Trouble Shooting Your Water Quality Problems

By Bill Lane, Savio Engineering

Great water quality like this is the product of good filtration, UV clarification, and consistent application of the correct water treatments.

Water quality is a topic frequently on the minds of landscape professionals engaged in pond and water feature maintenance. We?EUR??,,????'???ve asked Savio Engineering, a US based industry leader in the manufacture and design of water garden components and water treatments to share some of their expertise with our readers. Their technical support staff at Savio fields hundreds of questions on a daily basis from landscapers. Here are some responses to common questions culled at random from a single summer day?EUR??,,????'???s worth of emails.

?EUR??,,????'??If I have not run my filter and skimmer for a couple days and the filter smells like rotten eggs ?EUR??,,????'??? which water treatment should I use??EUR??,,????'??

The ?EUR??,,????'??rotten egg?EUR??,,????'?? smell is caused by anaerobic chemical reactions in the filter. Anaerobic activity occurs in the absence of oxygen as you would find in stagnant water conditions. You may get this aroma if the filter media needs to be cleaned. In your case, however you just simply need to get the water moving again. For ideal water quality and fish health, filtration equipment should be run 24/7 during the season. Beneficial bacteria living in the filtration system depend on moving water survive and thrive. These beneficial microorganisms function aerobically (in oxygen rich water), when the filter is turned off they begin to die and release the sulfurous odor you commented on.

Hair algae, string algae, blanket weed filamentous algae goes by many names.

?EUR??,,????'??My water is green, what can I do to clear it??EUR??,,????'??

Green water is the No. 1 complaint of pond owners. It?EUR??,,????'???s caused by an explosion of growth by free floating single celled algae in the water column. There?EUR??,,????'???s nothing chemically wrong with having green water in a pond, but it sure takes away from your enjoyment of fish and plant life when you can?EUR??,,????'???t actually see any of it. There are a number of approaches to dealing with green water, chemical solutions include; algaecides, pH adjustments and a slew of other treatments being devised nearly everyday. From a mechanical standpoint, the easiest approach is to put a UV clarifier in your skimmer. UV light is the same invisible light found in sunshine. In concentrated doses it will kill waterborne green algae. It?EUR??,,????'???s perfectly safe for the environment and costs just pennies per day to operate, while reducing the need for pricey and potentially environmentally unfriendly chemicals to control water quality. Over the years, there has been some controversy raised about the safety of UV clarification as it relates to pond ecology, but this has been largely dismissed as bunk in, much the same way the microwave ovens, after some initial skittishness from consumers, were proven safe and reliable in the court of public opinion.

The same rock after algae has been starved out of existence.

?EUR??,,????'??Will a UV Clarifier have any effect on algae which is clinging to the rocks lining the pond??EUR??,,????'??

No. A UV clarifier will only affect free floating live algae that passes through the UV chamber. It?EUR??,,????'???s great for green water caused by planktonic algae. A UV will not affect the growth of filamentous algae on attached surfaces in the pond at all. One of the best agents for dealing with unwanted growth is a natural product like Greenex Micro Granules. Greenex spore forming bacteria operate by attaching themselves to the cell wall of filamentous algae and denying the organism the food supplies it needs to live.

Fish don?EUR??,,????'???t generally mind green water, but it sure takes away from the enjoyment of a water feature.

?EUR??,,????'??What?EUR??,,????'???s all this fuss about Barley Straw??EUR??,,????'??

Barley Straw has long been used in the UK and Europe as a means of controlling unwanted pond growth. It?EUR??,,????'???s a safe and natural treatment that works by means of the chemicals released when the straw biodegrades. Floating masses of decomposing straw bales can be a messy eyesore on the surface of a small pond?EUR??,,????'??? hence the popularity of bottled liquid extract. The act of capturing the essence of this decomposition process in a bottle is a tricky one ?EUR??,,????'??? even more difficult is stabilizing the treatment so that it remains effective after several months of storage on a warehouse shelf. Few manufacturers in the US have actually figured out how to do this consistently. When shopping for barley straw in extract form, look for products that indicate this stabilization has occured, otherwise you may be wasting your money on the modern day equivalent of snake oil. With barley the clearing of water does not happen overnight ?EUR??,,????'??? so we prefer to recommend barley straw as a gentle preventative measure rather than a quick fix. Treat the pond in the spring before unwanted pond growth becomes a problem and follow up with regular doses throughout the summer to keep your pond looking its best.

When it comes to beneficial bacteria, more is always better. A ribbon media like Springflo is dimpled to provide exponentially more times the surface area for bacteria to grow in the filter.

Draining a pond is arduous and unnecessary in well built water features.

?EUR??,,????'??The interior of my pond is covered with sludge. It looks terrible. Do I drain my pond to clean it??EUR??,,????'??

A properly built pond tends to develop a balanced ecosystem as it matures. If you remove all of the water at once you are in effect throwing the pond completely out of balance. Massive water changes shock the ecosystem, promote algae bloom, kill beneficial bacteria, alter the pH and cause undue stress or even fatalities in fish. Never change more than one-third of the water at any one time. A rich concentration of beneficial bacteria delivered in the form of beneficial bacteria treatments will reduce sludge build up when used consistently. Based on the information you have supplied about the severity of the condition, we suggest that you take a look at your pond filtration system. How many gallons per hour is the filtration system rated to handle? How many fish are present? Are you over feeding them? If the sludge on the bottom of the pond consists largely of landscape debris, retrofitting a skimmer will make a huge difference. Skimmers operate by pulling debris from the surface of the pond before it can sink to the bottom. A good skimmer will reduce the amount of surface debris by as much as 85 percent. The additional mechanical filtration a skimmer provides will also help prevent pump burnout and lengthen the time between service intervals on the filtration system.

There are a number of approaches to dealing with green water, chemical solutions include; algaecides, pH adjustments and a slew of other treatments being devised nearly everyday.