Q: How soon should I start treating my pond with bacteria? – Justin in Minnesota
Baby It’s Cold Outside
The ice is melting away from the surface of your pond and Spring is already on its way, should bacteria be a part of your ponds Winter/Spring transition? Depending on your location, bacteria may be too busy singing the blues to work on the organics residing in your pond. Adhering to the general rules of thumb below will keep your bacteria working as efficiently as possible, keeping your pockets green and your pond crystal clear.
Aeration, Aeration, wherefore art thou Aeration
It may be cliché to quote Shakespeare in a blog post, but we’ve stressed the importance of aeration for so many seasons now he just may have heard of it himself. Aeration circulates the water in your pond adding oxygen to the water column. Beneficial bacteria, like those found in our ClearPAC®, thrive on oxygen. While we don’t plan on winning any awards for our astounding math skills in the near future, we have hit the nail on the head with this equation: water + oxygen = productive bacteria. You can still use beneficial bacteria in your pond without aeration, but you will definitely get more bang for your buck running an aeration system.
Getting Warmer
You know why to use your ClearPAC® but you are still unsure when to start adding it into your pond. This answer will depend on where you live. The bacteria in PondClear™ really flex their muscles when your water temperatures reach 50° and up. This means that areas with warmer climates will start adding their bacteria earlier in the season than those of us pond guys and gals who are still digging their cars out of snow drifts. Check your water temperature regularly and begin your applications accordingly. To really give your bacteria a boost, use EcoBoost™ along with every dose of PondClear™.
The Life of the PRE-Party
While your PondClear™ & EcoBoost™ are patiently waiting in their buckets, your Pond Dye is ready for action all year long. We strongly suggest adding Pond Dye—even if your pond ices over—as algae can grow in cold temperatures and can still utilize sunlight through the ice.
POND TALK: When do you start your bacteria applications in your pond? How do you kick off the opening of your pond for the season?
Filed under: Uncategorized, Pond & Lake, Pond Clear, Pond Dye Tagged: | bacteria, clearpac, EcoBoost, nature's blue, pond dye, PondClear, spring
[...] with an Aeration System. If you are a new pond owner, or have just found our blog page, click HERE to learn more about these products and how they improve the quality of your [...]
[...] your toes this season and less squish. For more information on treating your pond with bacteria click here or read our Aeration Articles to learn about the many other benefits of aerating your [...]
I get the aeration, but for an 18 acre lake it’s too expensive and ineffective. Here’s my question: should I raise the water level of the lake, which I can do, to “drown down” the weeds?
Hi Tricia,
You won’t be able to drown the weeds out. Remember they are aquatic weeds and will be able to grow even if you add another couple feet of water as long as they can reach nutrients and sunlight. You can however focus your efforts of aeration, bacteria or quick treatment on a smaller portion of the lake in an area that you may use more often such as a portion directly in front of your house or a beach.
Why is it so important for aeration for my pond? I have had the pond for over 30 years and have never aerated it. Of course there is a lot of muck, sea week, cat tails growing in my pond that I have to remove by hand. I had fish in my pond for years but last summer they all disappeared. We had a lot of frogs and turtles in our pond last summer.
We would like to use our pond to swim in and fish in during the summer. What would you recommend?
Hi Joseph,
Aeration is important for many reasons including, getting oxygen to the bottom of the pond, stimulating beneficial bacteria to help decompose organic material and reducing turnover which happens in the spring and fall. Every pond will be different depending on the amount of debris it receives and the amount of fish contained and the size of the pond itself. Some ponds can go 10-15 years before they have a large accumulation of debris and some within the first 3-5 years. At some point the debris will accumulate in the pond quicker than it can be removed. When this happens the pond may become more difficult to control for algae and other weeds. As these weeds die and accumulate in the pond more oxygen will be reduce and this could eventually cause a big problem for your fish, especially in the winter when they go dormant in the ponds bottom where oxygen will be less abundant. I would definitely recommend aeration and well as natural bacteria such as Pond Clear to aid along with physical removal in quickly breaking down the organic material accumulating in the bottom of the pond.