Below is a blog I wrote a couple of months ago about my less than scientific finding using bacteria / enzymes. I posted this and then had second thoughts about it and deleted it. The reasons I deleted it are because 1) after 24 hours no one had commented and it did not appear to me that there was any interest in it, and 2) I really hate these snake oil sales statements we hear from sellers of the products and my observations are no better than theirs.

However, here are additional comments since I wrote the first piece: Rid-Ex costs about $15.00 for a three pound box. I'd guess I use no more than five or so boxes a year, so my cost is around $75.00 yearly. There are other products that are just a cheap or less that claim to have more CFUs. One is Dr. Drain that you can get a Wal-Mart. It claims to be five times as strong. another is a line I have only found at Home Depot. That is Zep which has several items that appear to be similar.

Anyway, following is what I posted a month or two ago:


Registered: May 03, 2002
Posts: 179
Loc: Southern Illinois I added aeration to my three acre pond about two years ago. The pond is 18 to 20 foot deep at the deepest. Being 55 years old it had quite an accumulation of muck. It also continually bordered on being too fertile.

In addition to aeration, starting right after the conference last year, I started adding bacteria. Now I wish I had kept better records of the progress the pond has made. The pond has six coves ranging from only 15 or 20 foot deep (long) off the main body, to perhaps 80 yards deep. Especially the longest cove had a great deal of muck, reducing the depth to just a few inches. Prior to aeration, when I would approach the back of that cove my boat would start running aground at a spot that happened to be right beside a large tree on the bank that I used to gauge how far into the cove I was. Now, I can go past that tree, perhaps another 20 or 30 feet. Since the pond only fluctuates a few inches over the season I can only surmise that the water is deeper because the muck is being reduced.

I really wish I had kept more exact records, but I am convinced the depth in the coves, and in the entire pond, is greater because of the aeration and perhaps because of my use of bacteria. In the main part of the lake I now find 20 foot water in more spots than I once did.

The bacteria I used was Rid-X. During the warmer months I would put about one and 1/2 pound of Rid-X in about once per week. I don't know if this is helping, but something is surely helping reduce the muck. Also, I read somewhere that if you put a dry culture bacteria in warm water and aereate it well for 24 hours or so, the amount of bacteria will be increased by several hundred %. Therefore, I would put one half of a three pound box of Rid-X in the bucket, keep air circulating through it with one of those $14.95 battery powered aerators you buy at Wal-Mart, and then dump the entire contents in the back of one or more of the coves. I did that about once a week and just did a different set of coves each week.


Without a doubt my pond is deeper and cleaner because of some of these activities. My greatest mistake was just not keeping better records.

Bing

"I love living. I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they've come up with so far." � Neil Simon,