Is anyone using these products that claim to break down organic matter on
pond bottoms and help keep the water quality up? Did you find they worked
or was it all hype?
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
ISP: Hughes.net
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

I use Bacta Pur Klear & SludgeBuster and they work fine for me - it must be
used as a maintenance thing, not a quick fix. They boost the level of
beneficial bacteria level in your pond. It is this bacteria that eats up the
decaying waste on the pond floor. Other than scooping leaves that start to
build up in the fall, nothing accumulates on my pond bottom and my filter
runs longer between cleanings
Gale :~)
"Reel McKoi" wrote in message
...
Is anyone using these products that claim to break down organic matter on
pond bottoms and help keep the water quality up? Did you find they worked
or was it all hype?
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
ISP: Hughes.net
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

On Mar 30, 11:28 am, "Reel McKoi" wrote:
Is anyone using these products that claim to break down organic matter on
pond bottoms and help keep the water quality up? Did you find they worked
or was it all hype?
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
ISP: Hughes.net
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

This is hear say since I do not use these products, but I have heard a
number of times about using Rid X the septic cleaner, particularly if
you have a bunch of material on the bottom. The goal there being to
not release possibly sulfide bubbles to zap your fish.
Bill

"humBill" wrote in message
ups.com...
This is hear say since I do not use these products, but I have heard a
number of times about using Rid X the septic cleaner, particularly if
you have a bunch of material on the bottom. The goal there being to
not release possibly sulfide bubbles to zap your fish.
Bill
==================================
Do you know if RidX is safe for fish and pond life? I notice in some of my
outdoor tanks (720g) and the inground ponds that there is a mulm on the
bottom. It's most likely composed of whatever falls through the nets plus
fish waste. They all get the same care. The 800g inground pond is the
worst of the bunch. It not only has a thick wooly growth of algie all over
evertyhing but the bottom collects a form of algae they can't be netted out.
It disintergrates when I try to net it. It also clogs the filter material
in days. I'd like to find some way to get rid of this "stuff" if I can.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
ISP: Hughes.net
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

On Mar 30, 9:01 pm, "Reel McKoi" wrote:
"humBill" wrote in message

ups.com... This is hear say since I do not use these products, but I have heard a
number of times about using Rid X the septic cleaner, particularly if
you have a bunch of material on the bottom. The goal there being to
not release possibly sulfide bubbles to zap your fish.
Bill

==================================
Do you know if RidX is safe for fish and pond life? I notice in some of my
outdoor tanks (720g) and the inground ponds that there is a mulm on the
bottom. It's most likely composed of whatever falls through the nets plus
fish waste. They all get the same care. The 800g inground pond is the
worst of the bunch. It not only has a thick wooly growth of algie all over
evertyhing but the bottom collects a form of algae they can't be netted out.
It disintergrates when I try to net it. It also clogs the filter material
in days. I'd like to find some way to get rid of this "stuff" if I can.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
ISP: Hughes.net
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

As I mentioned I have not used it first hand. However, our pond
society president has recomended it several times for use BEFORE using
the pond vac we also rent. She builds and maintains ponds for a
living so I am fairly confident it is.
Bill

btw - I did try to find some articles on RidX. As is pretty much the
norm for pond advice, two recommended it and one didn't. One of the
yea's did say that it is not that effective untill the water is around
75.
Bill

Not sure if this will add additional info, but Rid-X as been debunked for
sewage "enhancement". One full box of Rid-X adds about the same amount of
beneficial bacteria to your septic system as one day of human waste, so as
long as you are using youer toilets regularly, your septic system should be
fine.

Of course, I don't think you wanna be adding human waste to your pond...LOL

--
Gareee
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

"Reel McKoi" wrote:

Is anyone using these products that claim to break down organic matter on
pond bottoms and help keep the water quality up? Did you find they worked
or was it all hype?

Microbe Lift is just aerobic bacteria, the stuff you try to keep going
in the pond and in the filter. If you clean your filter, you may need
to add some starter aerobic bacteria. I always add Microbe Lift aerobic
bacteria to my pond in the spring to give my pond a quick start at
getting back in balance after the winter.
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
18,000 gallon (17'x 47'x 2-4') lily pond garden in Zone 6
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA

On Mar 31, 10:56 am, "Gareee©" wrote:
Not sure if this will add additional info, but Rid-X as been debunked for
sewage "enhancement". One full box of Rid-X adds about the same amount of
beneficial bacteria to your septic system as one day of human waste, so as
long as you are using youer toilets regularly, your septic system should be
fine.

Of course, I don't think you wanna be adding human waste to your pond...LOL

--
Gareee
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

As you say I also am not sure how this applies to a pond. In looking
up articles about RidX I found several that were saying their product
had much more bacteria than RidX. Too my mind a 'diluted' product
might be safer than a much stronger dose. It seems even if it was
less effective, other unintended results would also be minimized - and
perhaps the reason RidX is suggested??
Bill

"humBill" wrote in message
ups.com...
btw - I did try to find some articles on RidX. As is pretty much the
norm for pond advice, two recommended it and one didn't. One of the
yea's did say that it is not that effective untill the water is around
75.
=============================
It's just a bit strange why some of my ponds and tubs get this "crud" on the
bottom, and some don't. One of them never has mulm on the bottom, most have
some and that one 800g pond always has loads of it. It must have something
to do not only with the bacteria in this particular 720g tank.... but how
the water flows to the filter, the current. I'm going to try and duplicate
it in all the tanks and ponds if I can. The way the water exits the bio
filter causes a real gentle circular current - I wonder if that's why the
bottom stays so clean....... ?!?!?!?
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
ISP: Hughes.net
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

here is reprint from earlier post.......

there are two major pathways for bacteria, with and without oxygen
a septic system is w/o oxygen and uses anaerobic bacteria, like purple
bacteria, and
products of anaerobes are ammonia, H2S or hydrogen sulfide and/or S, sulfur
which is
very toxic to fish. when fish go down to the bottom to root around they are
sucking
to get food and suck the toxins across their gills which toxes them out.
..With oxygen bacteria can break all the organic stuff down to H2O and CO2.
High organic loads can be do to one or all of the following: not enough
oxygenation
of the water, poor circulation with dead spots in the pond, overfeeding or
feeding
with high residue foods, a lot of extraneous organic matter getting into the
pond,
like leaves.

Here is the experience of one person in her indoor TANKS.
"Jo Ann supplied the following observation and experiment she's been
running. Remember that this is a single incident AND it is in a tank.
This does not necessarily mean there are not unknown factors at work or
this applies to any other tank, water pH, condition, etc.
She super sterilized a tank prepatory to moving fish. Unknown
to her, her DH had put a small amount of Microlift (an organic waste
remover) into this tank to see if it would help reduce the ammonia levels
of these fish when they started spawning. The stuff had been sent to them
to try out.
The first thing she noticed was that peroxide did not clear the purple
sterilizing level of PP in the tank.
She then dumped all water, changed media and cleaned the gravel. DH
added a few more drops of Microlift to the tank (without telling Jo Ann).
This is classic example of a blinded study cause Jo Ann sure was in the
dark.
Jo Ann put in the fish. Soon she noticed the fish were lethargic and the
physical showed that the gills were liver colored purple. She immediately
checked the water parameters but the ammonia was not bad. She did a water
change anyway. Soon the fins were shredded and she moved the fish to fresh
water, did scrapes and found nothing. Some of the fish died, others
recovered after being moved to fresh water.
She dumped all the water in the tank again, left the media. She left the
tank for 2 weeks with no fish and then tested for ammonia which was now off
scale. She did another super PP treatment and once again the peroxide
wouldnt remove the PP. ONce again she dumped the tank, left the media.
The next day the ammonia was 0.1.
2 weeks later fish came in, put in the tank but didnt check ammonia in the
empty tank. 3 days later the fish were spawning and the ammonia was off
the charts. She did a 50% water. 3 days later the fins were shredding and
on the fish were on the bottom and lethargic. A scrape showed nothing,
gills were purple. The fish were moved out of the tank. Some of the fish
died, the rest have neural damage and probably wont survive.
She did 2- 100% water changes on the fishless tank, but the ammonia was
still off the wall 24hrs later. Did another 100% water change on the empty
tank, AND replaced the media completely and found ammonia at 0.1 later that
evening. DH now told her he had added the Microlift.
She ended up using bleach on the tanks to get rid of the bacteria.
Note: The bacteria in the Microlift is purple bacteria. Some species of
purple bacteria reduce nitrates to ammonia. Also, purple bacteria eat H2S
and so are sold in an H2S formula to keep em alive. All additions of
Microlift were less than the recommended dose. Jo Ann has acidic water,
adds a calcium buffer to the water and salt. This was the only tank the
Microlift was added to, no other tanks of fish (with no Microlift) have
these symptoms. "
Ingrid