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Pluses of Aquascape Ponds Please realize that all of us are cognizant of the fact that there are certainly ways that other ponds "beat" an Aquascape pond. No pond surpasses all others in all areas. But there are many ways an Aquascape pond beats the rest, too. All successful commercially available systems keep fish and plants happy when properly maintained. Conversely, all systems will KILL fish and plants when neglected. 1. Aquascape Ponds Are Comparatively Gorgeous. Day in and day out, your BEST chance to get a really attractive pond which melds form and function, plants and a natural look into your backyard - choose Aquascape. In this area, Aquascape installations crush preformed ponds and the rather sterile looking above ground box of water like I've used in the past. Because TRAINING is a big part of the Aquascape pond, you usually get an installer that does more than an inground bucket of water with a rock necklace. A+ For Aesthetics 2. Aquascape ponds include plants. Somehow, this company doesn't "buy it" that plants and Koi don't mix, and for good reason. Fact is, with gravel on the pond bottom, the fish molestation of the plants is MINIMAL, I can tell you from FIRST HAND experience. It was explained to me three ways. A fisheries person supplied that a Koi (carp) would rather root-and-forage the bottom for crustaceans, molluscs and nematodes than try and make a meal of plants. An Aquascape installer supplied (for right or for wrong) that the fish are satisfied by the gravel like "worry beads" and so they don't feel any destructive urge for the plants. Finally, it was correctly pointed out that Koi are sentient beings and like to play with stuff. When you throw a red object into a pond like a bobber or a cherry tomato, you will notice the fish are attracted highly to this red bauble. They will mouth it, push it around and pay a lot of attention to it. New plants get the same going over, while old resident plants fluorish with no munching by the fish. Plants reduce nitrate which harms fish when it accumulates. Plants such as Lilies, Water Lettuce and Hyacinth also provide EXCELLENT shade for the pond and it's water which further reduces algae growth and provides a certain amount of shade protection from excessive heat for ponds located in lots of (full) sun. Why build a $5,000 shade cloth arbor when you can just drop in $200 worth of big-leaved tropical lilies and have functionally the same shade (at least) for the pond, water and fish. The way the skimmers are currently built, (9-2004) you can float plants in the Biofalls. In my Grande Biofalls, Ed Beaulieu put some criss cross fishing string across the top of the water in the BioFalls which retain Hyacinths from floating down the waterfalls. Thusly, my Grande skimmer simultaneously performs the functions of veggie filter. A+ For Plants 3. Aquascape Pond Gravel Bed is a Nutritive Resource. The gravel bed sustains the growth of crustaceans, molluscs, copepods and nematodes which can provide natural food for very small to medium Koi. Again, I wish I had quantitative data for you, but the growth rates on the young Koi in our Aquascape test pond were incredible. We were NOT doing frequent water changes normally needed to accelerate growth in small Koi in reuse systems. We were NOT feeding heavily, in fact once per day is the norm in the test pond, yet the baby Koi grew at an astonishing rate. I feel sure the plants and gravel in the pond provided supplemental nutritional resource. A+ For Built In Food Cultivation 4. Green water is all but unheard of in an Aquascape pond. There are several factors that fit together to cause this admirable characteristic.
A+ For Natural Defeat of Greenwater ...to be continued Website contents © 2002 JVC LLC All Rights Reserved
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