The car roofs are yellow, the windows dusty and on the water surface floats a yellow-green film of flower pollen and insects. Pollen is the sexual produce of seed-bearing plants and is also very rich in energy. After all bees use it as their main nutrient source for the whole colony and it turns into our beloved honey. Its protein content is an enormous 30-40% and it contains a lot of vitamins and 20 amino acids. It’s a real nutrient grenade!
Pollen that falls into the pond is degraded by micro-organisms. This process of degrading the many proteins within pollen also releases nitrate and phosphate. The following blog post explains how phosphate is algae nutrient number 1: Phosphate: The cause of tomorrow’s algae is in your pond now.
This is a time when you have to be extremely careful, as high amounts of nutrients are entering the pond water and when it’s very sunny they are very quickly absorbed by the algae. And the next thing is a large plague of algae in the form of green water.
Take immediate action, using preventive or immediate measures to make sure it won’t lead to problems.
Which precautions need to be taken?
1. Install a surface skimmer (for short: skimmer) and clean the underlying/back filter sponge every 24-72 hours. If you can’t install a skimmer, you can clean the water surface with a very fine net in the intervals mentioned.
2. Add weekly JBL PhosEX Pond Direct to the water to bind excessive phosphates in the water.
3. Test the PO4 content of your water every 7-10 days. Even if higher increases aren’t registered, the mere detection above “0” with our JBL PROAQUATEST PO4 Phosphate sensitive is an indicator for necessary action.
4. Make sure that you remove the algae, whenever possible, in advance by mechanical means to eliminate the nutrients they contain from the system pond. Killing off the algae by means of JBL AlgoPond Forte , JBL AlgoPond Direct or JBL AlgoPond Green * releases the nutrients again and should therefore only be done afterwards.
5. For permanent nutrient removal you can place JBL PhosEX Pond Filter in the filter of your pond to continuously bind the small, newly occurring amounts of phosphate.
You may well wonder where the additional phosphates in your pond come from!? Common sources are the surrounding beds, through which during heavy rainfall the fertiliser of the plants enter the pond. Cut grass and other remains of withered plants are also dangerous sources. Even if we sometimes wish that the pond was NOT a self-contained circuit, we need to be careful that as little as possible from the surroundings enter the pond. This often includes well water too, as it contains large amounts of nutrients in rural areas (you will find further information here: Refilling water into the pond – but not like this! ).
If a boundary is not completely possible, which is generally the case, the phosphate content will rise sharply and the algae grow. You will find what algae there is here: Algae in the Pond – An Outline .
How do you combat high levels of phosphate?
1. Add JBL PhosEX Pond Direct in the recommended dosage to your pond volume. If you don’t know the volume, which is very important for successful treatment, you can find it out with our Pond laboratory / calculator .
2. Make sure that neither sludge nor leaves can be found at the bottom of the pond. Otherwise remove them and carry out a follow-up treatment with JBL SediEx Pond . Clean the water surface with a fine net and remove any insects and flower pollen which have fallen into the pond.
3. Test the PO4 content of the water after 24 hours with the JBL PROAQUATEST PO4 Phosphate sensitive and repeat step 1 after 72 hours.
We hope we have given you a basic idea with our most important calls for action. If you have any questions or problems, use the comment function below or contact our experts in the customer service center here: Customer service center .
* Use biocides safely. Always read the label and product information before use!