations are available.

In the last article we discussed chemical and mechanical filtration. In this article I will cover biological filtration. What is the purpose of a biological filter? It is the removal of toxic compounds by means of living organisms. The typical toxic compound would be ammonia and a living organism would be a bacterium. Doesn’t bacteria grow everywhere in a pond? Then why do we need a filter? The answer is that the pond does not necessarily need a biological filter in addition to the bacteria that is in the pond. In looking at nature, we realize that natural ponds and lakes do not have biological filtration in addition to the bacteria in the natural body of water. So why are there so many biological filters on the market? Because there is one major difference between a natural body of water and most koi ponds. A natural body of water has very few fish in comparison to most koi ponds. For this reason, a koi pond needs to have a biological filter added to it. What is a biological filter? It is a device that provides additional area to grow bacteria on. Bacteria will grow on almost any surface. Bacteria are microscopic organisms and therefore a great number of them can live in a very small area. To understand how the biological process works in a pond with a biological filter we need to understand the nitrification cycle. Ammonia is converted to nitrite by one type of bacteria and then another type of bacteria converts the nitrite to nitrate. Both ammonia and nitrite in small amounts can be harmful to fish. In large quantities, nitrate can be harmful, but usually is somewhat less harmful in small quantities. To complete the process there are two different bacteria involved. The bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite is very hardy and can easily live in any kind of filter that will support life. The bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate is easily killed off and takes a quiet environment to survive. Because of this, this bacteria may not be able to live in a lot of filters. Next we need to take a short course in chemistry. Chemically ammonia is NH4. This is then converted to nitrite which is NO2. This is converted to nitrate which is NO3. By looking at this process we see that hydrogen atoms are released and oxygen atoms are used to convert ammonia to other compounds. Why do we need to know about this chemical process? By understanding how a biological filter works, we can determine how well a filter will work. Let’s talk about how a biological filter works. The bacteria that is used in this process attaches itself to a solid surface. The bacteria is not free swimming. The food this bacteria lives on must be brought to it in order for it to survive. In an aquatic environment this means that the water must move the ammonia to the bacteria. In our chemistry lessen we learned that for the conversion of ammonia to nitrite and nitrate, oxygen is needed. The oxygen has to come from the water or the air depending upon the filter. This results in a great deal of the oxygen in the pond being used up by the biological process. Knowing what happens in a biological filter, it is now easy to understand how a biological filter works. Stating it simply, what is needed to make a good biological filter is a media that has a great deal of surface area for the bacteria to grow on and water circulation to the entire surface area of the media. Of course if this was all that was required it would be easy to make the perfect filter. Unfortunately it is not quite that simple. The real problem stems from a topic I discussed in an earlier article. Water always follows the path of least resistance. Because a lot of surface area is needed to grow bacteria, quite a few filters try to send the water through the media to get more surface area. The problem is that when the media starts to grow the bacteria needed, it tends to clog up and the water goes around the media. Even if the surface of the media looks smooth, if we were to look at it under a microscope we would see that it is actually rough. This provides the bacteria a lot more surface area to grow on. These tend to clog up very quickly, thus losing a large share of the surface area. These are just two reasons that biological filters start to break down. Not too long ago the Japanese believed that a biological filter had to be 1/3 the size of the pond. The English thought that it had to be 15% of the pond volume. In reality there are not too many ponds in this country where the biological filter is 1/3 the volume of the pond. Explaining this further, if the pond volume is 3000 gallons, then the filter would be 1000 gallons. That sounds awfully large. So why did the Japanese want a filter that large? They determined number by trial and error and found this formula worked the best. At the time they were using stone as their filter media. Stone has a very small surface area for the volume that it takes up. It also tends to clog up easily. For both these reasons a large filter was necessary and it worked wonderfully. At the time it was believed that the water going through a filter had to stay in the filter for 20 minutes. Based upon this, the entire volume of the pond would need to go through the filter every hour. Why did a filter this simple work this well? First it is now known the water going through the filter doesn’t have to stay in contact with the bacteria. In fact, bacteria grab the toxic compounds as soon as they come in contact with each other. By keeping the turnover rate through the filter once per hour it kept the ammonia and nitrite levels extremely low in the pond. Because the flow going through the filter was moving at a slow speed, it provided an environment conducive to the bacteria’s conversion of nitrites to nitrates. A filter with faster moving water tends to kill the bacteria. Finally this filter was so oversized that when parts of it clogged up there was still plenty of filter left to handle the load. This allows bacteria and enzymes the necessary time to eat up the clog, thus enabling the formerly clogged portion of the filter to begin functioning again. Thus this filter becomes self cleaning. Now before you all start drawing up plans to make a filter like those of the Japanese, there are drawbacks. This type of filter has the potential to become a breeding ground for all types of toxic compounds and nasty critters. Now that we have some basic knowledge of biological filtration, in the next issue we will take a look at various types of filters on the market. We will review their good and bad points. By Mike White White Water Filters, LLC

Ask A Pro

Ask the pros on a variety of topics from problems with pond equipment, water, fish and plants as well as general pet care overall. The Pros include professionals in many disciplines such as the Pond, Water Garden, fish, dog, cat, reptile, equestrian, water quality, and botany fields, just to name a few.