[david plankton]

It hasn't rained much here in the North East of England recently, and as a result the garden pond level has dropped about four inches over the past few weeks. I read somewhere that it was ok to top up your pond in times of drought with a hosepipe.
Would the chlorine in the tap water be harmful to wildlife in small doses?

cheers
Dave

we need some real rain

[KCFoggin]

Hi David.

There are usually chlorine removers at your local garden store or you can do as I do. I have a rain barrel and when there is no rain in the forecast, I fill it with the garden hose and let it stand for 48 hours. All chlorine is gone at that time and I just siphon it back into the pond.

[sulo]

Originally Posted by david plankton

It hasn't rained much here in the North East of England recently, and as a result the garden pond level has dropped about four inches over the past few weeks. I read somewhere that it was ok to top up your pond in times of drought with a hosepipe.
Would the chlorine in the tap water be harmful to wildlife in small doses?

cheers
Dave

we need some real rain

Hi David, I regularly top up my pond with tap water.If you have a submersible pump for a waterfall or fountain,so much the better.The chlorine will disappear in a few hours anyway.Small regular top ups are best.My frogs are perfectly happy!They co-exist with the fish, dragonflies etc.As long as your frogs have somewhere damp in hot weather, they`ll be fine. Regards, Sulo.

[Surreybirder]

Originally Posted by david plankton

It hasn't rained much here in the North East of England recently, and as a result the garden pond level has dropped about four inches over the past few weeks. I read somewhere that it was ok to top up your pond in times of drought with a hosepipe.
Would the chlorine in the tap water be harmful to wildlife in small doses?

cheers
Dave

we need some real rain

Down here where we have a drought order, no less, you are still allowed to top up your pond as long as there are fish in it. Fortunately, we have sticklebacks in ours
We haven't actually topped ours up all that much and when we have we've done it from a water butt. (It is legal to top up your water butt with a hosepipe - we checked on the Royal Horticultural Society website.) But we usually fill the pond very slowly so we reckon that the amount of chlorine added is minimal. The dragonflies and sticklebacks seem happy - and we had a grass snake in there too.

[david plankton]

Thanks for the feedback. Storms are forecast on Thursday, but if nothing happens, I'll take the hosepipe route

Dave

[mothman]

In some areas tap water contains high levels of nitrates and can cause a large algal bloom when used to top up ponds.

Colin.

[Surreybirder]

Originally Posted by mothman

In some areas tap water contains high levels of nitrates and can cause a large algal bloom when used to top up ponds.

Colin.

there's always a catch. Do nitrates 'evaporate' if the water is left standing (as I understand that chlorine does) or are they more persistent?
Ken

[mothman]

Originally Posted by Surreybirder

there's always a catch. Do nitrates 'evaporate' if the water is left standing (as I understand that chlorine does) or are they more persistent?
Ken

No,Nitrates actually concentrate as water evaporates(never boil the water in your kettle more than once!!)

Colin.

[stevetb]

Originally Posted by sulo

Hi David, I regularly top up my pond with tap water.If you have a submersible pump for a waterfall or fountain,so much the better.The chlorine will disappear in a few hours anyway.Small regular top ups are best.My frogs are perfectly happy!They co-exist with the fish, dragonflies etc.As long as your frogs have somewhere damp in hot weather, they`ll be fine. Regards, Sulo.

yeah , my palmate newts seem to be perfectly happy with tap water topping up

[Carless]

Warning: Some water companies use chloramines rather than chlorine in their water. Chloramines are much more stable than chlorine, and takes a lot longer to leave water. I've heard that it could be a week, but please check this. When I learnt about chloramines I asked my water company about them. They told me that they used chlorine, but it was possible that they might switch to chloramines, and they wouldn't notify consumers if this was the case. Most water treatment agents (all that I've seen) remove both chlorine and chloramines from the water, as well as other nasties such as heavy metals. For aquarium use, the amounts of water used during water changes are so small that the cost of dechlorination is trivial. If you're adding hundreds of gallons of water to your pond in a single go (how big is it), the cost may be more noticable.

I've seen it said that you don't have to dechlorinate your water if your changing less than a small fraction of your total water. I don't want to say the fraction in case I've misremembered it and I'm wrong. But I note two replies here where people just use tap water. But personally I wouldn't risk it. If I had a pond that is (I have an aquarium).

Surrybirder, did you put the sticklebacks in there by choice, or did they just arrive as eggs on the legs of waterbirds/etc. If I had a pond (which I hope to do some day), sticklebacks would be my no 1. choice due to a preference for native fish, their interesting behaviour and biology, and since they're suitable for ponds.

[Surreybirder]

Hi, Carless,
I must admit that the sticklebacks are the result of 'pond dipping' in a nearby stream. We have now rigged up a water butt that can be made to outflow into the pond. This works really well as the amount of water coming off our roof in wet weather fills the butt quite quickly - so if we leave the tap open it makes a significant difference to the water level. (Our pond is about 8 x 4 m at its maximum but is an irregular shape.)
As I may have said earlier, it's fascinating to see how much wildlife uses it. We've had water snake, kingfisher, mallard, frog, moorhen, great diving beetle, aquatic moth larvae and loads of odonata in the first couple of years. Despite this, the sticklebacks seem to be thriving.
Ken

[Carless]

Originally Posted by Surreybirder

Hi, Carless,
I must admit that the sticklebacks are the result of 'pond dipping' in a nearby stream. We have now rigged up a water butt that can be made to outflow into the pond. This works really well as the amount of water coming off our roof in wet weather fills the butt quite quickly - so if we leave the tap open it makes a significant difference to the water level. (Our pond is about 8 x 4 m at its maximum but is an irregular shape.)
As I may have said earlier, it's fascinating to see how much wildlife uses it. We've had water snake, kingfisher, mallard, frog, moorhen, great diving beetle, aquatic moth larvae and loads of odonata in the first couple of years. Despite this, the sticklebacks seem to be thriving.
Ken

Do the sticklebacks get to full size? I have often seen quite large sticklebacks, nearing 3" or so, in small streams/brooks or small (wild) ponds. But in larger rivers and canals, despite the large number of sticklebacks around, it's extremely rare to see a large one. Dunno if the large ones are hiding away, but I doubt it since large sticklebacks in streams and ponds don't seem to hide away. Do you get to see males colouring up at the right time of year?

[Surreybirder]

Yes to all those, Carless. We see sticklebacks up to about 3"; and they do turn quite a reddish colour sometimes.
Ken

[mothman]

I have minnows in my pond(also from a river dipping session) and they thrive well too.

[Carless]

Originally Posted by mothman

I have minnows in my pond(also from a river dipping session) and they thrive well too.

Really? Minnows as in Phoxinus phoxinus?

http://www.arkive.org/media/D7BE06E8...cts-Minnow.jpg

I've received ambiguous information about whether they can be kept in captivity. Some sites claim they make good pond or aquarium fish, but I've also heard that they require cool highly oxygenated water. If it's ok to ask a stream of questions, what sort/size of pond do you have, how warm does the water get in summer, and do you have anything that aerates the water?

I saw some minnows in the Grand Union Canal. I haven't seen them there before and am wondering if they got washed in their during the recent heavy rains.

[PS: Thanks SurryBirder]

[gogsy]

Can anyone tell me if Sticklebacks will upset The balance of things in a small pond that contains Frogs and Common newts.will they not eat small newts and tadpoles?also will they deplete Daphnia supply.I've always been worried about that.

[Surreybirder]

I'm no expert but I don't see why sticklebacks should affect newts and frogs. In my pond it is the dragonfly larvae that predate other forms of wildlife. But I suspect that a balance is struck so that a proportion of frogs, sticklebacks etc survive. I don't think we get newts. But we also get great diving beetles which are presumably predatory on the other animals as well. Personally, I think it's best to leave everything to find its own natural level (of population).
Ken

[mothman]

Originally Posted by Carless

Really? Minnows as in Phoxinus phoxinus?

http://www.arkive.org/media/D7BE06E8...cts-Minnow.jpg

I've received ambiguous information about whether they can be kept in captivity. Some sites claim they make good pond or aquarium fish, but I've also heard that they require cool highly oxygenated water. If it's ok to ask a stream of questions, what sort/size of pond do you have, how warm does the water get in summer, and do you have anything that aerates the water?

I saw some minnows in the Grand Union Canal. I haven't seen them there before and am wondering if they got washed in their during the recent heavy rains.

[PS: Thanks SurryBirder]

The Minnows were caught in the Stour in 04 (by my son) transported by bucket balanced on a lap some fifty miles(!!)

They then thrived in a cold aquarium in my sons bedroom filled with water from our pond and large amounts of Hornwort and Canadian pond weed.

They thrived there for about six weeks(being fed on Tetramin)before being liberated(sort of) into our aprox 6ft by8ft 3.5ft deep pond where I am now convinced that there is more than the six that we first released!(it is difficult to count as duckweed has found its way in, about a year ago and now covers 100%)

PS sorry I ignored your post for so long-It just slipped through the net somehow (forgive the pun)

[Beany]

Originally Posted by gogsy

Can anyone tell me if Sticklebacks will upset The balance of things in a small pond that contains Frogs and Common newts.will they not eat small newts and tadpoles?also will they deplete Daphnia supply.I've always been worried about that.

Sticklebacks will definitely eat common newt larvae, I've seen them do it. Not sure about frog tadpoles, though.