Believe it or not, the below freezing days of winter are coming to an end! With warmer temperatures comes the ability to enjoy your pond. This Spring Pond Checklist is designed to help give you a head start preparing your pond for a beautiful growing season.

Spring is one of our favorite times of the year; birds are singing, flowers are sprouting and the sun is shinning – perfect conditions to enjoy your pond. But beware, without taking a few critical steps early, your pond enjoyment could be ruined by flooding, fish kills, and algae!

Here is our checklist for preparing your pond for an enjoyable spring and summer:

1) Check over your pond

With spring comes rain. Check your spillways for blockages – often trees can fall or beavers can dam-up spillways preventing the free flow of water. Any blockages can cause flooding that can kill surrounding plants, cause fish kills and damage electrical infrastructure near the pond among, other things.

Check the pond banks for signs of erosion – spring rain will exacerbate this. A short-term prevention method is laying sod on the bare banks. For the long term, consider planting native prairie grasses in the worst effected areas; they will not only help to prevent erosion, but will also act buffer to limit algae fueling nutrients getting into your pond.

2) Avoid Spring Fish Kills

If your fish are still alive, they’re lucky to have survived the arctic winter. Unfortunately, it only takes a spring without sufficient aeration for their luck to run out.

As temperatures increase, the different layers of the water column will begin to mix. As a result, the water at the bottom of pond then becomes warmer and, initially, the level of oxygen increases.

Bacteria at the bottom of the pond will then wake up from their cryogenic state and begin rapidly consuming the nutrients (leaves, waterfoul excrement etc.) that are present at the bottom of the pond. Before too long, oxygen levels plummet and a mass fish kill can occur.

By installing aeration early in the spring season, you will begin to mix the different layers of the water column while directly adding oxygen. We recommend the MARS 1500 Aeration System as the Patented Double Bubble Technology is specifically designed to Mix and Aerate (add oxygen to water).

3) Get Ahead of the Algae Game

As spring gives way to summer, the increase in temperatures coupled with the nutrient runoff of fertilizers, waterfowl excrement, leaves etc. from spring rains becomes a toxic combination. Inevitably algae blooms will occur that create pond odors, mosquito infestations and poor water clarity.

Give your pond a head start by boosting levels of beneficial bacteria, such as Triplepoint blend Pro-biotic. When used with proper aeration, bacteria will begin to consume nutrients and prevent them from fueling algae blooms when summer arrives.

Having a body of water near or on your property can be one of two things: a beautiful, natural accent to your home—or an absolute nuisance. Ponds can add value to the homes nearby, and they can do just the opposite.

Unfortunately, many people living near a pond are stuck with the latter of these scenarios.

You may currently find yourself in the same situation—asking yourself, just like many other people, “why does my pond look so bad?” “Is there a solution?” The answer is yes.

But before we get into the solution, let’s have a closer look at the problems facing ponds:

Bad Water Clarity

Bad water clarity can come from a variety of sources, from algae blooms to floating organic matter and muck. It is quantified by turbidity, a measurement of how clear your water column is—and the more organic matter you have floating around in your pond, the worse it looks.

Often times, this organic matter acts as a fuel for algae to proliferate as well, making your pond look even worse.

Unsightly Algae

Algae come in many different varieties, from a simple light green water hue to thick mucus-like mats floating across the surface. Excess nutrients (fertilizer, organic matter, etc.) cause this algae to grow rapidly, casting an ugly green shroud over your pond.

No matter its form, algae can certainly make your pond look like a cesspool.

Nasty Odor

It most ponds, odor originates from dead, rotting organic matter. When this material is broken down in an oxygen-deprived environment, it releases smelly compounds like hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell), methane, and ammonia.

Pond odor can also come from certain types algae and a pond phenomenon called turnover. Read more at our Pond Odor blog post.

Stagnant, Mosquito Breeding Water

Many ponds aren’t spring fed—or they receive so little flow that the water basically sits and stagnates.  This water provides the perfect breeding ground for mosquito and other nuisance insects to lay their larvae.

This affects not only the quality of the water in your pond, but also the environment around your home when the larvae hatch. With dangerous diseases like West Nile on the rise, you can never be too cautious about what you have proliferating in your pond.

Excess Bottom Muck

Muck is a general term for all sorts of things that comprise the sludge accumulating on the bottom of your pond. A large portion of the muck is dead, rotting organic matter that can sometimes be many feet deep.

When this muck decays without mixing and oxygen, it produces noxious smelling gasses and clouds your water. It also provides the perfect fuel for algae, allowing sprawling mats of algae to canvas the surface of your pond.

The Solution to a Dirty Pond

The Double Bubble™ action of the MARS Aeration System is the answer to your dirty pond problem. This Patented Technology both mixes & aerates, effectively rehabilitating your pond in an eco-friendly manner.  The MARS does this by:

1. Breaking down the organic matter that is clouding your water and accumulating on the bottom. This breakdown also removes the nutrients, or algae food, from the pond, reducing the growth of algae.
2. Adding Oxygen to the water that absorbs the noxious pond odors, freshening the water at the same time.
3. Mixing the Entire Water Column to keep the water from stagnating, dissuading the breeding of insects. Not only this, but with the added oxygen mixed throughout the entire pond expands the fish habitat, who love to eat up all the larvae before they hatch.

For more information on the MARS Aeration System, watch the video on Eco-Friendly Pond Aeration on the home page.