Beneficial Bacteria, Floating Islands, and Aquatic Plants
Summer is here and the ponds should be looking their greatest. But algae doesn’t seem to care what season it is. Mother Nature is always working to clean up our streams and ponds for us. What she doesn’t realize is most of us don’t like seeing her algae ‘cleaner’ in our ponds.
The first KEY to less algae is a good filtration system and an aerator to create plenty of oxygen in your pond’s water. The filtration system provides water movement, exchange of oxygen and gases, and a substrate for beneficial bacteria in the form of the filtration media. Beneficial bacteria need oxygen to grow and colonize to use up the excess nutrients the algae is living on.The rocks and gravel in the pond and stream also provide even more substrate for beneficial bacteria giving it a place to live and grow. Beneficial bacteria are the KEY to crystal clear water and saying goodbye to green water and expensive UV sterilizers.
Several products on the market are very effective in controlling string algae. Pond balance and barley extract products are very effective when treated regularly. However, the best natural KEY to controlling string algae is aquatic plants. Aquatic plants are nitrate eaters. Beneficial bacteria are responsible for the nitrification process, changing ammonia (fish waste) into less toxic forms of nitrates and usable nitrites. Aquatic plants absorb these nitrates and they go through a de-nitrification which changes the nitrates back to nitrogen gas and releases these gases back into the air.
By bare rooting your marginal aquatic plants and letting them grow in the gravel of your stream edges, in the shallow top shelf of your pond, or in a bog area, your plants will absorb nutrients directly from the water stealing the food source away from string algae. (Not recommended for aggressive marginals, lilies, or lotus)
Floating aquatic islands are the KEY to using your aquatic plants to the best of their abilities. From their perches in the islands, their roots dangle directly into the water producing longer healthier root structures that absorb even more nutrients. Most marginals along with more aggressive plants even mini lotus could be used in these islands as they are self-contained.
According to studies done at the University of Maryland, these plants absorb 200-300% more nutrients than the same plants planted in soil in pots.
When these islands are placed close to an aeration system they are even more effective. The increased oxygen levels created by the bottom aeration diffuser speed up the de-composition of organic matter on the pond’s bottom along with the beneficial bacteria. This process releases carbon dioxide and nitrates as by-products that are then lifted to the surface by the air bubbles and to the floating islands creating a constant source of nutrients for the plants. These islands not only take up a tremendous amount of nutrients but they also provide valuable shade and provide a place for fish to spawn, fish fry to hide in the root masses, and a place for your fish to hide from predators.
The end result is a beautiful specimen planting that is bigger and healthier floating in your pond. This aquatic floating island absorbs the nutrients that algae would normally use to live on. No nutrients left over for the algae equals little or NO ALGAE!
We carry everything you need to help steal those nutrients away from the algae in your pond here at our store just north of Louisburg and service all around the Kansas City area!
DMS