Why You Should Remove Algae From Your Pond | Organic Pond

As most pond owners know, often with warm weather comes unsightly Algae resting on top of weeds, or floating in the pond.  Green Water, Green Slicks, Clumps of Green Mush, etc. Some blooms will be small and you might not feel like dealing with them. 

More than likely your algae bloom will dissipate once winter arrives. However, if you wait until then, Blue-Green Algae, Hydrilla, Planktonic and/or Filamentous Algae, Watermeal, Duckweed, and the like can do major damage to a fragile ecosystem. 

Keep plants, fish, pets, and people safe with early prevention treatments before the problem has reached its maximum level, where containment becomes much harder.

How Algae Damages Your Pond’s Eco-System

1. Lack of Sunlight: Algae blooms that become large and cover most of the surface can greatly affect the health of your lake or pond as it blocks sunlight from other plants and organisms underneath the surface of the water. With the lack of light, your underwater plants will die and disrupt your pond’s ecosystem. 
2. Depletion of Oxygen: Algae is short-lived, yes, but if you wait for it to just die naturally, you’ll be inviting issues! The high concentration of dead organic matter will consume the oxygen present in the water as it decomposes. This will result in a large decrease in oxygen available for aquatic life.
3. Toxic Algae: If not treated properly, some blooms can have toxins secreted by the algae. These “harmful algal blooms”, as they’re called, can harm more than just the plant and aquatic life in your pond. Some are known to harm your pets and make humans ill.

It’s important to remove algae properly from your pond or lake so you don’t harm the environment and you decrease the chance of another bloom occurring. 

Conditions Perfect For Algae

1. Warm Water - Algae can thrive in spring and summer, particularly when your pond waters warm up, or receive a cold rainwater infusion - as thermoclines (water temperature layers) turnover and cause locked down nutrients in your muck layer to be burped out. How do you reduce sunlight penetration? With regular, often monthly, use of an all-in-one treatment like the popular Organic Pond Clean-Clear-Blue Complete Pond Treatment, or Pond Dyes. These products are safe for humans, fish, and wildlife, and do not carry water usage restrictions. Besides cleaning and shading your pond with USA-Made, best quality line of Pond Dyes, Clean-Clear-Blue has super concentrated Beneficial Bacteria to naturally digest your muck layer and excess nutrients. Taking steps to reduce organic growth and summer heat will assist in preventing Algae formation! 
2. Excess Nutrients - A great example of this is fertilizer runoff entering your water. Try using a non-phosphorus fertilizer on your lawn and do your best to not allow grass and weed trimming clippings in. When necessary, your situation may require timely intervention with organic algaecides that leave no residual in the water and have no water usage restrictions.
3. Stagnant Water - Lack of water motion creates an ideal condition for oxygen depletion and algae growth. Aeration systems can help add and mix oxygen into your pond, but it’s important to consider the size of the bubbles. We supply a great selection of top-quality DIY aeration systems as a dealer for Vertex Aquatics Systems, including options for solar power. You’ll be amazed at how your pond thrives with Vertex MicronBubble™ technology adding diffused oxygen to your water column. Even eliminate thermal stratification and stagnation!  Our Aeration System compressors can be installed up to one mile from the water column - where the compressed air is supplied through an inexpensive PVC pipe - similar to a lawn irrigation system framework.

Waiting for algae to die out or removing algae through raking, cutting, or screening is quick relief, but largely ineffectual at harnessing its renewed growth. Methods like those fail to address the underlying conditions that gave the algae its momentum. It will simply grow back and likely spread in the process. Check out the complete line of algae control products and start properly dealing with your algae blooms today. 

We treat ponds ourselves and know the issues and difficulties that pond owners face. We have the products and techniques to solve such problems without the concern of harming any wildlife. Organic Pond Owner, Jim Selke is dedicated to helping Homeowners, Property Managers, Businesses, Commercial Contractors, Municipalities & Military Bases with their pond care needs. Call 888-986-9995 anytime and join our newsletter for tips and discounts!