Oxygenator Pond Plants - The Great Way To Add Oxygen To Your Pond
How To Select Aquatic Pond Plants To Add Oxygen To Your Pond
The majority of aquatic water plants photosynthesize during daylight hours, adding much needed oxygen to the pond water; particularly those with submersed leaves. The most natural way of adding valuable oxygen to your water garden or fish pond is to add a class of aquatic pond plant known as Oxygenators to your pond.
The Double Life Of Aquatic Pond Plants!
All plants, including pond plants during daylight hours produce oxygen in a process known as photosynthesis. They utilize sunlight (UV light) and carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates and Oxygen. In a pond environment the oxygen is beneficial to the pond fish and nitrifying beneficial bacteria. A side effect of the breakdown of ammonia is the resultant level of nitrate produced. This nitrate is used by aquatic plants and algae alike!
If however you didn't keep pond plants then the algae would run riot, turning your pond into a green pea soup like hole. Oxygenator plants and other aquatic plant species are essential, unless you have a fountain, waterfall, air block or venturi to do the necessary instead.
At night time however pond water plants stop producing oxygen and start to consume it. This is why it is important not to have too many aquatic plants.
If you follow the following rule of thumb then everything should tick along nicely! Allow yourself 2 inches of fish per square foot of pond surface area in a fish pond that is established with 2 bunches of plants for every square foot. This does not apply to Koi however. It is advisable to keep Koi and aquatic plants apart. The Koi tend to eat the oxygenators.
Why Are Oxygenator Plants Good For Fish Ponds?
It is extremely difficult for atmospheric oxygen to dissolve into pond water; particularly in warmer water. Oxygenator plants effectively dissolve oxygen into the pond water more effectively than by artificial mechanical turbulence methods such as a waterfall.
What Is an Oxygenator Plant?
Any plant species that exists under the water is classified as an oxygenator plant. As with most things in life there are the elite, the good, the average and the bad. Fantastic oxygenator aquatic plants will have some things in common. They will have roots that tend to be merely for anchorage and the nutrition and absorption and gaseous exchange occurs on the surface of the plant directly to each cell. The plant will be thin walled and will have thin leaves that encourages gaseous exchange to take place.
What Are The Best Oxygenators?
There are several really good choices. The Water Crowfoot, the Water Buttercup (Ranunculus aquatalis) and the Curly Pond Weed (Potamageton crispus) are three of the best. The Curly Pond Weed (Elodea crispa), which is a native South African oxygenator is great for using up excess nitrates and compounds found in pond water. It also offers the following advantages: It is used as a place for pond fish to spawn on; hide behind or swim around.
Other Oxygenators Worth A Look In!
Canadian pondweed (Elodea Canadensis), also known as Anacharis, can easily be confused with the weaker growth of Laragasiphon major. It will even grow on the surface of marginal plant baskets. The Parrots Feather (Myriophyllum proserpinacoides) is a rapid grower and will need to be controlled. Mares tail (Hippurus vulgaris), often sold as a marginal. This plant has been around since time began, so it is not without a trick or two up its stem!
Oxygenator Plant Recommendations
| Name | Family | Flowering Period | Description |
| Crystalwort autumnal starwort (Callitriche autumnalis) | Calltrichaceae | Autumn/winter | Useful plant for autumn/winter, one of the few submerged plants active at that time of the year. |
| Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) | Ceratophyllaceae | winter | Dark green wit rigid, branching stems densely clothed with foliage, growing eight in a whorl and repeatedly forked. A semi floating plant. |
| Crassula helmsii | Crassulaceae | winter | A dainty plant with reddish stems and small, crowded oval leaves. |
| Hair grass (Eleocharis acicularis) | Cyperceae | July to August | Slender little tufted plant 5-10 cm with needle like stems, each terminating in a dark brown oblong spikelet. |
| Canadian pond weed (Elodea canadensis) | Hydrocharitaceae | May to September | A submerged water plant 5-15 cm long with thickly leaved branching stems. |
| Incombustible water moss willow moss (Fontinalis antipyretica) | Fontinalaceae | Grayish-green in color with very long branched stems, thickly clothed with coarse, three ranked leaves. Excellent oxygenator. Used in Scandinavia in the past for caulking chimneys. | |
| Water violet (Hottonia palustris) | Primulaceae | winter | Charming native aquatic, bearing handsome, pinnately-divided foliage and whorls of lilac flowers. A good oxygenator. |
| Larosiphon major. (Elodea crispa) | Hydrocharitaceae | winter | This plant resembles a giant elodea with reflexed foliage arranged in broken whorls around the branches stems. Excellent oxygenator for all types of ponds. |
| Myriophyllum spicatum | Haloragaceae | winter | Bears reddish foliage in whorls of four. |
| Potamageton natans | Potamogetonaceae | May to June | Has two forms of foliage, the upper being like reddish aponogeton leaves and very narrow. We do not recommend introducing this plant into ponds or lakes as it is extremely invasive. |
| Water Crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis) | Ranunculaceae | winter | Good oxygenator. Leaves are of two types, lower ones being always submerged and divided into numerous hair-like segments whilst the other ones float on the surface. Flowers are white, small and around with yellow stems. |
Source: Anglo Aquarium Plant catalogue (1993)
Sometimes it can be difficult to find the exact plant species that you are looking for. By clicking the following link you will be able to see a comprehensive list of water garden plants showing both their English and Latin plant names to help you find exactly what you are looking for.
How To Plant Oxygenators
Any casual cleanout of debris or leaves from the pool often brings with a tangle of oxygenating weed. This is your raw material - don't hang about with it since the whole plant is a living thing and needs to constantly moist. Keep it in a sealed plastic bag in a refrigerator if you want to "buy some time".
Break off tips (or stem lengths if tips are in short supply) between 4 and 8 inches long.
Collect the lengths into bunches of between 4 to 8. Grip them firmly at the lower ends.
Wrap the bunches together using lead wire or lead roof flashing.
Push the tied bunches deep into a basket filled with an inert gravel or grit.
Fill the basket up with as many bunches as you can fit in. 12 bunches is about right for a small basket.
Place the planted up basket containing the oxygenator plants into your pond ASAP, in a depth between 9 inches to 12 inches.
If the bunches start to become covered with sediment then gently brush it off with your fingers.
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