Even if it ageas over its got to be brighter than black. My water
finaly cleared up but its 6ft deep so it looks like a black hole.I
would like to see one. Better hide it from the UV rays.






On Sun, 25 Jul 2004 20:39:06 GMT, "volts500"
wrote:


"how" wrote in message
...

You and I are just not going to get along ;-) turtles in a water garden-
not
me.

The turtle came out of nowhere, but there is a nearby drainage ditch/culvert
that leads to a retention pond, though. It is welcome to stay along with
the other creatures that saunter in :-) I may draw the line at raccoons and
herons, though....so far we haven't had them (***). I don't like it when the
Bluejays eat the baby treefrogs, either, but the cats help some with that
problem. The turtle hasn't caused any problems as of yet. It was very small
when it came...about 4" now. Only time will tell.

Personally have never seen plecostomus keep pond sides clean and in most
cases this would not be wanted if they did. I guess with a "proper"
pleco/gallon ratio and the addition of no food it is possible. The last
time
I had any in a pond that I maintained, they (Hypostomus plecostomus) would
surface on their backs and suck the food intended for the goldfish.

Ours do that too, but the goldfish get the lion's share. Usually I only feed
enough so that the food is gone by the time the Plecos get up to the
top.........that's why the wife sneaks out to give them more. I gave up
trying to convince her that I _want_ them to be hungry so they will eat the
algae instead. Even though she feeds them pellets, they still keep the
sides of the pond clean.

The polyfiber thing is great. I use it in a portable ex-sand filter along
with flocculants to "clear the green pond because we are having a party
this
weekend" syndrome.

They will die when the water is 55/50 degrees F and are very hard to
catch to bring in for
the winter.

There is no doubt that they will die at lower temps and are difficult to
catch. Here in central FL they do very well in the wild and in small
"ponds", such as mine.. I haven't recorded the water temps. when the
air
temps. get down into the 30's here, but the Plecos do hang in there.


South Florida here and they have floated from cold. They do supposedly
inhabit canals in this area and I'm assuming they 'mud it' when it gets
cold. Are you one of them new Northern fellers who don't think Fl has
winters and have not seen ice on their pond yet ;-) ? Me too, well
actually
it has been 30+ years here and I've had ice.

I've had aquariums for 35 years, but only had a water garden for about 4 or
5 years here. As you know, Winter's have been pretty mild in recent years.
We're probably due for some cold. If it gets too cold, I'll drop a heater
in there for 'em.
I do remember when it snowed in '76, though, and a lot orange groves and
strawberries got damaged from the freeze in '84(?).

Personally have never seen one sucking on another fish but others
have observed this. IMO they are useless in a pond, not the least bit
cute
and hard to handle. LFS that sell them as 'a must' for ponds are to be
avoided.

I wouldn't say that they are a must either, however, with a white liner,
every little bit helps. Again, from my experience, a _lot_ of scrubbing
(a
white liner) could be avoided if the right number of Plecos are put in
the
right size pond.
The LFS's in my area that I go to actually told me _not_ to put them in
my
pond, but then I have been known to raise/breed Discus outside year
round
here too.
snip

Well you could teach me something about fish husbandry I'm sure. I don't
know anything about Discus did you need heat to do winters with them? You
should listen to your LFS ;-)

I wouldn't do it again because it's just too hard on them, but, yeah,
styrofoam around the tanks and lots of aquarium heaters. Only burnt out one
heater.


Any citations on gradual introduction of carbon filtration?

Some carbon manufacturers will state same right on the box or jar.
snip
Most ponders don't use white liners either :-) If you know a better,
less
expensive way to remove the amber tint (tannins), I'm all ears.


I'm still puzzled on this one, teach me. What does AC remove that is
required for fish? I know it can remove chlorine/chloramines, medications,
pesticides, color ---- OK, I forgot that one and carbon will remove the
tint
and we were talking white liner.

That was the only reason that I mentioned the AC, tint.

The cost of 1to 3 lbs per 1000 gallons per
1 to 2 months will, IMO, increase the acceptance of a slight yellow tint
to
most ponders.

Agreed. Probably the same for the DE too, if a sizable veggie filter is
used for settling. I had assumed that Kathy was looking for pristine,
crystal clear water since a white liner was mentioned.

Did I at least 'un-superstious' you? I.E. ple*cos - plecos ;-)

No.....now I'm starting to wonder if it going to snow this year :-) Maybe
this will help: ******************************