Complete Pond and Lake Management Services
For large and small bodies of water, we offer complete and custom pond management service based on the needs of your pond or lake. Whether your pond is battling invasive aquatic plants, your lake needs water quality testing, or you’re looking to stock and manage your fish population, AEC offers the exact customized pond management plan your bodie of water needs. Unlike other pond management groups, we don’t focus on sales or fluffy contracts, we focus and care about quality service for you and your pond, doing only what it needs and not trying to sell you on something that is unnecessary. If you are not sure what your pond needs, request a free consult from our expert pond and lake management team.
The complex ecosystems in a pond or lake need to be monitored and cared for to stay healthy. No matter the purpose of your pond — whether at your home for fish or on a golf course to attract visitors — you have to keep up with proper care.
Below are the pond management and care services we offer.
Not Sure What Service You Need?
If you are not sure what services your pond or lake needs, we encourage you to contact our team today. We are happy to create a custom care plan for you — free of charge — that fits your goals and budget.
Benefits of Regular Pond Management Services
Your pond or lake is an important investment. Protect it with yearly maintenance and management by the experts at AEC.
For over 30 years, businesses and property owners throughout the Mid-Atlantic region have counted on AEC for comprehensive lake and pond management. Whether you represent a corporate complex, homeowners’ association, golf course or other property with a lake or pond, you can benefit from our decades of experience.
With annual maintenance, you can keep your pond or lake healthy, prevent costly problems, make budgeting easier and extend the lifespan of your water feature equipment. Contact us today for more information on what annual management can do for the health of your pond or lake.
4 Main Benefits of Yearly Pond Management
1. Ensure Your Pond Stays Healthy
A pond or lake is an intricate and delicate ecosystem. You must maintain its balance in order for your water body to stay healthy.
When organic matter such as dead plants, grass clippings, excess fish food or fertilizer decays, it releases nitrogen into the water. If the levels get too high, it could be toxic to your fish or cause excessive plant growth. With yearly maintenance, AEC can ensure organic matter isn’t harming your fishery or water quality.
Decaying organic matter also produces phosphorus. Although phosphorus is beneficial to soil, it can be damaging to ponds and lakes. With high phosphorus levels, algae can grow in excess, choking off the vital supply of oxygen your pond or lake needs. AEC’s yearly lake algae control will keep your phosphorus levels in check so your lake’s appearance and health remain clear.
Our yearly pond management will provide the complete customized service and management that your body of water will need year to year.
2. Prevent Common Problems
If a lake or pond doesn’t receive proper yearly management the ecosystem can easily become unbalanced. A body of water can experience widespread growth of invasive plant species, declining fish population, declining water clarity, and especially algae buildup. Once algae has overtaken, it requires specialized products and techniques to restore balance. The longer algae or any of these common problems are unmanaged the longer and harder it will be to correct them. With yearly lake and pond management, you can prevent problems instead of spending extra money and time fixing them.
Along with yearly management of your lake’s ecosystem, we offer complete and comprehensive maintenance on your lake’s equipment including all fountains and diffusers.
From algae control to fountain and diffuser maintenance, yearly lake management ensures all components are in check. Protect your lake or pond from costly problems or equipment replacements in the future.
3. Make Budgeting Easier
With planned yearly maintenance, you can more easily budget for your lake’s needs. During annual maintenance, AEC pond and lake specialists will review your current needs and provide information on what services will be needed throughout the year, giving you a clear plan for your maintenance budget. AEC’s consultants will have your lake management treatments planned ahead of time to ensure you receive the right management at the right time and ensures that you can stick to your budget.
Our management proposals are clear and transparent because we believe in honest quality service. Request a lake management consultation with us today so you can create and plan the right budget for your lake’s needs.
4. Extend the Lifespan of Your Equipment
From aeration and diffuser systems to fountains, your lake and pond equipment requires regular maintenance. With service from AEC, you can ensure your equipment continues running at peak efficiency, which will help extend the investment and its lifespan.
Whether your equipment is for aesthetics, ecosystem health, or both having yearly maintenance for your equipment will help protect and ensure your investment. On top of being a lake treatment specialist, AEC is certified in proper manufacturer maintenance of all your aerations, diffusers and fountains. If you want to know more about the status, performance, and efficiency of a current piece of equipment, call us today for a consultation.
Common Pond & Lake Problems We Fix
1. Algae
One of the most common problems that pond owners have to watch out for is algae. Algae can be unsightly if it has grown out of control, and certain types of algae have toxins that can be harmful to pets and humans. It doesn’t always take a high level of intervention to control algae, and normal levels of certain types are often important for the ecosystem to thrive. You also need to know how to identify each of the three main types of algae so you can determine your next step:
- Filamentous algae: Commonly referred to as “pond scum,” this alga usually appears green. It is prone to grow out of control when phosphorous, nitrogen and other nutrients are abundant in the area. Three specific types of filamentous algae include Spirogyra, bright green and slimy, Cladophora, green and cottony, and Pithophora, coarse like horsehair. An experienced aquatic management professional will be able to identify and remediate the overgrowth of these algae.
- Planktonic algae: Planktonic algae aren’t bad on their own, as every body of water has some level of them under the surface of the water. They are not visible or harmful to water quality or aquatic health at normal levels. When they become elevated, however, the bloom disrupts the pond’s ecosystem. A combination of a specific water temperature and nutrient levels in the lake can cause a heavy planktonic bloom. When one occurs, you’ll notice a green or greenish-blue surface. Certain species of planktonic algae can produce toxins that can be harmful as well.
- Macrophytic algae: These multi-celled organisms are also known as musk grass, chara, nitella and stonewort. They have a plant-like appearance as well as clearly identifiable stems and leaves. These algae grow on lake bottoms and often have a gritty feeling from calcium covering. At normal levels, they make up an integral part of a lake’s ecosystem, providing necessary food and shelter for fish. Excessive growth, however, causes problems and requires mechanical removal or algaecide treatments.
In some waterbodies, algae are not a problem unless they get out of hand. However, certain algae like cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, contain microcystins and other toxins. These algae are often hazardous and can: contaminate lake and pond water, irritate skin, damage the liver or nervous system, harm fish and hurt or kill pets and livestock that drink from the water. They can appear green, red, brown or grey, and they often have a strong, unpleasant smell.
Lab analysis will determine whether toxins are present in the algae bloom in your lake water. If toxins are confirmed, you’ll need quick, professional toxic algae control to properly manage the problem.
You’ll need proper management services if nontoxic algae begin to reach noxious levels as well. For both toxic and non-toxic algae, the most effective method to control the algae and restore your pond is with the use of an approved algaecide by an experienced algae management team.
2. Fish Population Problems
If healthy, your pond or lake can have a large, self-sustaining fish population. No matter how well-maintained, every bodie of water can experience natural fish deaths throughout the year. However, excessive fish population depletion is a common sign that something is wrong with the ecosystem and needs to be managed immediately to bring the lake back to a healthy level.
Though we offer management and restocking options, it isn’t a permanent solution until the underlying problem is diagnosed and solved.
Optimal dissolved oxygen levels for fish should be maintained at 4 mg/L or higher for maximum health. When levels dip below 1 mg/L for even a short period, the lake’s fish population can collapse rapidly. Planktonic algae blooms, overabundant vegetation, bacterial growth and pond turnover are all possible culprits of oxygen content drops. The easiest way to combat the issue is regular monitoring and lake maintenance.
It’s crucial to keep in mind that lakes and ponds are complex ecosystems, and rapid environmental changes can be an immediate detriment to organisms trying to survive and thrive throughout the system. Therefore, it’s clear why the following issues can also cause a rapid fish kill:
- Bacteria
- Parasites
- Disease
- Sewage runoff
- High salinity from excess rain
3. Water Quality Issues
Water quality is an important consideration for the overall ecosystem, especially if you plan to allow swimming, fishing or other recreational activities. Some E. coli levels are normal and not harmful, but levels in excess of 235 colony-forming units (cfu) per 100 milliliters of water can indicate disease-causing germs. Blue-green algae blooms, mentioned earlier in this breakdown, can also cause water quality issues and harm water users.
While typically not harmful, muddy or turbid water can disrupt the photosynthesis cycle and appear unattractive. Excessive winds, carp and koi species, watershed erosion and runoff can all cause muddiness and unsettled sediment, which gives the water an unclean appearance.
We specialize in both water quality testing and water quality restoration for ponds and lakes of all sizes.
4. Excessive Plant Life
Cattails, bulrushes and other typha-genus plants are common in lakes and ponds, and normal amounts are often attractive. Fish and other wildlife even use these plants as a habitat. However, if the plants spread too quickly and exceed more than 10% of the shoreline, they create an eyesore and can even be harmful to your water body. AEC specializes in aquatic vegetation control and management to ensure your plants are helping, not interfering, with the health of your lake or pond.
If your lake or pond is suffering from overgrown and invasive plant species, call us today for a consultation on proper removal and management.
Signs Your Pond Or Lake Needs Management
Now that you know some of the most common problems that threaten the ecosystem and health of every lake or pond, you can watch out for signs that you need professional treatment services. Knowing the underlying cause is useful, but understanding what you’ll see on your end is even more critical. Call AEC immediately if you notice any of the following:
- Algae buildup that coats rocks, logs and other areas around your lake and looks overabundant
- Mats of green algae on the surface of the water
- A “pea soup” appearance on the surface of your lake
- Water looks like green or greenish-blue paint has been spilled on the surface
- Unattractive green, grey, brown or red water quality
- Strong, unpleasant odors coming from the lake
- Rapidly declining fish population or dead fish
- Perpetually muddy or turbid water that doesn’t settle
- Excessive plant life around the lake
- Skin irritation or another sickness in people or animals directly linked to contact with the water
- Any other issues that hinder an attractive appearance and functional ecosystem
Our Management Services
You don’t have to wait for something to go wrong before choosing a pond management team. Regular maintenance will keep your lake beautiful and healthy throughout the years.
When you contact AEC for help with your pond or lake management, step one will be a thorough consultation so that we can develop a long-term maintenance and monitoring program that suits your unique property. Our technicians will familiarize themselves with your pond’s size, environment, geography, physical and biological components and other important information. They’ll identify any problematic or invasive species of concern and discuss the challenges and issues you want addressed.
After the initial assessment, our team will come up with the best strategy to monitor and test specific factors, handle any current issues and develop a protocol for ongoing testing. We’ll complete emergency interventions and take needed steps like excessive vegetation elimination, fountain or aerator installation and fish stocking. Once a suitable water and ecosystem quality baseline as been reached, we’ll track changes over time and maintain necessary preventative maintenance services to keep it healthy.
Don’t wait to get the proper pond and lake health you want. At AEC, we’ve been successfully providing high-quality, competitively-priced, professional management services since 1987. AEC’s team members have diverse backgrounds and years of experience with aquatic management. Contact us today and trust us to deliver the same exceptional results we’ve brought countless others.
