Hot Weather And Oxygen In Your Pond

[youtube width=”425″ height=”355″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DHOpbIjyEc&feature=youtube_gdata[/youtube]

As the video above discussed, when hot summer weather is upon us, it’s vital that your pond has some form of aeration in it. As water temperatures get over 78 degrees the water itself simply can’t hold as much oxygen.

This phenomenon can create major problems for fish if the pond owner isn’t careful or aware of the deficit, and other than seeing fish gasping at the surface there may not be many other indicators that a problem exists.

There’s no question that such things as waterfalls in smaller ponds, or incoming fresh water streams for large waters can add some much needed dissolved oxygen. But how does one know if a pond has enough?

Well, you don’t unless you test for it quite frankly.

There are a number of testing devices for dissolved oxygen that are available. Digital meters are very useful because the attached probe can be lowered deeper in the pond to check the readings throughout the pond, and of course they are quite accurate. The problem is they are also very expensive. But for some pond owners, they may be worth the investment and the peace of mind.

Over the last few months we’ve been digging around trying to find a good alternative to the digital DO meters and we’ve finally found one that we thought was useful enough, and relatively affordable and we’ve now added to the website.

You can read more about the Dissolved Oxygen Test Kit and decide for yourself if it might be useful in your situation.

Stay cool!