13w UV Light: On or Off, That is the Question!

[koiguy1969]

i know some folks that have formal ponds, have "hangers" that hang plant pots off the walls of their pond.some peple even put the plants on milk crates.you can zip tie them together if needed, and the bottom crate can be weighted with stone. but floaters like hyacinths and lettuce are easy to use. and are very nutrient hungry plants. and reproduce like crazy. their long fiberous roots also collect large amounts of fines. not to mention they have quite beautiful flowers! koi love to eat them, especially their roots so putting them in caged rings will keep them protected. see this thread...
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/2581-floating-planter-rings/
you could also make the same basic thing out of pvc to cover a section of the pond "wall to wall"... providing a nice shaded area and hiding spot for the fish too. this also gives fry a place of shelter. they can swim in and out but the big ones cant get in to eat them.

 

[capewind]

I had too many water hyacinths to use any of the floating ring options, but want to add here that you really dont need to protect the WH roots, as with the rate they reproduce, our fish can eat all they want of them, and the WH still multiplied fast... THAT said, if your pond doesnt have a prefilter (we dont), be prepared to clean the intake and filter often...

 

[koiguy1969]

thats another good reason where the rings come in ...no chunks, or atleast minimal amounts floating., settling, or clogging anything. you could make a 15'+ diameter one if you liked. i'm thinking an 8' one might be in my future for the added heron protection too. (tied off so it cant be moved.)

 

[capewind]

I wanted as many as I could get away with for this year, as this pond was new this year, and by the time any nutrients could build naturally, it was too late to buy much for plants local. Have some plants out there that will come back, and over wintered some, so wont have as many WH this year, but I think I still want more than practical to put into a ring. For last year, we just ran a string across the pond to keep them all to one half ... Trying to figure out a way to use irrigation line, instead of string, but two sections, so that I can loop fabric between the two (a top and bottom hem to feed the irrigation line through) ... what I cant figure out yet is how to close off the sides, so that fish cant get in there ... you can get/we do have, elbows for the irrigation line, but worry about it "dipping" instead of floating ... I'm thinking along the lines of a 12' x 6' rectangle....

 

[ponder630]

What temps can watercress survive in? Up here in Chicago we are hovering with a high in the 50's and at night can dip down to 34, but we haven't had frost for a few weeks now. I'm dying to get some kind of plant in to help with filtration but the local pond stores haven't stocked water lettuce or hyacinth or any bog plants that I can plant in our floating planter...

 

[koiguy1969]

watercress survives freezing up... comes back on my ponds edge every year. covers 90% of my waterfall mound, and even wants to grow into the lawn..
it sprawls out and drops roots. can be invasive but not hard to manage. all from a couple $1.79 bundles from the supermarket.

 

[HARO]

What temps can watercress survive in? Up here in Chicago we are hovering with a high in the 50's and at night can dip down to 34, but we haven't had frost for a few weeks now. I'm dying to get some kind of plant in to help with filtration but the local pond stores haven't stocked water lettuce or hyacinth or any bog plants that I can plant in our floating planter...

The reason we don't stock WL and WH yet is because someone will buy them, put them in their pond, and come back a day later furious that we sold them "crap". They are semi-tropical plants at best, and cannot take cold temperatures!
John