vegi filter

im thinking of growing watercress as a vegi filter. I have a header pool on
my main pond which is 10'x3' and 14" deep. I am thinking of growing
watercress in seed trays floating on the surface. What would you use as a
planting medium? I was thinking of mixing 2 parts gravel to 1 part clay cat
litter. Is this a good idea? My main pond holds 3500 gallons and is home to
11 koi and 4 goldfish.
thanks
Leigh

I think you'll want the roots to dangle in the water to filter.
Unless you have other plants that will take care of the filtering...
JMO

Nedra

"btinternet" wrote in message
...
im thinking of growing watercress as a vegi filter. I have a header pool
on
my main pond which is 10'x3' and 14" deep. I am thinking of growing
watercress in seed trays floating on the surface. What would you use as a
planting medium? I was thinking of mixing 2 parts gravel to 1 part clay
cat
litter. Is this a good idea? My main pond holds 3500 gallons and is home
to
11 koi and 4 goldfish.
thanks
Leigh

I think you'll want the roots to dangle in the water to filter.
Unless you have other plants that will take care of the filtering...
JMO

Nedra

"btinternet" wrote in message
...
im thinking of growing watercress as a vegi filter. I have a header pool
on
my main pond which is 10'x3' and 14" deep. I am thinking of growing
watercress in seed trays floating on the surface. What would you use as a
planting medium? I was thinking of mixing 2 parts gravel to 1 part clay
cat
litter. Is this a good idea? My main pond holds 3500 gallons and is home
to
11 koi and 4 goldfish.
thanks
Leigh

"btinternet" wrote in message
...
im thinking of growing watercress as a vegi filter. I have a header pool
on
my main pond which is 10'x3' and 14" deep. I am thinking of growing
watercress in seed trays floating on the surface. What would you use as a
planting medium? I was thinking of mixing 2 parts gravel to 1 part clay
cat
litter. Is this a good idea? My main pond holds 3500 gallons and is home
to
11 koi and 4 goldfish.

To get the most out of your Veggie Filter you want bare roots. I mainly use
Water Hyacinth for my filter, but I do have some Iris as well. The iris are
planted in baskets of rock, but are there mostly for the look. The WH roots
dangling really do the main work. I also use watercress. It is a great
startup plant because it is cheap and easy to get. I have found the best
results for me with Watercress were when I just tossed the plants in. They
root in just a few days. Put them in running water like a falls or a stream,
and they will take over your yard.

--
BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"btinternet" wrote in message
...
im thinking of growing watercress as a vegi filter. I have a header pool
on
my main pond which is 10'x3' and 14" deep. I am thinking of growing
watercress in seed trays floating on the surface. What would you use as a
planting medium? I was thinking of mixing 2 parts gravel to 1 part clay
cat
litter. Is this a good idea? My main pond holds 3500 gallons and is home
to
11 koi and 4 goldfish.

To get the most out of your Veggie Filter you want bare roots. I mainly use
Water Hyacinth for my filter, but I do have some Iris as well. The iris are
planted in baskets of rock, but are there mostly for the look. The WH roots
dangling really do the main work. I also use watercress. It is a great
startup plant because it is cheap and easy to get. I have found the best
results for me with Watercress were when I just tossed the plants in. They
root in just a few days. Put them in running water like a falls or a stream,
and they will take over your yard.

--
BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

You might get some watercress from the store. It grows easily.

In the summer, it dies back in the heat. You might think about water
celery, it thrives in the summer. Additionaly, water hyacinth. Both grow
well and produce lots of discardable plants...throwing out as green plants
what was brown waste. The root systems catch muck and provide great
bactrial surface.

Jim


"btinternet" wrote in message
...
im thinking of growing watercress as a vegi filter. I have a header pool
on
my main pond which is 10'x3' and 14" deep. I am thinking of growing
watercress in seed trays floating on the surface. What would you use as a
planting medium? I was thinking of mixing 2 parts gravel to 1 part clay
cat
litter. Is this a good idea? My main pond holds 3500 gallons and is home
to
11 koi and 4 goldfish.
thanks
Leigh

definitely water celery. you can see how it grows over the summer here
http://puregold.aquaria.net/mypond/2003/8-2003B.htm
Ingrid

"Jim and Phyllis Hurley" wrote:
You might get some watercress from the store. It grows easily.

In the summer, it dies back in the heat. You might think about water
celery, it thrives in the summer. Additionaly, water hyacinth. Both grow
well and produce lots of discardable plants...throwing out as green plants
what was brown waste. The root systems catch muck and provide great
bactrial surface.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Hi Ingrid,
Very nice setup you have.
Are you pumping the water into that wooden
tray atop of your pond, does the water flow
sequentially down the tray through all the plants
from Plant 1 to Plant 9 where it exits a waterfall
back into the pond?

Do you have any illustrations or pictures of the
pond construction, filter details, plant baskets, etc?
Do you have a bottom drain and a skimmer
at the other end of the pond (opposite waterfall)?
How big is your pump?

....Kodiak

wrote in message
...
definitely water celery. you can see how it grows over the summer here
http://puregold.aquaria.net/mypond/2003/8-2003B.htm
Ingrid

"Jim and Phyllis Hurley" wrote:
You might get some watercress from the store. It grows easily.

In the summer, it dies back in the heat. You might think about water
celery, it thrives in the summer. Additionaly, water hyacinth. Both
grow
well and produce lots of discardable plants...throwing out as green
plants
what was brown waste. The root systems catch muck and provide great
bactrial surface.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

yes, here is shows details of building the veggie filter
http://puregold.aquaria.net/mypond/2000/p2000.htm
yes, it does flow thru. and one year I put clumps of water celery in a row and sure
enough, the ones got the water first got the biggest.
uhh.. I would recommend doing the veggie filter BEFORE filling the pond. LOL.
the baskets are regular plastic pots. I turn one upside down and put the plant on
top. filter is only 12" deep. at the beginning where the water goes in (left side) I
rolled up some filter material and jammed it down into the box. some rough stuff
first, then aquatic ecosystem reticulated foam right after the "corners" and then a
roll of polyester batting supported by another roll of rougher stuff closer to teh
water falls. The mulm builds up during the year.
this year I am absolutely, positively going to make a proper filter to get all the
fine stuff out before the water goes into the filter. sigh.
no bottom drain, no skimmer (no leaves cause of the net). no idea how big the pump
is, the Pond Lady sized it for me. got a UV hoodgie too.

"Kodiak" wrote:
Are you pumping the water into that wooden
tray atop of your pond, does the water flow
sequentially down the tray through all the plants
from Plant 1 to Plant 9 where it exits a waterfall
back into the pond?

Do you have any illustrations or pictures of the
pond construction, filter details, plant baskets, etc?
Do you have a bottom drain and a skimmer
at the other end of the pond (opposite waterfall)?
How big is your pump?

...Kodiak


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Very Nice Ingrid,
Got alot of ideas looking at your pond construction.
The carpet padding was a very interesting one.
So the Veggie filter is 12" deep I assume that's the
water depth? The trench is another 6" taller? What's that
piece you used to do the lip for the water falls? How do you
get such a clean finish with no liner sticking out? Do you just
trim the liner and then pinch down the excess with the wood
trim on top? What is that shelf about 1.5ft down only on one front wall?
Is that to sit your heater and Pump? Do you just run a hose from the
pump straight into the trench?
Can KOI actually jump out of a POND with that much headroom?
I like the winter stuff you did. Which part of the US do you live?
Sorry for all the questions....
....Kodiak

wrote in message
...
yes, here is shows details of building the veggie filter
http://puregold.aquaria.net/mypond/2000/p2000.htm
yes, it does flow thru. and one year I put clumps of water celery in a row
and sure
enough, the ones got the water first got the biggest.
uhh.. I would recommend doing the veggie filter BEFORE filling the pond.
LOL.
the baskets are regular plastic pots. I turn one upside down and put the
plant on
top. filter is only 12" deep. at the beginning where the water goes in
(left side) I
rolled up some filter material and jammed it down into the box. some
rough stuff
first, then aquatic ecosystem reticulated foam right after the "corners"
and then a
roll of polyester batting supported by another roll of rougher stuff
closer to teh
water falls. The mulm builds up during the year.
this year I am absolutely, positively going to make a proper filter to get
all the
fine stuff out before the water goes into the filter. sigh.
no bottom drain, no skimmer (no leaves cause of the net). no idea how big
the pump
is, the Pond Lady sized it for me. got a UV hoodgie too.

"Kodiak" wrote:
Are you pumping the water into that wooden
tray atop of your pond, does the water flow
sequentially down the tray through all the plants
from Plant 1 to Plant 9 where it exits a waterfall
back into the pond?

Do you have any illustrations or pictures of the
pond construction, filter details, plant baskets, etc?
Do you have a bottom drain and a skimmer
at the other end of the pond (opposite waterfall)?
How big is your pump?

...Kodiak


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.