Benign Vanilla wrote:


My point exactly :-) A pond is never in balance, but that certainly
doesn't
mean it's unhealthy - or that you need to do much to keep it healthy.

Ya see, I don't agree that news species showing up means the pond is out
of balance. I think the reason my pond is so healthy and attractive to the
many species in there, is that it is well balanced.

Sorry, but it just doesn't happen that way. A garden pond is such a small
space that every new animal addition will add to the ammonia input. That
throws the balance out and the cycle starts over.

Obviously, the bigger the pond, the less disruption, but there's no way to
avoid it. You think we're talking about different things, because I
mention pruning and composting plants, but removing the excess growth is
the only way you can hope to keep the whole nitrogen cycle working. You can
argue that your pond is "in balance", but only because your action is part
of the whole balance.
--
derek