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Sat, Oct 24, 09 at 2:05
| My small pond is getting ready for winter & have held my breath but- for the first time this has been a summer of CLEAR pond water the whole season!!! Have no idea why but when I just checked the skippy filter I found the most gross mess in it! I had mint growing in it for two seasons & thought that may have helped keep the water clear (I had read to use mint somewhere)but nothing left now of the mint but a muddy black gross mess in the filter. I must clean that mess out but wonder if it was just pure luck or did the mint actually contribute to the clear water all summer?
I'd like to know what resulted in the algae free clear water this summer when in the past it was a losing battle? Thanks for any ideas! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by sleeplessinftwayne z4-5 IND (My Page) on Sat, Oct 24, 09 at 12:30
| LOL! It's time to open the drain valve. It sounds like the mint got nipped by the cold? Mint is one of those plants that has a massive root system that is perfect for providing living space for all those beneficial bacteria. I'm surprised it is dead. What happened? Sandy |
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| sandy: don't know as I hadn't checked the skippy filter & the mint all summer (was just pleased with no algae!) but seems all mint had died sometime this summer (no, it has not frozen yet here.)& left a black mess! Guess I will 'muck' out the filter & drain it for winter & begin again next Spring though wonder if I will have as wonderful results?! You have had success with mint in a filter? |
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| It sounds as if you have a wonderful filter system and a good ecological balance in the pond. I wouldn't praise the mint, but rather the whole system. Curious; what filter media were you using? Was it just the roots of the mint? bubba |
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| bubbalove: had dozens of those pot scrubbers cut up x HomeDepot along with the mint in the skippy filter & a piece of that furnace filter material you buy in bulk & cut to fit around the intake to the submerged pump ... a VERY home-made job to say the least!! Now, there was algae stuck to the pond sides that the fish nibbled ... but the water was clear. Bet I bite my words next year though as this may have been an unusual year for the pond! |
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| Vieja, if you built your unit (size of tank, etc.) pretty much according to the Skippy website everything should be fine. The Skippy filter seems to be one of the few for which the amount of pond/fish that it can handle is actually pretty close to what the website indicates, if not a bit more. Come spring, yep, you'll probably get a bit of an algae bloom. I find that within about 3 days after I turn on the pumps the bloom is gone (I wait until I see a bloom to turn it on since that's a clear signal that the water has warmed up sufficiently for the filter to "do its thing"). I'm still running mine...but will be shutting down in about two weeks. I drain it, but don't try to clean it until spring. By the that time all the solids have mostly dried out. Take out the media, whop it (highly technical term!) on the ground a few times to knock off all that debris, clean out the tub then put everything back together. It's been very easy all these years! Luck and joy. ---David |
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