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Over the weekend we took the bus to Guelph, Ontario to visit my aunt and uncle. My uncle is a long time aquarium enthusiast and garden guy so as you can imagine there was a lot of geeky conversation about plants, ponds, and aquarium gadgets. He also had aquarium supply catalogues that I leafed through. Between that and the discussions I felt compelled to immediately run out and purchase a digital thermometer and a slew of other aquarium gadgets that I have managed to survive without up until now. It also made me want to go out and get a new tank, new gravel, new everything and start over. But I'd keep the fish and the plants and the rocks of course.
A few years ago my uncle converted their small suburban backyard into a huge box garden. He built everything up because as they age it is getting harder for them to bend over in order to weed and plant etc. The yard is a system of boxes and paths with several ponds, bog gardens, mixed perennials and rose beds. One box is a pond over flowing with floating water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes). Underneath it are swordtails and guppies. A waterfall leads from that box to a pond that holds various water plants and fancy tailed guppies. That box leads to a large pond that houses giant koi and water lilies (Nymphaea). That then leads to a giant home made filter filled with bio balls that promote anaerobic bacteria development (good bacteria). Next are a system of marshes or bogs that house two varieties of canna, umbrella plant (Cyperus alternifolius), zebra rush (Sairpus zebrinus) and cattail (Typha latifolia). The water from the large pond moves through this area and the plants act as a filter removing waste product and filtering clean water back into the large pond. This water then moves from the pond to the hyacinth filled box and the cycle continues. There are other filters that remove surface waste but the homemade bio ball filter and the bog is what really cleans the water. My aunt said that before they put in the bog, the water in the koi pond wasn't as clear.
It's a perfect little ecosystem that makes for a beautiful and fascinating backyard. I saw a variety of interesting insect life living in and around the ponds, including water skippers, several species of snails, dragonflies and dragonfly nymphs.
On Sunday we went to Elora (a small town in the area) with Beate and Gord and walked through the forest along the river. We drove through Mennonite country checking out the farms and fallow fields along the way.
My uncle gave me lots of plants and a few fish to take home with me. The plants included a small Amazon sword (Echinodorus amazanicus), a large corkscrew vallisneria (Vallisneria Spiralis) with red leaves, a fanwort (Cabomba aquatica), and a tiny rosette plant that propagates quickly, covering the aquarium floor like a lawn called Echindorus tenellus. I spent hours on Monday cleaning up the plants and inspecting the leaves thoroughly for snail eggs and leeches, but it was well worth the effort.
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