Garden Pond Supplies

• Oxygenating ponds and aquariums for a cleaner aquatic environment
• Promoting healthier fish and aquatic plant life
• Increasing the breakdown of fish waste
• Preventing icing-sover in outdoor ponds
• Driving protein skimmer

What is Pond Aeration?

The short answer:

Aeration is all about gasses. Aeration mixes the pond so that toxic gasses are efficiently released and life-giving oxygen readily replaces it. An aerated pond will be clearer, cleaner, healthier, and have less bottom muck than a pond without aeration.

The science behind it:

Stratification

A pond without aeration will become stratified into separate layers in the summer heat. This is because of the physical properties of water. As the sun warms the surface water, it be­comes less dense and thereby lighter than the cool water below it. The line at which the layers separate (similar to oil floating on water) is called a thermocline.

No Oxygen = No Life

The vast majority of water-clean­ing organisms (aerobic bacteria & phytoplankton) in a pond use oxygen to drive their metabolic processes. Oxygen enters the water column al­most exclusively through the surface of a non-aerated pond. Since the surface water does not mix with the water below, oxygen in the bottom layer quickly becomes depleted under stratified conditions, allowing toxic gasses to build up. When no oxygen is available below, the pond’s overall health will begin to suffer.

NutrientBuild-Up

Without water cleaning organisms on the bottom, any sediment, debris, and nutrients that enter the system fall to the bottom and accumulate. This accumulation is what many refer to as “muck”. Excess muck as well as a toxic lower-layer in your pond will quickly cause major headaches in­cluding algae blooms, rampant weed growth, and fish kills.