by John Monahan | Mar 5, 2015 | Pond Maintenance
Beneficial bacteria is important in any pond environment. Adding additional bacteria to the ecosystem will have some positive effects.
However, it many cases, ponds have a tremendous load of organics located in the “bowl” of the pond. This area tends to be very low in dissolved oxygen. The lack of oxygen prohibits this bacteria from effectively “breaking down” the sediment.
It takes aeration to provide the needed oxygen. Keep in mind that in most cases, bacteria work slowly and sometimes never reduce the amount of organics in the pond. They tend to maintain the organics by breaking down as much as is being constantly added to the environment.
Also no bacteria can breakdown inorganic material such as clay, loam, or sand. These sediments need to be physically removed and are all present in every pond.
Beneficial bacteria are best used after the pond has been substantially cleaned, and has an aeration system installed. This bacteria will consume the residual organics that are left after the MuckSuckers/SRS process and clarify the water of the pond.
For any other information please don’t hesitate to contact us today!
Call us (1-877-772-MUCK) or email us!
by John Monahan | Mar 4, 2015 | Cooling Ponds
Filamentous algae, commonly called “Moss”, is prevalent in many organically rich pond environments including cooling ponds. This moss covers the surface of the pond and can eventually clog water pumps, pump house grates and screens and is aesthetically displeasing.
Chemicals can kill the algae, but the breakdown of these plants just adds more nutrients for the next generation of algae. Plus many cooling pond owners don’t want these chemicals within their cooling systems. Physical removal of the algae is a time consuming operation and is short lasting. The algae soon reappears usually in just a few short days. All these remedies are actually just a band aid to the problem. The real issue is deeper which we will soon address.
Get to the Root of the Problem
Effectively controlling algae involves the control of the algae’s resources. Algae need three resources in order to thrive – taking away the availability of these resources gives you the upper hand when controlling this pesky aquatic plant.
The first resource is its food source. By removing the organic material in a pond we will greatly affect the ability of the algae to grow.
MuckSuckers / Sediment Removal Solutions of Ohio provides an efficient and cost effective way to pump this organic material out of the pond without the use of heavy equipment. There is also no need to drain the pond which may not even be a viable solution for the pond owner since the water is necessary for plant operations.
The second resource that algae need to survive is water. Obviously we can’t just get rid of the water, but we can manipulate it. Algae thrives in stagnant stratified water. By adding an aeration system, the pond owner can create an environment in the pond that is less desirable for the plant, therefore decreasing the population of algae.
The third resource is sunlight. Without sunlight algae cannot thrive. Although it can be quite an impossibility to block all sunlight from reaching the pond, adding pond dye can help limit a certain amount of sunlight from reaching the ponds bottom where the algae starts growing.
We hope that this has been an informative look at how to reduce or totally remove algae from cooling ponds. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us today!
Call us (1-877-772-MUCK) or email us!
by John Monahan | Mar 4, 2015 | Golf Course Ponds, Pond Maintenance
Algae can quickly grow out of control in golf course ponds. If you manage such a pond, you might tear your hair out as year after year you keep seeing algae come back.
And golf course ponds can be more difficult than other ponds. This is mainly because fertilizer used to keep fairways and greens vibrant can sometimes increase the nutrients within a golf course pond.
Also, typically chemicals cannot be used to treat the algae due to the fact that the pond water may be used as irrigation water for the golf course. Obviously, you don’t want harmful or toxic chemicals messing up the beautiful golf course grass.
This leaves fewer options for the maintenance team to successfully control the algae populations in certain ponds. The best option in these cases is to remove as much of the nutrient base “organics” as possible from the pond environment.
MuckSuckers (Sediment Removal Solutions of Ohio) offers a unique process that suctions out the sediment without draining the pond or using heavy equipment. Scuba divers are used to descend to the bowl of the pond and pump the sediment out to an area of choice. This process will alleviate the pond of the excessive nutrients which will in turn allow the algae maintenance to be extremely easier.
Our process for sediment removal will even allow the golf course pond to be used while we’re working on it. There’s no need to shut the course down.
If you’d like more information about how to handle algae in your golf course pond, contact us today!
Call us (1-877-772-MUCK) or email us!
