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Fri, Apr 15, 11 at 15:55
| the toadies have had the first of one of their many nights of frolic in my pond for the season. it seems that with their hatching of eggs come a lot of floating scummy kind of stuff. it seems to come to the top during the day and the toad poles apparently eat it. when i scoop the scum out it will be loaded with the toadpoles is why i think they are eating it. the bottom of my pond regularly gets some kind of similar scum on it. it will readily suspend if disturbed also. i'm guessing it is the same stuff that seems to float to the top during the day that the toadpoles are in. i have vacuumed the bottom back during the winter a few times but it comes right back. any ideas what it is and how to control it? i have a good bit of plants, mostly potted in soil. a lot of water circulation also, small water fall and water feature. thanks in advance. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by sleeplessinftwayne z4-5 IND (My Page) on Sat, Apr 16, 11 at 18:53
| A lot of the stuff around the toads is protein left over from the eggs and is a normal food for the baby toads but the other stuff is likely to be a product of debris breakdown or excess slime coat sluffed off as it gets old. I don't know why it would appear as a layer in the winter unless there just isn't enough circulation. Do you run the filter since you aren't likely to get ice cover? |
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- Posted by coastal_ponder (My Page) on Sun, Apr 17, 11 at 15:24
| yes the pump runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. i use a homemade prefilter that is a good bit larger than the one that came with the pump as it clogged way too easy. i have a pressurized filter with the bio- balls in it. the water itself is clear as gin. just that gookie stuff on the bottom and some string algae on the water falls, which doesn't really bother me much. the sides have a nice layer of algae on them also, but from my reading that is a good thing. my plants will eventually become clogged with the muck too. i have added 2 small bales of barley that is advertised as being sufficent for 1000 gals which is about what my pond is. i can't vaccum now because the toads have hatched and there must be thousands of them everwhere. |
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- Posted by sleeplessinftwayne z4-5 IND (My Page) on Fri, Apr 22, 11 at 16:52
| One product of rotting barley straw is hydrogen peroxide. That is the only beneficial product in the pond and the amount produced is irregular to say the least. You might be better off just buying a bottle of H2O2. It would be cheaper and less likely to cause problems. All of the studies I have seen say that the much touted affects of barley straw are unproven. The only thing it might do is reduce string algae and the bottled H2O2 does that better. |
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