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OXYGENATING WATER PLANTS
OXYGENATING WATER PLANTS - OXYGENATORS
Oxygenating water plants help to maintain a clean and healthy pond by competing for and absorbing nutrients such as ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and other minerals and salts as algae does.
If these build up, they can unbalance the pond and become toxic to fish and other aquatic animals.
They are thought of as 'nutrient sponges' and are heavy feeders, absorbing through their leaves and roots, starving the algae. Oxygenating water plants provide some oxygen in the daylight when they photosynthesize, but reverse this process at night when they consume some of the oxygen as they respire.
Oxygenating plants usually have some leaves under water and some floating on or standing above the waters surface.
This all reduces the sunlight on the pond water and shades the algae.
Even though they are vigorous growers, it is still easier to scoop out some of the plants and throw away when it gets too big, rather than trying to remove and deal with excess algae.
The excess plants are full of nutrients and make an excellent mulch spread out over the garden.
The underwater leaves especially provides shelter for frogs, fish and other aquatic life and is good for egg laying and spawning.