Today I am going to talk a bit about natural or living ponds and the experience many pond keepers have when first starting up their pond in the spring
Natural ponds are where you will find plants and fish and frogs and algae and all kinds of wonderful things are going on seen and unseen. What we have to understand about living ponds is they are not swimming pools. They do not care to be pristinely clean or looked scrubbed within an inch of their lives. Living ponds will have algae growing on the walls or liner and go through different cycles all season long. Spring time can bring green water as things balance. I have had calls from clients whose ponds we have just started looking after inquiring if we are going to come and drain and refill the pond because the water looks like pea soup. The pond was cleaned and setup several weeks before and now they are unhappy because the water is not crystal clear. This is one of the mistakes many do-it-your-self pond-keepers make. As a wise supplier of mine once told me “it has to go green before it goes clean”. Most ponds take anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks to properly balance. This can happen simply by setting up and turning on your equipment in the spring and waiting, or if you have a more complex pond or one that is stubborn it may be a matter of having the proper equipment installed and helping things along with a probiotic treatment. At Village Pond we can install any necessary equipment and also setup a regular maintenance program for you that will ensure even the most stubborn pond will look and be happy and healthy – plants and fish and frogs and even the algae.
The switch from newly cleaned to pea soup (which is caused by a bloom of Planktonic algae which is a single celled algae) can happen over a few days or weeks but often happens in less than 24 hours. You may wonder why your pond won’t just do its own thing and look beautiful like the lake or large pond you saw the last time you visited the country. The answer is that the lake or large natural pond is an enormous volume of water compared to your garden pond. When there is an event in your pond, for example an algae bloom that turns the water green it could be triggered by a rapid increase in temperature in the water. After a cool spring night a very hot day will most likely bring the water temperature to a roaring high in a matter of hours. The lake or large pond may have some surface warming but the depths stay cool and mostly the overall temperature remains stable. This is one of the reasons the garden pond needs some helping along.
Most green water algae problems can be remedied with a good filter system that includes a UVC system and a dash of patience. Just be advised it will do nothing to help if you have a problem with filamentous algae. Filamentous algae or string algae as it is often called is a whole other topic that I will blog about soon.
If you have a problem with green water algae or string algae give Village Pond a call and we will setup a program for you that ensures your pond is healthy, happy and nice to look at. Our contact information is available on our website – www.villagepond.ca
