How safe is black water?

No, really.

With Jan's encouragement I built a skippy filter. Took a week to clear
the green water, but it worked! Last week tore the back off the
waterfall (http://artships.com/pond.php). Installed the skippy filter so
that the tub's spout would run right over the waterfall. Works!

Rebuilt the rest of the waterfall around the tub. Left the top over
the skippy open so I can stick plants in there, but will put rocks around
the edge. Note, "will". Until then, I've applied Great Stuff aerosol
styrofoam between the edge of the tub and the surrounding rocks. Couldn't
find the black kind, so I painted the exposed styrofoam black. Used a
latex enamel. Looked great.

Irrigation system went off on schedule last night. Washed some of the
almost-dry black paint off the styrofoam and into the pond.

*expletives*

Six hours later, goldfish still seem healthy and happy. Thinned latex
paint is thinner than algae, but will the skippy filter still snag it all?
Will the pond clear? And Latex paint is much less caustic than, say,
lacquer, but with no intervention on my part will the fish still swim in
this continuum or float to the top on their way to the next?

Sucks to be me, today. Or one of my hapless goldfish.

John

"John" wrote in message
...
snip
Six hours later, goldfish still seem healthy and happy. Thinned latex
paint is thinner than algae, but will the skippy filter still snag it all?
Will the pond clear? And Latex paint is much less caustic than, say,
lacquer, but with no intervention on my part will the fish still swim in
this continuum or float to the top on their way to the next?

Sucks to be me, today. Or one of my hapless goldfish.

I'd bet if the fish were going to go belly up, they would have already. To
be safe though, I'd do some water changes and dechlor the hell out of the
water.

BV.

In article ,
"Benign Vanilla" writes:

I'd bet if the fish were going to go belly up, they would have already.

They still haven't so I'm figuring we all dodged that bullet.

To be safe though, I'd do some water changes and dechlor the hell out of
the water.

Probably excellent advice, but in my experience, water changes should
never be commenced until one has in hand the plastic bag containing the
new fish. That is to say, every time I've sent my fish off to their
unjust rewards it was when attempting to clear the water. It's the
most dangerous thing _I_ can do to them that doesn't involve explosives.

John
--
On a Tee-shirt:
"I am a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up."

On 29 Sep 2004 17:48:59 GMT,
(John) wrote:

No, really.

With Jan's encouragement I built a skippy filter.

Irrigation system went off on schedule last night. Washed some of the
almost-dry black paint off the styrofoam and into the pond.
*expletives*

will the fish still swim in
this continuum or float to the top on their way to the next?

Nah, latex means milk, right? Natural product. Smell it? Ammonia,
right? The cycle will deal with it, in my chemical opinion.
I like your idea of painting Stuff, since that is $3 instead of $14 a
can.
--
Crashj
--
Crashj

Crashj wrote:

On 29 Sep 2004 17:48:59 GMT,
(John) wrote:

No, really.

With Jan's encouragement I built a skippy filter.

Irrigation system went off on schedule last night. Washed some of the
almost-dry black paint off the styrofoam and into the pond.
*expletives*

will the fish still swim in
this continuum or float to the top on their way to the next?

Nah, latex means milk, right? Natural product. Smell it? Ammonia,
right?

Hmmm. Yes, the name comes from 'milk', but that's because latex is the
milky-looking sap of the rubber tree. Still, I'm not at all sure that
there's anything natural left in latex paint.

Whether it will have any toxicity depends on how much it had dried before
washing into the pond. Latex itself isn't toxic, but the liquid it's
suspended in is, at least, unhealthy (and what exactly is in that differs
from paint to paint).
--
derek

In article ,
Crashj writes:
On 29 Sep 2004 17:48:59 GMT,
(John) wrote:

Irrigation system went off on schedule last night. Washed some of the
almost-dry black paint off the styrofoam and into the pond.
*expletives*

will the fish still swim in
this continuum or float to the top on their way to the next?

Nah, latex means milk, right? Natural product. Smell it? Ammonia,
right? The cycle will deal with it, in my chemical opinion.

That's certainly what I told SWMBO in my most confident manner. Turns out
we were right. Fish are fine, string algae (grows during the day,
disappears by night - Don't know to where. Algae-bandits?) is turning a
slightly darker color. Could also be the effects of the first hints of a
tincture of the promise of winter. And without using much imagination at
all I can tell the water is clearing. Whew!

I like your idea of painting Stuff, since that is $3 instead of $14 a
can.

Seeing as how I covered the Great Stuff with rocks I could almost have
saved myself the trouble. I'll take pictures tonight and post them.

John
--
On a Tee-shirt:
"I am a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up."

With Jan's encouragement I built a skippy filter. Took a week to clear
the green water, but it worked!

Wasn't that my guess? ;o)

Irrigation system went off on schedule last night. Washed some of the
almost-dry black paint off the styrofoam and into the pond.

Sucks to be me, today. Or one of my hapless goldfish.
John

Well since I'm late to this thread, sounds like everything worked out,
paint wasn't toxic to fish, maybe to algae? Check for ammonia in case it
was toxic to good bacteria. Otherwise, pond looks terrific with new
waterfall/filter. ) ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

In article ,
~ jan JJsPond.us writes:
With Jan's encouragement I built a skippy filter. Took a week to clear
the green water, but it worked!

Wasn't that my guess? ;o)

Yes, indeedy. Mighty fine advice, was that.

Well since I'm late to this thread, sounds like everything worked out,
paint wasn't toxic to fish

Fish are fine. Water once again clear.

maybe to algae?

Hahaha. Absent string algae is what dreams are made of.

Pirates of the Carribean
That means no.
/Priates

Check for ammonia in case it
was toxic to good bacteria. Otherwise, pond looks terrific with new
waterfall/filter. ) ~ jan

Thanks, Jan. I enjoyed the construction challenge. Now I can get back to
my first love.

John
--
Sea Lo Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.
Texas Lo White car on shoulder, drive much less bolder.