The dreaded algae has found its way into your pond. It’s slimy, green, and smells awful. You want to get rid of it, but don’t know how or what product will work best for you.
This can be a frustrating problem because there are many different types of algae and most of them are impossible to remove without some type of chemical treatment. That’s where ridex, aka. Rid-X or RidX comes into play.
Since, it’s originally made for septic tanks, people have their concerns about whether or not can you put ridex in a pond? Or more specifically, should you put ridex in a pond? Let’s take a look at the product and hopefully by the end of this article, you’d have found your answer…
Ridex: What does it contain?
Before you make a decision to apply ridex into your pond, you have to know what you are putting into your pond. It is basically used to introduce natural bacteria in a place devoid of them for a myriad of reasons.
One of the reasons is when people put bleach or other chemicals in for cleaning purposes. Bleach kills almost every living thing it touches including bacteria. So, Rid-X is used to introduce natural bacteria.
RidX not only contains bacteria but also some enzymes. They are :
- Cellulase: Breaks down vegetative and plant-based wastes like toilet paper, plant material, and foods
- Lipase: This enzyme breaks down oil and fats. It also works against grease.
- Amylase: It breaks down starch
- Protease: This breaks down protein substances
In theory, introducing Rid-X into your pond sounds like a great idea as it breaks down clogs. But is RidX good for a pond?
So what happens when you use Rid-X in your pond?
Even though ridex claims to use natural bacteria, normally you won’t find this type of bacteria in ponds. So when you are using Rid-X in your pond you’re actually introducing a foreign bacteria into it. And this will disturb your pond’s ecosystem badly.
As this bacteria has the potential to grow rapidly, it causes a massive surge of bacteria and a decrease in the number of nutrients in your pond. Such reduction is life-threatening to all the plants and fish in your pond.
Before you go ahead, you should know that the manufacturers warn about using this product as it’s mainly made for septic tanks, you need to adjust its usage for applying it in a pond.
They warn you from directly using it on plants and lawns as this practice could prove to be quite harmful to the plants and all the animals that roam in and around them.
They also warn you from letting your pets directly come in contact with the pond water, especially after using red-x. If you have pets and you still use Rid-X, they could be in a dangerous situation.
So, you have to put ridex in a pond carefully.
Putting Rid-X into your pond: Dos and Don’ts
Rid-X is an extremely sensitive chemical substance that requires you to follow certain rules and regulations while adding in your pond water. Let’s have a look at some recommendations and prohibitions of using Ridex:
Do’s
While applying Ridex into your pond, make sure you don’t have any organic matter in your pond, be it plants or fish. Ridex contains bacteria that are alien to an ecosystem that they are being introduced into. This will have an adverse effect on the plant and animal life in your pond.
Make sure the water doesn’t flow to or is connected to any other water source. If it is, ridex will contaminate that source as well and make it unusable.
Don’ts
Never put any fish or plant near a ridex applied area. Although it is advertised as not harmful to plants if applied indirectly, putting Ridex in a pond will be directly applying it to plants.
Don’t let your pet drink water or play in the pond. Drinking RidX mixed water from the pond or playing in can make your pet sick.
If you have children in your house, don’t let them near your pond after you put Ridex in it. It is harmful to them as well.
And if you have a fountain or waterfall in your pond, which is a very common feature these days, your pond water will splash to the nearby places causing harm to plants or other animals they get into contact with it.
Ridex alternatives
Don’t lose heart if you can’t use Ridex in your pond. There are other safer options you can go for if you want to clean your pond of mucks, algae, and waste materials.
Hand cleaning
The first thing you can do is clean your pond yourself. You can clean the pond with your hands after draining the whole pond. Although it is not recommended to do it frequently as it affects your pond’s ecosystem. You should only go for it if you need serious cleaning. Doing it very often disturbs the ecosystem of your pond.
Using pond vacuum
Another way you can get rid of the muck is by using a pond vacuum. They are one of the safest ways to clear out your pond by sucking out muck and waste from the very bottom of your pond.
They remove the need for you to get in the water yourself as they have long hoses and handles which reach into the deepest parts of your pond and suck out the sludge. Also, they are completely safe, so you can use them without worrying about your fish.
Apply Dying method
If you are worried about algae deposition, you can try dying your water. Dying is a newer method developed to prevent sunlight from entering your pond. Because of this, the algae are deprived of sunlight to produce food.
Sunlight is necessary for algae to produce food by photosynthesis. Since they can’t produce food, slowly they will die out, leaving your pond free of unwanted algae. Just make sure you remove all the dead algae from your pond as they stink. You can also try good algae control products that are available in the market. They are quite effective as well.
Introducing an aeration system
You can also install an aeration system. This is a kind of system that supplies air at the bottom of your pond which makes still water at the bottom move around. This prevents muck from depositing at the bottom of your pond.
Conducting regular maintenance
Regularly clean your pond. Make sure that no branches, leaves or any kind of debris float on the water as they are the main reason for algae accumulation.
You can also use a rake. But it is not that efficient as it takes too much time and effort for too little work.
Final words
A dirty pond is bad for the health of your fish and all the other living beings you have there. So, you should put in some work to make sure it is clean and healthy for all the lives there.
So, to answer the question, “can you put ridex in a pond?” I personally will say, it’s better not to use a potentially harmful product.
Besides, there are other effective, practical, and healthy solutions available that you can take to keep your pond clean.
