It is definitely the most beautiful season - and also the most important for a well-run pond! Spring is the season AFTER winter and the season BEFORE summer. Sounds obvious, but do not underestimate it. Your fish have just completed their long dry winter spell. They have barely been active or have modified their activity, and have had very little to no food. They thus come out of the winter weakened and this is exactly what proves conducive to diseases such as spring viraemia! So spring, the time the fish are becoming active again, is the best time to rebuild the animals’ resilience and thus counteract diseases.
The right food
It’s essential to open a fresh batch of food for its full vitamin content - please don’t use your leftover spring food from last year. Tip: If you still have a seasonal food such as JBL PROPOND SPRING S left over at the end of spring, simply mix it with the summer food you’re starting to use and slowly reduce the amount until it’s gone. This way you will always have fresh food with a full vitamin content every year, because the vitamin content of a food decreases dramatically about 3 months after the first opening. The JBL food for the Lente , such as JBL PROPOND SPRING S en JBL PROPOND SPRING M , is a floating food, as the fish are now returning to the surface and, with a protein/fat ratio of 3:1, it has exactly the right composition to build up their strength after the winter.
Your actions in spring also determine whether you have algae formation in summer or an algae-free pond! Let's take a closer look at this: In winter there is much less algae formation because there is less sunlight. The two nutrients phosphate and nitrate are therefore not bound in the algae, instead they are mainly free in the water. The two water tests ( JBL PROAQUATEST NO3 Nitraat en JBL PROAQUATEST PO4 Fosfaat sensitief ) will show elevated values. In spring, the amount of sunlight increases significantly and the algae use the light energy with the two nutrients nitrate and phosphate to grow. If you now bind off the phosphates in the pond water when the good weather starts, the algae will lack one of the two main nutrients and will no longer grow properly. This is because their growth depends on a balance of nitrate and phosphate. With JBL PhosEx Pond Filter (if a pond filter is present) or JBL PhosEx Pond Direct (for ponds without a filter) you can now bind the algae-promoting phosphates from the water and effectively prevent algae problems. Do not allow the phosphate value in ponds to exceed 0.25 mg/l!
The right mineral content
We cannot see from the outside of our pond water which substances may be present in abundance and which may be missing. Heavy rainfall can have an enormous impact on our pond water. The mineral-free rainwater (it is basically distilled water) reduces the important mineral content in the pond water. The result is that the general hardness and the carbonate hardness drop. The carbonate hardness in turn causes the pH value to stabilise. If the KH falls below 4 °dKH, the pH value is unstable and fluctuates very strongly in the course of a day. You can easily determine both values with the JBL PROAQUATEST POND Check pH/KH . When the rainwater from the roof runs into the pond via the gutter, it results in two problems at once. Firstly enormous amounts of pollen collect on the roof. The rain then washes the concentrated nutrient broth into the pond. Secondly, most rain gutters are made of copper. Today's "acidic" rain dissolves copper ions from the gutter and washes this toxic copper into our pond. The PO4 and NO3 water tests can be used to detect nutrients. The copper content, which must never exceed 0.3 mg/l, can also be checked with a water test. Water tests are like a blood test at the doctor. There may be no other way to check the state of health.
