Wildlife Pond and Maggots in the Fridge
I get some interesting emails and here’s one of them…
Tony, first of all, Thank You for your emails. I enjoy reading them, having dug a pond in October, planted sticks (plants with no foliage!) and can now see the first green , red and pink shoots appearing.
I have question for you. I am using a bio-filter, with scotchbrite as a filter medium. It all seems to be working , I have added micro thingies to kick start it.
I read that perhaps I should put a UV light in the circuit, prior to the filter. While my underwater lights show a green haze, not bad, but visible, if I check the water from the filter outfall, it is almost crystal clear.
An analogy would be a pint of water with 1/2 teaspoon of lime cordial in it. Do I still need a UV lamp?
With your permission, may I pin some of your articles on the staff notice board for general viewing?
Roger, Midhurst, UK
Roger, Hello and first thanks for the email
You only need an UV light if your pond is murky (brown or green) caused by suspended algae … the only thing that an UV does is to kill suspended algae. You cannot see murky water at the waterfall outlet … since you can see the light it is certainly not critical that you install an UV.
However it would make a difference to water clarity. You will probably find that the murkiness gets worse when the water warms up. If you decide to install an UVC then switch it off during winter to conserve the lamp efficiency.
The UV lamp needs changing every 8000 hrs or so of continuous use.
You may pin any of the articles on your board.
Roger’s reply…
Tony you are a Gem!
It really takes the pressure off me and I will fit the UV at my leisure. The problem is that the more you do, the more you need to do to stay ahead.
The nights are just a bit longer in the UK at the moment, cold, but it is so relaxing to sit in the garden and look at the pond. The plants are starting to shoot, and the fish are moving around. I fish for freshwater fish most of the year and I am sorely tempted to teach my grandson, age 10 mths to fish in my pond. I always have maggots in the fridge, and my fish have a taste for them. Here in the UK a Fishery Owner is BANNING maggots as a bait, saying that there is not enough protein in them. That means that we pay to catch his fish, put them back in, feed them and take nothing home. I thought lawyers were corrupt.
My wife is the driving force behind my wildlife garden, and she is overjoyed to have 3+ prs of frogs, who have laid 8+ balls of spawn.
Working on natural attrition I hope the pond can cope. Cannot thank you enough for such an interesting and useful email.
Roger
My last word …
I also come from the UK, Wigan in Lancashire, but I’ve been here in South Africa since 1972.
I also used to keep maggots and casters in the fridge … I was holidaying in Ireland one year and fishing at Carrick on Shannon. I kept the maggots in the bedroom of the hotel. One morning we all went down to breakfast and the table we sat at was swarming with maggots … they worked their way out of the containers and wriggled down cracks in the ceiling.
Now I flyfish … You can subscribe to my series of articles at Practical Water Gardens.
Tony
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