Pond Filter Bacteria Starters Are Probably a Waste of Money
What Are Pond Filter Starters Or Filter Seeders?
Pond filter bacteria starters or pond filter seeders are readily available to the pond keeping industry and are advertised as being a quick way to seed your pond filter with nitrifying bacteria.
he product is often sold in powder form or liquid form and is big business through out the world.
The product supposedly contains a living freeze dried version of nitrifying beneficial bacteria. The beneficial bacteria known as Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter, which are found naturally in nature and in biological pond filters convert ammonia into nitrates. Nitrosomonas converts ammonia into nitrites and Nitrobacter converts nitrites into nitrates.
In actuality the chemical processes are quite complicated and beyond the scope of this article
If you want to know more about how beneficial bacteria converts ammonia then take a look at avoid fish fatalities by controlling ammonia levels which goes into more detail ...
Anyone who knows anything about biological filtration in a garden pond environment will know that these beneficial bacteria need a constant supply of oxygenated water in order to convert ammonia.
That is why it is critically important to run your pond pump 24/7. If you were to switch your pond pump off over night the colonies of Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas would be wiped out!
With this statement in mind it would be interesting to know how it is possible for a freeze dried version of these beneficial bacteria, processed, stored in a warehouse, shipped to a supplier and stored on a shelf for X amount of days or even weeks to still be alive. Do yourself a favor and keep your money in your back pocket as you would more than likely be wasting your money, purchasing a pond filter bacteria starter product.
Why Do I Need a Garden Pond Bio Filter?
Biological pond filtration is essential if you intend to install a garden pond and keep Koi, goldfish and other pond fish species. A garden pond is a living eco system that is finely balanced and the water quality will be severely impaired and become toxic if you don’t use a biological pond filter or use a natural veggie filter to remove impurities and toxic chemicals such as ammonia. Would you like to live in your own toilet because in essence this exactly what happens in a pond system? We humans can unfortunately walk away; your Koi and goldfish aren’t afforded this luxury. It is essential to purify the water if you don’t want a dirty, smelly pond with sick or dead fish. I would recommend using a biological pond filter and not a veggie filter (bog filter) as the preferred bio filtration method as it is easier to maintain, easier to install and readily available.
Once you have installed your pond filter, ensuring that there is a constant supply of oxygen pumped over the filter media, colonies of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria will start to appear. Over a relatively short period of time they will increase in number, making the pond filter more efficient. It will however take some time before your biofilter reaches maturity and is working at its optimum rate.
Caution ... I would recommend that you don’t add too many fish to a new pond start up until the pond filter has bedded in. Obviously beneficial bacteria require ammonia, sourced from pond fish bodily waste but don’t put too much strain on the biofilter in the early days. It is far healthier and beneficial to the delicate eco system that is your garden pond to add a few fish over a period of several months, a few at a time.
To conclude I would like to add that there are a myriad of pond water additives, including bacteria filter starters, pond algaecides, pond sludge removers, pond foam removers etc available to pond keepers. My advice to you would be to “Think before You Leap ...
Read the label carefully and see if it has a detrimental effect to beneficial bacteria.
Ask yourself if you really need to add this product to your pond. You probably don’t and if you do it will only be a short term fix and not a solution!
Look on the internet and read about the particular product on forums and product review pages.
If you do decide to go ahead and use the product ensure that you stick to the dosage and you are aware of your pond volume, so as not to harm pond fish, aquatic plants or beneficial bacteria.