BYC Café

[Sally PB]

What I know about ponds is the obvious stuff. So all these technical bits about building, maintaining, pH, etc. are fascinating.

 

[Offshoreorca]

Good Morning Cafe! Thanks for the coffee DL! Nice pond!

Everything went great last week in Spain and visiting my sister, up until I arrived home. Turns out, I picked up an unwanted friend on my travels (I'm looking at you Covid...). First time for me. I had a good run. Sickness and recovery has gone surprisingly smoothly and I'm recovering well. No loss of taste/smell. Very minor illness over all for myself, which I am thankful for. At least it had the courtesy to wait until I was home.

 

[sourland]

Good morning, and thanks for the coffee. @Offshoreorca Thanks for the fresh milk for my coffee.

 

[DobieLover]

Good Morning Cafe! Thanks for the coffee DL! Nice pond!

Everything went great last week in Spain and visiting my sister, up until I arrived home. Turns out, I picked up an unwanted friend on my travels (I'm looking at you Covid...). First time for me. I had a good run. Sickness and recovery has gone surprisingly smoothly and I'm recovering well. No loss of taste/smell. Very minor illness over all for myself, which I am thankful for. At least it had the courtesy to wait until I was home.

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Beautiful pictures!
Sorry you got daVid but glad to hear you sailed through it relatively easily.

 

[aart]

I'm going to add a small amount of salt to the pond today too. I'll keep the salinity below 0.1% so I don't hurt the plants but it will help the new fish cope.

How might that impact the nitrification cycle?

What I know about ponds is the obvious stuff. So all these technical bits about building, maintaining, pH, etc. are fascinating.

It's a delicate balance....ever-changing and not easy to 'quick fix'.

 

[DobieLover]

How might that impact the nitrification cycle?

The salt shouldn't have any negative affect.

It's a delicate balance....ever-changing and not easy to 'quick fix'.

And I'm not getting fish to start it. I'm being impatient and shame on me for using live animals to start the cycle because I want to watch them.
I'm going to place a handful of my 2 year old chicken manure compost into the bio-ball swirl in my filter for a really good bacteria inoculation, then start daily doses of pure ammonia and flower fertilizer (for the needed phosphates) along with another inoculation of Microbe-lift next week and do it right. I inoculated the filter last week with Microbe-lift but didn't feed the bacteria. Kinda useless. They had nothing to eat and multiply in a pond with just week old water and nothing else in it.
I'll test every three or 4 days after the initial test to make sure I've got the ammonia up around 1 ppm at least.
The cycle is over when I make an ammonia add and test 24 hours later and it's at or below 0.5 ppm THEN I'll get a few fish.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Good morning and thanks for the coffee! We got 3 inches of snow and it is 27F out there. Orca, I am glad that you had a wonderful trip! The pics are nice, too.
Now you can move on from the stress of avoiding daVid. I think the stress has done more people in and wrecked their mental health than people admit to.
I have a friend up here who still will not go to dinner with me or come into my house or do anything out and about socially. She ain't right in dahead anymore...
Anyway, enjoy the day, Cafe!
I need to start thinking of what else to plant and where it will go. I usually try one new thing, this year the barley, and I am thinking of doing quinoa again down in the lower garden with the potatoes and something else...
The pond details are really interesting and fun to read about. I had no idea!

 

[aart]

And I'm not getting fish to start it.

So you've changed your mind about that, and the salt...or did I miss-understand?

Does chicken poop contain the 'right' kind of microbes...
...wonders what kinds are in the microbe-lift.
There are as many(or more) magical potions/devices for ponds as there are for chickens!
<scratcheshead>
I've forgotten most of that stuff I studied a decade plus ago.

 

[DobieLover]

So you've changed your mind about that, and the salt...or did I miss-understand?

Does chicken poop contain the 'right' kind of microbes...
...wonders what kinds are in the microbe-lift.
There are as many(or more) magical potions/devices for ponds as there are for chickens!
<scratcheshead>
I've forgotten most of that stuff I studied a decade plus ago.

I'm still going to put the salt in but I'm not going to get the fish. When I dump a bucket of chicken doody it reeks to high heaven of ammonia and my compost doesn't smell at all so I would think it's got the right microbes. Regardless, I did read an article that said that it was highly successful when you inoculated that way. So I'm going to do it!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning Cafe. Getting really hot today no issue with humidity here.
I did bring more coffee.
Still one peep peeping.