13th Aug 2022:
Why ponds get green algae and how we tackle it long term with science!
The blanket weed solution that addresses the root CAUSE rather than just the PROBLEM…
The products we have for you to invest in are changing how people treat their ponds. Recommended by my company which installs over £4m worth of ponds and SwimPonds every year.
Let’s first explain the science behind it:
There are thousands of variants of blanket weed…
Therefore, blanket weed killers sometimes work and sometimes don’t but more importantly… WHY THE BLANKET WEED ALWAYS GROWS BACK?
The string algae that plagues so many ponds is treated with ‘blanket weed killers.’
In the summer, it can grow up to 2 metres per day!
So, what does this product do that the others don’t? It treats the CAUSE.
You are wasting time and money on products that don’t cure the pond. We want to help educate the public on how to really deal with the issue.
Blanket weed grows like any other plant through photosynthesis. It needs sunlight and water to grow. But one very important food source…
Phosphates.
Phosphates can be found in multiple places such as tap water (we will come back to this later), fertilisers, and even traces in rainwater.
Here are the key industry-leading scientific numbers you need to know. We measure phosphate in ppm (parts per million). You can buy lots of different phosphate tests online.
Now Tap water in the UK seems to be the major source of the issue. My company has spent hundreds of thousands in research and development to find the solution to this troublesome issue.
Our tests have given us results of 0.2 ppm up to 10ppm in the UK. Blanket weed can grow anything above 0.035ppm. It uses phosphates in the water as a food source. They also use nitrates however a well-balanced pond will have minimal nitrates.
Suspended algae which make the pond turn into ‘green soup’ also uses phosphates to grow. But it’s a lower amount needed, anything above 0.010.
So why are there phosphates in tap water? Multiple reasons, one being water supply companies add it to tap water (plenty of articles confirming this online). One of the main reasons is it helps fix leaks in underground pipes. But is a pain for ponds!
Rainwater naturally contains some phosphates but is lower than tap water. We wouldn’t recommend filling the pond with rainwater though… The pH can be all over the place and doesn’t help create a stable foundation as tap water should.
Phosphates can also be found in fertilisers so being careful around the pond edge is important.
So, now we understand what phosphate is…
Where it comes from…
What it does do for blanket weed and suspended algae…
How do we stop it?
We now offer and install several different products that tackle this. We now have an inline for tap water supply that removes 80% of phosphates from the water source.
We also fit units inside the pond where it pushes the water through a unit that soaks in phosphates.
We also supply a product that sits in the filter and soaks in the phosphates.