Potassium Permanganate

I need to make a potassium permanganate solution to clean my pond. what is the ratio?
I have 50g of Potassium permanganate. how much powder in how much water??


Answer:
You are much better off not using that for anything. There are many ways to clean a pond without chemicals. The stuff is poison and will harm your plants and fish.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Winter plant survival

Will floating pond plants survive in the pond over the winter?

I have a small black plastic pond in my backyard that I keep fish in and this year I've added three floating water plants to it as well: Miniature Water Hyacinth (Eichornia sp.), Sensitive Plant (Neptunia aquatica) and Yellow Water Snowflake (Nymphoides crenata). I live in Maine so the winter isn't warm or easy, but there is a floating de-icer in there as well, so the water they're in won't ever freeze over. So would any of those plants survive the winter? If not, would it work to bring them inside for the winter months and then put them back out in the spring?


Answer:
They will not survive your Maine winters. You can try to bring them inside. It might work.
They do go dormant in the winter, but plan on replacing them in the spring.
You know you will lose them outside. You have some hope of keeping them inside.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Preformed koi pond

Above ground koi pond using a preformed liner?
I want to take an odd shaped preformed plastic liner and place it in my yard but above ground. Can I do that?
Answer:
You can put it above ground. Here's one way: Put the liner where you want it, then build a box around it. Using landscape timbers would probably be easiest. Now fill the pond with water. No fish yet, but with the water in the pond, fill around it with soil. When you are finished and the pond water is filthy, pump it out. Now fill the pond with the water the fish will swim in. Add dechlor, massive amounts of filtration, a pump and put the koi in. Preformed ponds are usually 18" deep, so the koi will not do well at all. They like water 3' deep. If you put goldfish in, you will have better luck. If you are where it freezes, your pond will freeze solid in the winter.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Duck pond

Help me with building a pond?
I'm planning on making a pond for my ducks out of either a plastic pond form (not the liner) or a stock tank. The only problem is they poop a lot in their water. Anyone with experience with ducks will know what i mean =) so I want to have a good filter that can handle the poop and I don't want to spend over $50 on it.

What type of filter would be best?
i have electricity in my chicken coop but i cant have a cord coming out during the night (i need to be able to close the door). so that means i need a filter that does have to run constantly.

Answer:

You cannot filter duck poop from a pond. Try to find something that you can hose out daily. It would need a shallow end so you could use a power nozzle to hose the pond out. Ducks are messy critters. No filter will work. Put Mosquito Dunks in to keep mosquitoes away. You could run a pump if you like, but since you have to hose it out often, you really don't need one.


To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

What liner is best?

What is the best, strongest pond liner?


Answer:

Buy a Firestone 40 mil butyl rubber liner. It's the best.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Money plant?

Is the Epipremnum aureum aka "money plant" an aquatic plant?
I need to know for a science fair project.

Answer:
It is not an aquatic plant and will die if you try to grow it in water. You could use that as part of your science project. Money plant in water opposed to horsetail fern in water.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Tiny pond

Aquarium Plants question?
I am getting a 20 gallon bucket and I am going to turn it into a mini guppy pond with these plants in it.
-Java Fern
-1 bamboo plant ( half in water and the top part sticking out)
-1 water lily
-Marimo Moss ball

Can I grow these plants in a few hours (4-7) of sunlight each day? would they survive? and do I need any special tablets/plant food or any other equipment to keep them alive. I am trying to keep these plants alive without a special aquarium lamp.

Answer:

You will need some submerged vegetation like anacharis or hornwort to help keep the water clear. The water lily needs at least 5 -6 hours of sun daily to grow, so you might want to consider another floating plant. If you do put a water lily in there, 20 gallons is too small - another reason for choosing another plant.
It just occurred to me? Is your mini pond going to be indoors? No water lily will grow indoors unless it is in a greenhouse with special temperature controls.


To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Slugs in the garden

Besides salt, what is a solution to SLUG infestations?
I have slugs crawling not only on the ground, but now, on the siding of the house. I can use salt to kill the ones I see, but would like to know how to eradicate them.  Help please.


Answer:

You can buy snail and slug bait at most nurseries and big box stores. It works.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Waterfall Rocks

I'm looking for a rock that i can carve for a waterfall on my mom's koi pond?



Answer:
Find a stone supplier near you. They will have to drill a hole in it so that water can come up through it. Carving a rock is probably not possible for you unless you have specialized equipment. You could check on lava rock. If you find a lava rock boulder, you will be able to work with it, but be sure you wear heavy gloves because it's sharp.


To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Fairy Moss

I have a question for Pondlady?
Will floating Fairy Moss, most commonly seen in ponds, survive if I put it in an indoor 55 gallon aquarium with florescent lighting? I accidentally received some of this and I do not want it in my large 8,000 gallon pond with skimmer and bio-falls. I do understand that the fish may eat it, but if they don't, will it survive, or just rot and cloud the water? Also, I have an AquaClear 110 filter in my aquarium, if that makes a difference.


Answer:

  Fairy moss will survive a nuclear bombing, I think. I find it to be a noxious weed and would never put it in a pond. It will take over, but it sounds like you already know that.


To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Making the pond level

How can I raise the water level in my fish pond?

I dug a fish pond in my back yard but I didn't really do any calculations. one side of the pond is lower than the other. what can I put on the low side so i can raise the level of water up the higher side without it overflowing?

You can use bricks under the liner. Make them the height you need, then cover with soil. Now put the liner over them. I would also fold the liner over back toward the pond with flat rocks in between the two layers. If you do that all the way around the water will cover up all the liner and the pond looks completely natural.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Water hyacinth

When should I bring in my water hyacinth?
I have about 20 something water hyacinth in my koi pond. I want to keep them for next season also. When should I bring them indoors? I live in maryland.  Also what can I do to make them grow great, like what nutrients should I add to their water? Is it safe to pluck their nast,y mushy stem and leaves, or should I leave them be? 


Answer:
Take off all the mushy stems and leaves before you bring them in. Add only a dechlorinator to the water inside. Since they need full sun to grow, they may well go dormant before next spring, but they will come back. Bring them in when the nights begin reaching temps of 55º at night.

If the water they are in gets too unbearable, pack them in damp sand and leave them in the garage.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Pond needs

What do I need to know before making a pond?

I have a 15 gallon tank with 5 fish and they are all really small.  I know for a fact they are going to get really big so I was thinking about making a pound in out yard in a spot where there are no power or water lines and keeping the big fish out there and raising the smaller ones inside until they get big enough to go in the pond.  Keep in mind i'm only gonna make it 10ft long 7ft wide and the deepest part about 9ft.

Do you have any tips on a pond?

Answer:

First of all, you don't need a pond 9' deep. Depending on where you live, 18" to 3 feet is usually deep enough. Your frost line (You can find out how deep your frost line is by calling your county extension service), determines how deep your pond needs to be. You will want to dig deeper than yours is.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Clumping Bamboo

My clumping bamboo won't shoot. Do you think it ever will?


Answer:

If you mean it is not spreading, give it some time. It will. And keep spreading and spreading and spreading. Even if it is called clumping, that just means it does not spread as fast.

Cleaning discolored water

When we take yellow water from river to treat it for drinking, What I do to remove this color in water?
We use this water for drinking and we add to it chlorine, polymer and alum.

Answer:

Use an activated charcoal filter to remove the color. Not the charcoal you use in the barbecue, but the kind used in an aquarium. I have no idea if this will make the water safe to drink. It will only remove the color.

Homemade aphid killer

How do you make homemade algaecide for my pond?
I live on a channel on a lake and I have aphids on my plants.  Is there a book that would show homemade remedies I could use?


Answer:


Here's a homemade aphid killer:
• The following technique can be used to treat water lilies for aphid infestation without harm to your fish. Aphids and many other garden pests can be easily controlled with an inexpensive, homemade insecticide--according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
•
• This recipe was developed after entomologists at the Agriculture Research Center in Phoenix, Arizona, discovered that a spray of soybean oil protected cotton from aphids and whiteflies. Home gardeners should mix one tablespoon of dishwashing detergent with one cup of cooking oil. When pests strike, mix one to two and one half teaspoons of the detergent oil mix with one cup of water. The detergent causes the oil to emulsify in the water. It can be sprayed on the water lilies every ten days. Besides aphids, the mixture works against whiteflies and spider mites. It has been successfully tested on eggplants, carrots, lettuce, celery, watermelon, peppers and cucumbers. It tends to burn the leaves of squash, cauliflower and red cabbage.
•
•
• As far as an algaecide goes, getting rid of algae might not be possible. We can control it in an ornamental pond, but a channel/lake, there are so many elements out of your control. Your channel just has too much run off to properly balance the water so algae will not appear. If you try floating plant material, it will soon become an invasive, noxious weed.

Bleach in the pond

Will putting bleach in a small pond damage the pond's pump?
I've got a small pond with a waterfall feature. I recently took everything out (water, rocks, etc), cleaned it, and installed a new pump. After a week of hot weather the algae bloomed and took over the pond. I was able to scoop out the majority of it and killed the remaining algae with bleach.

My question, is this harmful to the $70 pump that I just bought from Home Depot? I know that algaecide is a better solution, but bleach is very inexpensive and seems to work. Please let me know your opinion. Thanks in advance.

Answer:

Bleach will not hurt your pump at all. Keep using it as long as it works.

Fencing off the pond

What material should I use to make a fence around the pond?

I need to build a fence around a pond in my garden. The kidney-shaped duck pond is quite large. I need to do this so that my dog(labrador) and cat don't disturb the ducks. 

points to note:-

I live in a place where we have hot, cold and wet weather - all for about 4 months each.

The garden's soil is a hideout for ants and termites - so wooden fence is out of the question.

The dog is pretty naughty so the material should be a bit heavy else he will tear it down.

The pond is under the shade of the mango tree.

The fence should be such that the ducks and pond is not hidden from our view.

Please consider the cost factor as well. It shouldn't be too expensive and I know the metal fence would be.

• Answer:
  
  A chain link fence is about the cheapest you can find. Vinyl can work, but it is probably the most expensive. You could try an electric invisible fence. http://www.invisibleelectricdogfence.com…
• That would fill all your needs.

My pond is losing water

Urgent, lives at stake, fish lives at stake.
My best mates have gone away to America for two weeks and have paid me to go round to their house and water the plants until they come back.

I've been watering the plants for about 3 days and when I went to their garden I noticed the fish pond had drained to an alarmingly low level.

It is one of the ponds with that black lining and has a filter in the form of a little fountain.

The fountain is a little blocked but the pipes don't' leave the water so i don't know how it is losing water.

Help!
Answer:
The little holes in the fountain head got blocked, but one or two remained open and the water just spurted out of the pond. Open the holes on the fountain head with a tooth pick OR just remove the top until your friends get home. Refill the pond and don't forget the dechlor.

f your pond is concrete, liner, anything but a natural bottom, you could use chlorine to clean it.  That will kill the duckweed. Then you could add extra dechlor when you refill.

To find more pond information, go to pondlady.com

Getting rid of duckweed

I've drained my old pond in order to clear it of pollution and duckweed. Can I use weedkiller to eradicate it?

Or will this harm the fish when I refill it? Obviously I would rinse it off afterwards, so there could only be trace amounts of the stuff left, but is it safe to use at all? The duckweed can grow to cover the entire pond's surface from just a few seeds, so it's VITAL that I completely destroy it now while the pond is empty of water and fish.

Alternatively, as the weed seems to be dying off and turning brown now that the pond is empty, will that prevent any chances of it returning?

Answer:

If your pond is concrete, liner, anything but a natural bottom, you could use chlorine to clean it.  That will kill the duckweed. Then you could add extra dechlor when you refill.