Continuing with the theme of why all garden ponds need as much oxygen as possible I would like to take the opportunity to tell you about one of nature’s ways of doing this, using aquatic plants and in particular a class of water plant known as oxygenators.
 
All species of plant, whether aquatic or land loving carry out a process known as photosynthesis during daylight hours. You may remember this equation from your school biology lessons: 6CO2 + 6H2O = C6H12O6 + 6O2
 
Although expressed in its simplest form the above equation shows how all plants, including pond plants convert 6 lots of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) into 6 lots of carbohydrate and oxygen (O2) under the influence of the suns UV rays.
 
At night time the reverse is true as they utilize the oxygen in the pond water.
 
As outlined in previous articles oxygen is essential for all aquatic life and nitrifying bacteria in order for them to breathe; in the case of nitrifying bacteria it is needed to break down toxic ammonia from fish waste, uneaten food and decaying matter into nitrate, a valuable source of food for plant life and algae alike.