Soil substrate pond

[addy1]

Mitch, I dump 100 lbs of chicken grit, i.e. crushed oyster shells into my pond/bog every year. It is has kept the hardness up to a nice 100. Our well water does not even read hardness using the test drops, Very very soft and acidic water.
It took a bit of time for them to work, but now all stays stable.

 

[MitchM]

Normally our well water has plenty of carbonate hardness, but because I haven't maintained it as I should, there has been a buildup of iron bacteria in the well that is consuming the carbon source.
Once I catch up on the maintenance of the well, I shouldn't need to supplement carbonate again.

.

 

[crsublette]

So is this going to be a natural planted tank?

http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method

@bettasngoldfish ... that is EXACTLY what first came to mind... Walstad's book is quite excellent as well, love it.

 

[crsublette]

@MitchM ... Very awesome thread... I am behind on my forum reading here... Love these planted aquarium threads... Good job there!! Love it!

 

[crsublette]

@MitchM , I love that you are using the term "pond" rather than "aquarium" here. I absolutely agree that, ultimately, there are far more similarities, rather than differences, between an aquarium and a pond. I have been given so much grief about creating this equivalence in the past. When considering apples to apples, as you are doing here, ponds and aquariums portray far more similarities, rather than differences.

 

[MitchM]

Thanks Charles!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

MitchM, Have you thought about writing an article/paper describing this particular experiment of yours in detail? How the results to this point have confirmed or contradicted any results that you may have expected? I would be one of the first to want a copy.

 

[MitchM]

Thank you MeyerJordan, that's a great idea.
Life is keeping me very busy these days.
I'll have to think about how to go about constructing an article.

.

 

[crsublette]

I just finished reading the thread... I am a slow reader when I actually take something serious, to ensure I don't miss anything nor misunderstand anything....

@MitchM , your pH increase in your substrate ponds make sense to me!! This pH increase is experienced in different types of aquaponic grow systems due to various microbrial processes/respiration, and plant feeding... I also don't buy the idea that plant roots oxygenate soil, at least for terrestrial plants; so, this may likely be different for aquatic plant roots.


... would be very quite interesting to read someone's testimonial and observations shared, as you have done here, of this idea being actively applied to a usual plastic lined pond....


@Meyer Jordan , you have made mention of this, a significant substrate layer, being done for a pond you have built... You creating a thread talking about this would be quite enlightening. Don't worry, I will behave.

 

[MitchM]

Yesterday I shut down and cleaned out the 40 gallon test tank.
It's been set up for almost 1 year and there hasn't really been any changes. Where the tank was situated had sunlight hitting the sides of the tank only, so the walls were starting to accumulate algae. I also need the tank for another project.
I'll also be changing the 600g tank back over to salt water sometime this summer.

Both tanks have required very little maintenance, other than pruning plants and watching the fish grow older.
I imagine at some point the substrate will need to be replenished, I'm going to keep the 320g running as a heated setup (27c/80f), but i'm going to remove the wetlands filter that's running on top of it.
That filter was undersized for the plants, but I think it satisfied my curiosity about what effect a wetlands filter would have on a running system.

 

[cas]

Thanks for sharing your experiment with us Mitch. I found it very interesting.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Yes, thanks for sharing and good luck with the salt water tank

 

[MitchM]

Thanks to everyone for their input.
I certainly learned a lot.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Would still like to see an article (or post) describing in detail the processes and observed results of this project.

 

[MitchM]

Would still like to see an article (or post) describing in detail the processes and observed results of this project.

When the heat of summer comes and I'm hiding indoors is when I can do that.
There's a lot of posts and pictures I need to go back through and review.