One of the problems living in a pond as small as ours is maintaining the water quality. We only have 27 litres of water and because it is a new pond there is little in the way of bacteria in the silt at the bottom to process our waste. You see there is a lot of us growing fast and as a result we produce a lot of ammonia and other waste which is very poisonous. In a normal pond bacteria in the mud and on plant surfaces convert the ammonia we produce into nitrites and then nitrates which are a lot safer. (Though even they will become poisonous if they become too concentrated). This is know as the Nitrogen Cycle.
In our new pond the bacteria haven't had a chance to build up yet, but luckily 20% of the water gets replaced with fresh pond water each day and that has stopped the ammonia causing us problems - until this weekend.
For some reason our regular water change stopped for a few days and the ammonia started to build up. Without enough friendly bacteria to clean the water the future looked bleak and indeed a couple of froglets died on the third day. Such was the rapidity of the change in water quality.
We were still reeling from the loss of our friends when we discovered that Archie, a young froglet who still had a long tail, had set out on a rather over enthusiastic expedition from the pond and not made it back.
On Monday we were saved by a massive water change, all the water in the trug being replaced with water from a nearby pond. This was lovely stuff, not a hint of chlorine (which is fatal to us), no measurable ammonia, or nitrites and 10 mg/l of nitrates which our more scientifically literate tadpoles say is just fine. It certainly feels a lot better!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment