Your pond is a magnet.  It pulls in all the dust and dirt from the air.  Have you ever watched sunlight coming through a window?  And, seen the particles of dust fluttering in the light of that stream of sunlight?  Imagine your pond being assaulted by those particles 24/7/365.  And, during the winter, don’t we usually turn off our filters?  Up north we do, or the water would freeze and break the above-pond pipe work.  Not so much in the far south, however.  Yet, the particles continue to be drawn into the pond, non-stop.

What about the fish?  If you have fish in the pond, even if they are not eating, they are breathing in oxygen and breathing out CO2 and ammonia.  The more fish, the more Carbon Dioxide and Ammonia.  Sure, we have nitrifying bacteria to handle the ammonia, but only during the summers.  And, as long as we have a winter opening in the pond, the CO2 is able to escape.  Yeah, then when the fish are being fed!  The pond receives a lot more fish waste.  If you are using MICROBE-LIFT/PL the bacteria will be working to biodegrade that stuff.  The issue now is, will the bacteria be able to keep up with the incoming waste load?  Sure, if you have low fish stocking, no problem.  Then, again, most people keep all the babies that are born in their ponds even though they aren’t high quality fish.  Doing that will quickly or eventually overload the pond.  Or… overload the SYSTEM.

The first tell-tale symptom is declining water quality and then, algae come to the rescue.  But, nobody likes to see algae in their pond.  Am I right?  Removal of all those fish you didn’t buy would simplify your pond problems.  It would remove the excess load on your MICROBE-LIFT/PL and remove the need to add SLUDGE AWAY to the mix, and maybe ALGAWAY 5.4.

  • People who use ROOF RUNOFF don’t realize the roof has chemicals to deter insects and make it last longer. Is that good for your fish?
  • People who only use RAINWATER to sustain the pond- how does this affect the fish during the dry season?
  • People who only need to TOP OFF the pond when it evaporates? What condition is the pond in come August?
  • People who think they are not simply TOPPING OFF to compensate for evaporation by using an auto-fill on the pond, if you are on chlorinated water, do you know how that affects your fish? Yes, chlorine and ammonia burn the fish’s gills.  A continued contact with this will eventually kill the fish.

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NOW!  What if you did regular partial water changes?  What would happen to your fish???  Routine changes of 25% during the summer, weekly, and 10% in winter are what is generally recommended.  This will replenish the mineral content in the water – vital to fish health and development.  Also, it is the first line of defense if there appears to be a problem, even up to 50%, when toxins such as chemicals from lawn or garden treatments are suspected.  At these rates (10, 25, and 50% in an emergency) you will not disrupt the pond water chemistry.  You will remove that much of the water-borne dirt from the pond, so it cannot continue to build up in the water.  Dirty water is stressful to your fish.

Another benefit will be that you do not wash out your beneficial bacteria when you do these water changes!  ML/PL will be held fast to the sides and bottom of your pond.  Just be sure to neutralize the chlorine or chloramine when adding new water.