A completely green pond is a common phenomenon in the warmer half of the year, to the chagrin of many pond owners. This is usually due to excessive algae formation. However, it can be easily limited by taking certain preventative measures.
How to prevent green water in the pond?
Green water in the pond is caused by excessive algae formation, which is promoted by sun, nutrients and water. To prevent this, you should reduce sunlight, remove organic materials and possibly use algae killers or UVC lamps.
Causes of green pond water
A green pond is the result of good algae management. The fine aquatic plants inevitably form in every garden pond and are nothing bad at first. A moderate amount of algae also regulates itself naturally and hardly affects the appearance of the pond. However, it becomes problematic when there is excessive proliferation, the so-called algae bloom, and the pond “tips over”. What algae need for their development is:
- Water
- Sun
- Nutrients
The water factor is difficult to eliminate in a garden pond. However, you can at least limit the amount of sunlight that heats up the water - just by choosing the location of the pond and having shady plants in the neighborhood.
However, these also bring algae-promoting nutrients into the pond. Approximately through:
- Blown Leaves
- Pollen
- Flooded bed soil
If you keep fish in your garden pond, their droppings and any excess food can also unfavorably increase the nutrient content, especially phosphate and nitrogen.
Countermeasures
To avoid green water in the pond, you should regularly remove blown-in and washed-in organic material from the water using a mower. You should occasionally remove the oxygen-consuming and nutrient-releasing layer of sludge that collects at the bottom of the pond using a pond sludge vacuum cleaner (€124.00 on Amazon), especially after an algae bloom with filamentous algae.
Acute, but only short-term, help is provided by algae killers and UVC lamps, which clump the algae material and make it easier to remove.
You can also replace the entire pond water, but you must ensure that the new water is of good quality and avoid the inflow of new contaminants.
