There are times when our little backyard ponds need a helping hand reaching the balanced state that promotes the best environment for our plants and fish. That's why we offer a wide range of supplements that will help achieve that important balance in any pond.

Water Conditioners

These products are mainly used for removing the chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals present in most municipal water supplies. A fishes gills are sensitive to these chemicals and any water added to their system should have these materials removed so as to avoid disease and/or losses. Some of these products also include additives to help protect your fish such as vitamins, slime coat supplements or binding agents designed to remove other harmful chemicals. Products such as these should be used anytime you add water.

Sludge Removers

Sludge Removers are a collection of certain bacteria and protozoans and that consume dead organic matter in the bottom of the pond and cause it to decompose faster into liquid or gaseous waste which is much more easily removed from the pond,(ie. water changes, filtration or aeration.) They are available in liquid or powdered form and sometimes also contain the nitrifying bacteria which colonize your biological filter media.

Fish Vitamins

Vitamin supplements for your fill the same need for balanced nutrition as do vitamins for people. They are most often used when fish are fed a lower quality feed or are sick or recovering from illness. Vitamins boost the immune system and insure all micronutrients are available. They are very important to young fish whose growth or health can be very badly affected by a vitamin deficiency.

Beneficial Nitrifying Bacteria

Nitrifying Bacteria products supplement bacterial cultures in bio-filters that are new or have been disturbed through drying-out, cleaning with chlorinated water or use of fish medications. These bacterial cultures are a part of the nitrogen cycle and are absolutely vital to the health of a pond and all fish species. They work to remove chemical impurities in the water, which can cause stress or disease in your fish. 

Blanketweed Algae Control

That which disgusts most pond owners...filamentous algae or what it otherwise referred to as Blanketweed.  It appears as long green hair attached to liners, plants, filters, waterfalls, streams, etc., or as great gobs of green goo floating enmass at the surface of your pond.  This type of algae is attacked through the use of algae fighting products in a much different way than single-celled algae, the algae that makes water look like pea soup.  Products such as Sera's Pond Clear and Interpet's Pond Balance wage war on blanketweed and knock it back to manageable levels in a very short time.  While these products are helpful in the battle against blanketweed, they do not address THE CAUSE of an algae bloom. This means that without doing something to remedy the cause, such as more plant coverage, suitable filtration, and having a reasonable volume of fish, the algae WILL rise again!

New in 2006, D-SOLV by Crystal Clear was a favorite with customers is treating problem blanketweed in streams and on waterfalls.  D-SOLV is a quick acting blanketweed destroyer.  Applied to algae on a waterfall or in a stream (with the water flow shut off), the algae dies before your eyes!  Now who wouldn't like that!  It is excellent when used in combination with Pond Balance.

"Green Water" Algae Control

Suspended particles in the pond, usually identified as single-celled algae, or sometimes as silt particles, can cause the water to look murky or prevent you from seeing your fish. Flocculating products such as Laguna's Clear Fast and Tetra's AquaRem address these problems by causing the particles to clump together so that they can be removed mechanically, (filters, skimmer nets), or through biological decomposition on the pond bottom.  As with Blanket weed control products, these products will temporarily help with clouding problems, but they will not address THE CAUSE of an algae bloom, and if fish are sifting through pond plant dirt or there is run-off carrying silt into your pond, it will not solve this problem in the long-term.

Algae Prevention

Water Tints (Dyes)

These products tint the water to limit sunlight from reaching too far into the water.  Algae, as with all green plants, needs sunlight for photosynthesis in order to grow and reproduce, so by limiting the amount of accessible sunlight, algae cannot grow.  Dyes are mostly used in the early spring or later in the fall when algae is most problematic.  The dyes will affect the growth rate of some plant material such as water lilies, so you may want to move them closer to the surface before a treatment.  Other plants are usually unaffected by the dye because their growth begins much later when the ecosystem begins to balance itself, and the dye is no longer required.  All of the dyes will dissipate with time, so application can be administered as needed.

New in 2006, Microbe-Lift Bio Blue was a hit with consumers.  Bio Blue is safe for human, plant and aquatic life, and does not restrict a pond owner from swimming in or fishing from one's pond.

Now NEW for 2007, Microbe-Lift Bio Black!  Same deal as Bio Blue but creates the look of a reflecting pond rather than a blue tropical ocean look.  So choose what you like, and enjoy!

Long Term Algae Preventatives

These products are marketed  in mesh bags which allow their contents to slowly leach into the pond over the course of a couple of weeks to several months. It should be stressed that these are preventative measures which should be used BEFORE algae becomes a problem. Barley straw products last the longest but also require the longest start-up time before they are fully effective unless they are pretreated with a Sludge Remover Product in a bucket of water for a day or two to expedite the breakdown of the barley which activates it.   Peat-based products and zeolite-style products begin working immediately, but don't last as long as their barley straw counterparts.

Laguna Phos-X uses a material which soaks up phosphate that cause algae like sponge, and once its full you just replace it.