Beneficial Pond Bacteria and Aeration

Naturally occurring pond bacteria exist in ponds ranging from small garden ponds all the way up to lakes.  The problem is, the numbers of beneficial bacteria exist at very small amounts in most natural ponds.  This leads to a buildup of sludge, organic matter, nutrients, and harmful bacteria.

First of all, we need to identify the various types of bacteria in the pond bacterial game.  The first group, and most beneficial, is the aerobic families.  These bacterial colonies thrive in high oxygen environments and aid in the digestion of organic waste, sludge and nutrients.  They exist in natural pond environments in small groups due to a low oxygen environment at the bottom of most ponds.

The second group, anaerobic, requires no oxygen for production.  These include several families of bacteria including E. coli and botulism.  Obviously, not all anaerobic bacteria are bad, but these two families are very dangerous for livestock, fish, and birds.  These are bacterium that you want to avoid.

Now that we identified the two categories of bacteria, we can talk about what can be done to encourage the beneficial bacteria and how to decrease the harmful bacteria.

The first solution is to add the beneficial bacteria into the pond.  This can be done through adding active bacteria, bacterial spores, bacterial enzymes, etc.  These come in two forms, including liquid and dry packs.  These can be added easily from shoreline.  Natural Pond Cleaner is a good way to add bacterial spores in a liquid form.  Along these same lines, Muck Doctor, a much more concentrated form of bacterial spike, also adds the most variety in friendly bacteria.  This product is especially useful in reducing muck and organic matter at the bottom of the pond.

The second solution is to add aeration.  This is a bubbler unit that pumps oxygen into the pond via a pump and air diffuser.  This aerates the pond in such a manner that the aerobic bacteria thrive and the anaerobic bacteria begin to be reduced in population.

The use of aeration and aerobic bacteria is the most beneficial additives that you can do for the health of your pond.  Be sure to use this combo when you want to knock out high organic matter and muck levels.

Contact Sanco Industries today for more information on our complete line of pond maintenance products.