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Summary Article: The balancing act using aquatic pond plants of different
sorts
Some people who have been attracted to the idea of having a water garden,
virtually on an impulse, go out to buy themselves a pond liner, a few plants and
a few fish. They’ve ‘bunged ‘em in’ with the honest intention of getting a few
more plants and maybe a few other odds and ends at a later date.
So it happens that before they know it, the thing has taken off with enough
vegetative power to send a rocket into space, and they no longer own a pool,
merely a marshy place with the scraggy dead undergrowth of last year's reeds
marking spot where it was.
If the pool had been planted out properly, it would be virtually
self-sustaining, and as long as the fish population remained fairly constant,
thoughts of filters (etc) could remain on the 'back boiler' for some time to
come.
A pond is not just a place to keep goldfish or koi ...
plants thrive in and around ponds I've always advocated water gardens to
gardeners on the basis that here was yet another habitat, an opportunity for
them to grow yet another range of plants.
Plants like Houttynia cordata, Lobelia cardinalis and the little Sisyrinchiums
could be given the opportunity to show how many strings they had to their bow!
Although the plants for water gardens are perennials that largely die back in
winter, the maintenance would be less than any herbaceous border simply because
there was no digging, pricking over, or mulching -- just a 4 to 5 yearly root
division and replanting.
There would be a preferred spacing of plants; too many too closely planted might
suffer from competition and disease; too few plants and you may have a problem
with weeds, but there is no reason why they could not be all the same species or
even the same variety.
With a pool or pond, you are effectively creating a little, self-sufficient,
self-sustaining world, with all the ingredients interacting constantly; plants
and animals, animals with animals and plants with plants, any one ingredient
i.e. species of plant or animal cannot exist by itself, or it least if it does
then it will quite simply take over the complete pool.
There are over 2,200 species of freshwater algae known to exist in the British
Isles and there is nothing wrong with them as such.
In fact they make vitamin rich food for fish and other vegetarian animals,
whilst providing a bit of oxygen to the environment as a by-product of
photosynthesis, the reaction within green plants in which ultra violet light in
sunlight is used to manufacture sugars for the plant's energy and growth.
If you add higher forms of plant life, they will discourage the algae by using
up the nutritional resources that the algae depend upon and quite often this
entails leaf cover over the pool surface, blocking out the essential sunlight
for the algae.
With a natural balance of different sorts of plants, fulfilling different roles
but working together they create a harmonious balance that keeps the pool water
sweet and clear.
The essential ingredients, aquatic plants for ponds There are a several sorts of
ingredients or types of plant to choose from that will be used to plant out
different levels or depths in the pool.
There needs to be a representative selection of plants from each type to help
with the balancing act in the pool, and as each type of plant takes up its role
in the new environment they will provide a welcome home for any fish you
subsequently add to your pool.
These are underwater plants that will provide oxygen during the day for the fish
and other animals in the pool but also for the bacteria at the bottom of the
pool.
They need to be given oxygen 24 hours a day but in return can digest waste
organic matter and dead algae converting them into simple compounds like
nitrates that the plants in the pool, including the oxygenators, can take up for
their own nutrition and growth.
Avoid certain plants, in particular Hydrocotyle vulgaris (Marsh Penny Wort),
Myriophyllum proserpiacoides (Parrot's Feather), Elodea Canadensis (Canadian
Pond weed), Next in importance are the DEEP WATER AQUATICS These are mostly
water lilies, Nymphaea.
MARGINAL PLANTS Marginal plants come in all shapes and sizes.
The rule of thumb with fish is that with a pool at least half a metre deep you
must allow two inches of fish per square foot of surface area.
Too many fish with too much food and fish waste will mean you will soon be
looking for a biological filter system.
So, with two inches of fish per square foot of surface area of the pool, you
will be looking at two thirds of the pool covered with plant life.
Any less plant life and you are looking for a biological filter system again,
which is a turbo version of the bottom of the pool -- and that's all lot more
money spending and another story for another day.
plants pool water fish pond algae oxygenators animals
ingredients species "water gardens" "marginal plants" bottom act balance for
full article click the link
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