Retention Pond Management

Our pond management and treatments focus on improving the overall health of your pond.

Healthy Ponds

Unhealthy Ponds

Can be a financial liability

Accumulate pollutants

Produce algae blooms and odors

Require expensive dredging

Most pond maintenance techniques poison your pond to kill alga growths. Anyone suggesting the use of these chemicals or copper products should be asked if they would assume future cleanup costs associated with their use.

Pond Management Problems

Excess Nutrient Levels

In pristine natural environments there is a wonderful, delicate balance achieved between animals, plants, and microbes.

For example,available nitrogen compounds are extremely scarce because all the nitrogen is locked away as plant or animal protein.

In contrast, retention ponds contain high levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates- often from lawn fertilizers. They also contain less plant life to absorb the extra nitrogen. The result is that free nitrogen compounds (which feed algae blooms) are common in retention, fish and farm ponds - in stark contrast to natural ponds.

Chemical lawn fertilizers are a major source of these nitrogen compounds, since they are highly water soluble and quickly wash into ponds. It is estimated that less then half of the nitrogen in chemical lawn fertilizers is absorbed by grass plants. While a typical chemical fertilizer may be over 20% water-soluble, a good organic lawn fertilizer would be about 1% water-soluble. Animal wastes(from birds, waterfowl, and fish), and decaying organic matter (like leaves and grass clippings) also contribute nitrogen to ponds.

How does Nutrient Reduction help reduce algalblooms?

Algal blooms in nature are minimized by reduction of free nutrients. This is the best approach to retention pond management. It is the only approach that addresses the source problem of nutrient overload.

Nitrifying bacteria belong to the family Nitrobacteraceae. Nitrosomonas (ammonia-oxidizers) and Nitrobacter (nitrite-oxidizers) are the most common. They require oxygen and can feed on inorganic nitrogen sources, such as lawn fertilizer. The use of these bacteria results in reduction of nutrients to levels which do not sustain algal growths. These bacteria are found in nature but not in sufficient numbers in retention ponds.

What about Oxygen and Pond Aerators?

When bacteria have available oxygen, they can produce roughly eighteen times as much energy as when they lack oxygen. Pond aerators increase bacterial activity but do not replace bacterial nutrient reduction. 

How does thisapproach differ from Copper or Chemical treatments?

Copper produces a cheap, quick, temporary remedy for unbalanced ponds. But, these products do not address the real problem of nutrient overload. Therefore, the algae quickly bounce back. Copper products and chemicals also add heavy metals and pollutants into the environment, and are already banned in many states. Also,being an element, copper does not break down but accumulates.

Other Pond Problems Include:

Pesticide runoff from lawn care

Petroleum products from automobiles

Substances poured into garage and storm sewer drains

Accumulation of sludge concentrates many of these toxins in pond bottoms

What about Sludge?

Sludge forms in unhealthy ponds because they lack the microbial life needed to decompose organic matter. Pollutants like heavy metals, copper, pesticides,petroleum products, etc. accumulate and concentrate in sludge on pond bottoms.  As pollutants concentrate in this sludge, they become more toxic, further damage microbial activity,decrease oxygen levels even more, and accelerate sludge buildup. Copper products also kill the beneficial bacteria that break down sludge.

Decomposition of this sludge is a focus of our pond treatments. Eliminating pond sludge reduces concentration of pollutants in retention ponds, a major concern of the EPA, and increases oxygen levels.

Pond Management by Bioaugmentation and Bioremediation

The balance that nature achieves in natural environments cannot be duplicated in retention ponds because of the concentration of lawn care products and other environmental influences.

However, a process called bioaugmentation can achieve another biological balance, which also reduces free nitrogen compounds. Bioaugmentation uses concentrated blends of natural bacteria for removing excess nutrients, and associated problems(like algae), from a damaged pond or lake.

We use only safe and natural products to improve the quality of pond and lake water. We use specific Microbe strains that have been isolated for their ability to perform highly specific, beneficial functions. Bioremediation uses multiple strains of bacteria and enzymes that biodegrade a large number of pollutants

Certain bacteria strains excel in nutrient reduction, which results in the elimination or minimization of algal growth. Some break down petroleum products. Other bacteria reduce suspended particulate matter and organic sediment, reducing bottom sludge. Enzymes are catalysts that increase the variety of pollutants that can be decomposed and aggressively breakdown pond sludge.