# Allotment Pond



## ourmanflint (1 Jun 2019)

Hi all,

my allotment pond has been going for about a month now, nothing fancy just a preformed liner about 750L.
Water is a mix 50/50 rainwater and Eau de Thames.

The pond has 6 baskets with following marginals:

Caltha palustris x6
Alisma plantago x6
Butomus umbellatus x6
Cardamine pratensis x2
Aponogeton distachyos x6
Pontaderia cordata x4
Sagittaria sagittifolia x2
Ranunculus flammula x1
Myosotis palustris 1x
Waterlily 1x

2x bunched hornwort

Fish - 6-8 White Cloud Minnows & 4 red shiners

I have started to get the dreaded blanket weed? and want to get on top of it before it swamps everything. Obviously being at the allotment, there is no power so no water movement, and pond is pretty much in full sun all day, at least until the plants around it get bigger to provide some shade.

So, I was thinking of doing EI on it, but have zero experience of dosing a pond or of EI either. Do I need to dose both phosphate and nitrate? Or do you take into consideration those levels already in Thames water, and work from there?

Cheers


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## ourmanflint (1 Jun 2019)

photos


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## martin-green (1 Jun 2019)

I have seen ponds that have never had blanket weed for years and years, then one year "whoosh" loads of it, next year none.  (My tiny frog pond has never had any, and that must be 7+ years old) 

People will say do this, or do that, add this don't use that, truth is nothing really works, if you want to try something (wasting your money) take into consideration that what ever you use is safe for use with fish.

Sorry to tell you this, but there is no known "100% cure" for blanket weed.

Most just "keep on top of it" by removing it as and when. The best way is to use a stick, and twirl it round like the bloke does at the candy floss machine.


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## Arana (1 Jun 2019)

ourmanflint said:


> So, I was thinking of doing EI on it, but have zero experience of dosing a pond or of EI either. Do I need to dose both phosphate and nitrate? Or do you take into consideration those levels already in Thames water, and work from there?
> 
> Cheers



There is an old thread somewhere where Ceg was talking about how he dosed a pond EI, if i remember rightly the Lilly put on so much growth that it over spilled the pond and started to grow across the lawn!


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## zozo (1 Jun 2019)

You could do EI dosing in a pond.. 

Read this topic and it tell you all about it..
<Little Shop of Horrors - How EI frightened the gardener>

To get to the desired values you could use any other fert calculator used in the aquarium hobby as long as you know the volume.
http://theaquatools.com/fertilization-calculator/

But if all plants are potted you can also feed with root tabs there are clay versions available or the more complete Osmocote cones can be used.




Using this is more long term slow release and will have less impact on the water column. EI is dosing directly into the water column and needs to be performed regularly.

Blanket weed, that slimy filamentous stuff if pretty usual in newly setup ponds especialy spring early summer. But once the plant are established and get going it will go away again on its own. What works pretty good in my experience is plant early starting fast growing marginal plants that start growing in march/april already and flower in may. This will fight off unwanted algae growth even sooner. Fast growing and robust winterhardy early plants are Iris sp.. Potentilla palustris, Bog fern and Primula viallii tho this one must be planted pretty shallow, preferably crown above the water. I guess there are more, look in a pond plant database for marginal plants that flower from may. This are all plants that need to gather strenght before may arrives and start growing very early. In a pond sittuation especialy a sunny one plant growth is algae remidi number one.

To get some filtration and water movement look up the Youtube channel from David Pagan Butler.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3IeH8JL4fJFCLfd4Qj7q4A
Don't mind the sizes he build, but look at the system he uses. A air powered undergravel filter system. And its an absolute magnificent concept and a very sufficient filtering method using air lift.

There are other ways to implement airlift into aquaponics and an intersting concept to explore. In your case without power at the allotment you could consider Solar powered air pumps.
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/air-lift-pump.57627/



You probaly want get huge turnovers with a few small solar powered pumps. But it will trun over to some extend and it will help. 

another pro with air lift is, it's pretty maintenance free in comparance to solar power impeller pumps.


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## ourmanflint (1 Jun 2019)

Thanks for the info, think I will try the EI thing using KNO3 as a starting point, as Thames water is chock full of phosphates this time of year, and the solar powered pump is definitely a possibilty


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## Iain Sutherland (1 Jun 2019)

Bit of an old wives tale but in my experience it did help manage blanket weed... barley straw in a bag.

I think theres truth in the fact blanket weed really effects new immature ponds.  I had it for 2 years in my new unfiltered nature pond choking everything up, I manually removed daily and used barley straw then this year its crystal clear without a spot of blanket weed.

The shop bought remedies certainly didng help at all...


Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## sparkyweasel (1 Jun 2019)

There is some science to the barley straw treatment.
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ON_SHEET_1_CONTROL_OF_ALGAE_WITH_BARLEY_STRAW


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## dw1305 (2 Jun 2019)

Hi all,





ourmanflint said:


> I have started to get the dreaded blanket weed? and want to get on top of it before it swamps everything. Obviously being at the allotment, there is no power so no water movement, and pond is pretty much in full sun all day, at least until the plants around it get bigger to provide some shade.


Put some floaters on it, any-one will do now its warm. If you use _Azolla _it is nitrogen fixing and you can just add any spare to the allotment.

cheers Darrel


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## mort (2 Jun 2019)

I agree with Darrel, some fast growing nutrient controlling plants to cover the surface is a great idea. I started a wildlife pond last year and used this method and even though I still had plenty of algae last year, this year it's crystal clear and thriving and am in the process of removing some of the cover and opening the water column a bit more.
I think it's just a balancing act to begin with before it grows out and matures.


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## dw1305 (3 Jun 2019)

Hi all, 





mort said:


> I started a wildlife pond last year and used this method and even though I still had plenty of algae last year, this year it's crystal clear and thriving and am in the process of removing some of the cover and opening the water column a bit more.


It is amazing how quickly floating plants will grow at this time of year if nutrients are available. 

I've posted a picture in <"Get your garden out"> which shows just how much the _Azolla_ has spread in ~10 days.

cheers Darrel


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## ourmanflint (28 Jul 2019)

Pond has been getting better, I did dose EI a couple of times to try and stabilise system, and it seems to be working well. Before I did EI water lily leaves would never turn green instead go from red when new to yellow and die very quickly, now looking much better though.

I added a pair of paradise Fish and a pair of Odessa barbs, and I must say, sitting next to the pond just watching all these tropical fish swim around is amazing. Paradise fish look like they might even breed.


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## Tim Harrison (28 Jul 2019)

Looks great. I'm curious though, I know those fish are temperate species and that London is the mother of all urban heat islands, but will they survive the winter ?


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## ourmanflint (28 Jul 2019)

The plan is to catch everything up in October/November and move them into the polytunnel, if temperatures drop below 5-8C, I'll move them indoors. Bit worried about putting them back out in April because of all the hungry frogs.


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## frederick thompson (13 Aug 2019)

Nice mate.  The plants have grown great.


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## ourmanflint (13 Aug 2019)

Small video I took today, fish are getting very fat, though I only feed them once or twice a week and then only a tiny pinch of dry food. Have added a few more plants,  native species, _Luronium natans & _ Callitriche Sp. ands also some  Limnophila Aromatica & Rotala rotundifolia from invitro suppliers. All seem to be doing well so far


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## ourmanflint (27 Oct 2019)

Quick update: as the temperature has dropped quite quickly over the past week or so, was a bit worried that the fish might have died from the cold, not much sign of life until today, when I threw some flake into the pond. All the red shiners popped up as well as a few white clouds, a few minutes late even the Odessa barbs seem to be still going strong. The plan was to remove the Paradise fish by now but havent seen them so perhaps they succumbed to sudden drop in temperature.
There is so much myriophyllum though they could still be there somewhere
Limnophila still growing slowly which surprised me, and the water lettuce is as strong as ever


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