Jury is still out about future pig roasts. Calculus grumbles every year about how much prep the whole event takes and how she’s not having any more ever. Then she enjoys herself and invites tons of people to the next one.

Also, I signed up with Gravatar. Let’s see if the angry avatar goes away and my HH avatar appears.

(haleyhughes’s last blog post: Home)

fragile: Swimmers over 21 are only allowed naked into the pool. It’s the only way to keep it environmentally safe.

haley: You’re angry because you are so bored at work that you have to make tea to pass the time. No, seriously, the avatar is based on a plugin that uses an algorithm based on your email address to create your face. If you want an avatar of your own choosing, go to gravatar.com.

To answer your question: I don’t really know. There are a number of factors such as ambient temperature, amount of direct sunlight, and water quality.

In regular pools chlorine is used for 2 general reasons (in salt-water pools, the salt catalyzes chlorine formation, so there’s still a chlorine dependence). Chlorine kills pathogenic organisms such as E. Coli and protozoans. It also eliminates algae (string algae and planktonic algae) which would otherwise make the pool look and smell yucky.

In a pond, keeping the water moving and keeping ducks and other animals from crapping in the pool keeps pathogens to a minimum. If E. Coli levels do go up, we switch on our U.V. light to clear things up. The U.V. kills many of the good bacteria too though.

The aquatic plants do help to reduce pathogenic micro-organisms as well. Their main job, though, is to reduce the amount of nutrient material in the water (nitrogen, phosphorus, etc). By keeping those substances to a minimum, algae growth is minimized.

We noticed a substantial drop in planktonic algae — the water became less green and more transparent — after about a month. It is now crystal clear. String algae on the rocks and in the plant beds will probably continue forever. I told the reporter that maintaining the aquatic plant bed is the same as weeding and separating a perennial garden.

We were in the pool pretty much from day 1. We did have to be careful not to splash too much because the plants were not fully rooted then. We also recently discovered a really effective way to eliminate string algae from the rocks, so no more green rocks.

Once the aquatic plants grow more and cover the outer ring more densely, the string algae in those areas will not receive sunlight and therefore not be as much of a problem there.

(haleyhughes’s last blog post: I’m leaving on jet plane… tomorrow)