The usual miss is not the product. It is the amount. A dam that looks modest from the gate can hold far more water than the eye says, and a wide shallow pond can be the opposite. Guess the dose and you either waste bags or leave the nutrients in place.
Healthy Ponds products do not kill algae or weeds. They break down the organic matter those plants feed on, and they only do that for the volume you actually treat. Start with litres, not with a photo from the driveway.
What to measure
The pond calculator asks for the shape. A rectangle wants length and width. A round pond wants the diameter. An oval wants the long axis and the short one. All of those are in metres, plus the average depth. Use the average, not the deepest hole by the wall. The result comes back in cubic metres and in litres.
Walk the waterline for a pond that is not a neat shape. Take the longest run and the widest, and a depth in the shallow end as well as out in the middle, then average them. If you irrigate out of it, or the stock drink it down, measure the water that is there today and say on the plan that the level moves.
What the litres are for
Dye is the easy check. One water-soluble bag of pond dye treats about 1.8 million litres. If the calculator puts you over that, one bag will not cover the pond. The bacteria products are sized off the same volume. Natural Blast works through the water in about a week. AquaSphere PRO sinks and releases bacteria for about 30 days. Neither one stretches because you hoped the pond was smaller.
There is no spare credit for tipping a double dose in on the first morning. The repeats are the treatment. Under-treating is how the colour comes back a fortnight later. The month-by-month start is in when to start getting your pond ready for summer, and the early green tint is in green water in spring.
Need it sized rather than guessed? Send the pond details through the free pond treatment plan and we will sort it out with you. Or call 09 415 0300.
