Large Ponds

Winter ponds and ice just go together. At least that’s what you expect when things get really cold. If you like ice skating it’s arrival is probably welcome.

But ice can cause a lot of problems too.

We know that when some ponds get covered with ice for extended periods of time, a lot of unwanted gases can build up (like methane for instance) and this can create problems for fish.  The easy and direct solution to this issue is to simplly open up or maintain a hole in the ice so that fresh air can get in and bad gases can get out.  Problem solved.

When you’re dealing with an issue like this, a good quality “standard” pond aerator will do the job.  Just a single diffuser at a depth of 5 or 6 feet will create enough bubbling action at the surface to maintain open water.

But what about those situations where you need to maintain open water in larger areas?

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After six or seven years of using ultrasound technology in ponds, we’ve discovered several things that can improve performance.  These simple steps have literally made the difference between success and failure in terms of algae control.  Watch the video below to learn more.

Ultrasound works to control algae by creating a targeted, resonating vibration in the cells of the plant. Over time these vibrations help to degrade or damage the cell wall and the algae becomes disabled or damaged enough to die off. This all sounds really sci-fi until you look at the results under a microscope or better still, see the reduction in algae in a pond first hand. In a word, it’s amazing technology.

But it’s not perfect.

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This brief article is an important one and should be read by anyone who’s putting a pond aerator into a large pond during the summer season. It’s in response to a fellow who called about a problem of losing fish after putting an aerator in his pond during some extremely hot weather.

This is an interesting and a bit of a trickly situation because good aeration is a very powerful tool for protecting fish during hot conditions, there’s no question about that. But at the same time, anytime you introduce something new into a pond’s environment, certain things can happen that may not always be desirable.

In the case of large ponds, and particularly those that have some age on them, it’s not uncommon to find some muck or sludge build up on the bottom.  Some of this can be very nutrient rich and many times it’s made up of decomposing or rotting organic material.  Leaves or dead plant matter are often the culprits.

During this decomposition process gasses can be created, and they may lie trapped in this sludge until something comes along and disturbs it.  Nature can do this all on it’s own by creating an inversion in the pond, where the bottom and top sort of switch.  This can be a very dangerous time for fish because it really messes things up in the pond.  Dissolved oxygen levels can drop, toxic gasses can be released, and basically all of this is just not a good event in the life of a fish.

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There are a few things we know for sure. 

Hot weather is brutal on ponds and fish, and we’ve had a lot of that kind of weather lately.

Just this week, MSN of all places profiled this news article on the homepage.

And, other than watching your fish gasp at the surface of the water for air, or float belly up, you don’t really have any idea how much dissolved oxygen is in your pond right now.  There’s simply no way to tell that kind of thing with the naked eye.

Yet this thing called DO for short, is vital to the life and well-being of any pond and if you have fish, it’s critical.  Fish, as you probably guessed, are not air breathers like those of us of the mammalian persuasion.  Fish have gills which work to extract dissolved oxygen from the water and they’re generally pretty efficient at this work if a fish is healthy.

But major problems can arise at various times of the year, or even certain times of day, when DO can fluctuate to very low levels.  It’s important to remember that ponds, no matter how stable and unchanging they may appear, are not static environments.  Elements in them are always experiencing change.  pH levels will rise and fall during the day, and temperature of course, and along with that, dissolved oxygen can change too.

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