If you’ve been struggling to keep your pond clean and free of pond scum, pond muck or other common water quality issues, using beneficial bacteria for ponds can be a good option to consider. At Healthy Ponds, we have beneficial bacteria pond products that are easy to use and effective. Here’s a quick look at beneficial bacteria and how this can improve your pond water.
- Beneficial Bacteria Consume Excess Nutrients
In any body of water, some beneficial bacteria will occur naturally. These bacteria consume nutrients in the pond, such as nitrogen. While this is helpful, the number of bacteria in your pond might not be sufficient to handle an excess of nutrients.
If you begin to notice floating green organic matter at the surface of your pond, for instance, this is an indication that the pond doesn’t contain enough beneficial bacteria to handle this excess of nutrients. Floating organic matter thrives in ponds with excess nutrients and warm ponds with low oxygen levels.
To counter the excess nutrients, many pond owners use what is known as biological augmentation. This simply means they introduce additional beneficial pond bacteria into the pond. These bacteria will consume the excess nutrients and release the waste as a harmless gas.
Many pond owners treat their ponds monthly with beneficial bacteria. Our product, AquaSpherePRO®, is a monthly beneficial bacteria pond treatment that you simply toss into your pond. The biodegradable sphere immediately begins releasing bacteria and after 30 days, you simply add new spheres to maintain a healthy number of beneficial bacteria in your pond.
For a pond already experiencing issues, we recommend treating the water with our Natural Blast® pond treatment product. This product contains a proprietary mix of beneficial bacteria for ponds and can help reduce or eliminate floating green organic matter as well as reduce pond sludge and eliminate any smelly odors emitting from your pond.
Natural Blast® can and should be used in conjunction with the AquaSpherePRO®. You cannot overtreat with beneficial bacteria, but you can undertreat. It is important that you add enough bacteria to accommodate the size of your pond. To determine the number of gallons of water in your pond, you can use our handy pond size calculator at https://healthyponds.com/pond-calculator/.
- Beneficial Bacteria Are Safe For Fish, Pets & People
In some states, the use of chemical products to resolve issues with pond weeds and floating organic matter is prohibited. Additionally, many pond owners prefer using natural products to resolve issues rather than using chemical products.
Our beneficial bacteria products are chemical-free and all-natural. Both AquaSpherePRO® and Natural Blast® are all-natural, veterinarian-approved and safe for fish, wildlife, livestock, pets and people.
- Your Pond Needs A Source Of Aeration
While beneficial bacteria for ponds can handle a lot of the heavy lifting, these bacteria work more efficiently and are better distributed in ponds with mechanical aeration. In general, aeration is recommended for all ponds as it can help reduce water temperatures and keep oxygen levels steady.
As a pond owner, you can opt for a surface aeration system, such as a fountain or a bottom diffusion system. With a deeper pond, a bottom diffusion aerator is the best option as ensures that all of the water in the pond is circulated, pulling cooler water from the bottom up toward the surface and spreading beneficial bacteria throughout the pond.
While operating an aeration system can increase your yearly energy costs, there are solar-powered-aeration systems to consider, and some people even power their aeration system using a windmill. Both of these will be more expensive upfront, but, in the long run, they will be cheaper to run than a system that runs off electricity from the grid.
- Monitoring Water Temperature Is Crucial
While monthly bacteria treatments with AquaSpherePRO® can prevent many issues, when water temperatures climb, this can still lead to the rapid accumulation of floating organic matter.
Aeration can help reduce the temperatures and pond dye also may help block some UV rays. Adding some shade also can ensure that the fish in your pond have access to cool areas. When temperatures spike, we recommend adding Natural Blast® to the pond as this ensures your water has a healthy dose of beneficial bacteria.
If you are adding a larger pond to your property, we recommend digging down at least eight feet. A depth of about eight feet to 12 feet is ideal, as these deeper areas are less affected by sunlight, which ensures that your fish have cool areas and that your aerator can circulate that cooler water.
Of course, small decorative water gardens and koi ponds won’t need to be this deep, but it’s also easier to add shade to a small pond than a large farm pond. With any pond, you can add beneficial plants or rocks around the edge to provide some shade. You also can add some floating plants to the pond, either real plants or artificial plants. If you opt for real plants, just ensure that they don’t over-propagate and cover too much of the surface of your pond.
Order Beneficial Bacteria Online
Our beneficial bacteria for ponds can be ordered online, and we offer a monthly auto-ship program that ensures you always have plenty of AquaSpherePRO® and Natural Blast® on hand. We offer a 10% discount for those who enroll in the auto-ship program. If your pond is experiencing any type of water quality issue, we also offer free personalized treatment plans for any size water feature at https://healthyponds.com/free-pond-plan/.
