Too much foam??

[saugeye tom]

Cause?..decaying plants

?

 

[Lisak1]

Foam can be an indication of too much organic material in the water - fish waste, too much food left over food, or not enough filtration can all be a cause, as well as rotting plant material. You can remove those dying pads to eliminate them as a contributing factor, but I wouldn't point the finger at them as the main cause. And that amount of foam you see wouldn't be a big concern to me.

Do you have aeration in your pond?

 

[saugeye tom]

Thanks, no aeration but the falls . A pond max 3000 pressure filter with uv , a skimmer with a aquascape 3000 pump

 

[Lisak1]

Some airstones might help clear up that bit of foam - even if you just ran them at night.

Do you have more plants in your pond or is it just the lilies? Sorry - you've probably said this before... I should pay more attention! It's a new pond, correct?

 

[saugeye tom]

yes a new pond. 11 potted plants, 2 lilies and 5 water hyacinths. 18 fish, 1500 to 1600 gallons of water. 6 weeks old

 

[saugeye tom]

plants...

 

[Lisak1]

Very pretty! Once your plants get growing, they will help remove nutrients from the water - just takes time. Get them out of the pots and plant them directly in the pond if you can. Naturalized plants do more for water quality than plants in pots, in my opinion.

You do have a pretty significant fish load already. I see all goldfish, which is good. They stay smaller than koi but beware - they breed like, well, goldfish! You'll have double what you have now in no time!

 

[saugeye tom]

LOL Thanks. so I can take the plants out of the pots and lay them on the liner? In some type of media??

 

[Lisak1]

You want them in some gravel, maybe a few rocks to hold them in place, or even between the rocks in the edge until they get started. I usually just mound some gravel up around the roots and anchor it with some bigger rocks. Or I should said I used to - I haven't added a plant to my pond is several years. Now I'm at the point of divide and conquer! I get rid of way more than I ever had to buy.

 

[cas]

I would keep the water lilies in their pots - they can get quite large. For the other plants, I left mine in the soil they came in and shoved them between some rocks.

 

[saugeye tom]

So the plants on the shelf will overwinter without moving to deeper water if unpotted?

 

[cas]

So far, mine have.

 

[saugeye tom]

I'm on it

 

[cas]

Another option if you don't want to go totally 'pot-less', you could try these mesh baskets. I have my blue flag iris planted in them.

 

[Lisak1]

I would keep the water lilies in their pots

OH! Good catch! YES! I meant your marginals! Lilies need to be contained!

If your marginals are hardy to your zone, they will survive. Mine freeze solid every year and come back in spring, no problem. As long as they stay under the water line, they are fine. The first year we shut down the pond for winter and, because of our pond design, that causes our water level to drop about 6 inches. Add that to evaporation and we were down about 8 inches all winter. The plants were all exposed to the air - they all died. It never occurred to me that the ice was actually going to protect them from getting TOO COLD! I learn so much from my pond!