Muddy pond:

PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

What has happened?

Dead leaves, uneaten food, pollen, dead plant bits, fish excrement and so on sink to the bottom of the pond. Although the ever-present micro-organisms in a pond decompose this Silt, they cannot cope with the amount. The result is mud, that extracts oxygen from the water but enhances algae growth in spring immensely.

What can happen?

The lack of oxygen causes the developement of toxic gasses. In Spring the underwater "mush heap" and the superflous nutrients contained within will cause he before mentioned increased algae growth which doesn't leave a chance for the pond plants.

What can be done?

The sludge must come out of the pond. That sounds easy but it is much harder than cleaning the living room carpet. Even the best pond vacuum cleaner cannot remove every trace of silt from a pond. The rest must be decomposed by "Japanese" bacteria. These are specially bred micro-organisms. "Sludge Minus" contains these "Japanese" bacteria. They work as an addition to a pond vacuum cleaner and reduce the level of solt significantly.

Will the bottom of the pond stay clean?

Only if these bacteria are used regularly and the rest of the silt is removed by a suitable device such as the Pondovac pond vacuum cleaner.

Tip: Even the most efficient "Japanese" bacteria cannot live without oxygen. The bottom of the pond provides next to no oxygen. Therefore it is recommended to add "Oxygen Stabiliser" from the OASE pond treatment range. This product gets straight to where it is needed: to the bottom of the pond! An additional effect of this product is that phosphate, the stuff algae feeds on, is turned into calcium phosphate which in turn will no be suitable as fertiliser for the algae anymore.