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Originally Posted by Neal  It has worked out so well, I'm curious to see if it would improve plant growth in my 150 gallon pond. I think I should dose a lower amount of nitrate as plant debris from nearby plants adds a fair amount of decaying matter, but I think the potassium, phosphate, iron, calcium and other nutrients could really perk up the plants. Am I crazy or do others think this could work?
My other question is how many watts per gallon does the sun provide filtered through an lilac bush on one side and an elm tree on the other? |
It may improve plant growth or it may cause an algae outbreak. I'm not sure since I have never had a pond but if it was me, I would give it a try
I would definitely start out on the low side if you do decide to add some ferts to the pond. A lot of the plants that grow in nature seem to have much lower levels of fertilizers than are present in our tanks though fertilizer runoff from fields can be a factor in some places.
As far as wpg provided by the sun, who knows. The sun's output can be measured in lumens if you want to try and compare that to your tank lighting but there are many factors such as shade from nearby objects like your lilac bush, clouds, haziness, etc that would need to be taken into consideration. Also, sunlight rarely will hit your pond at a the same angle that your tank lights do...for the majority of the day, the sun will not be directly over your pond but will instead come at an angle causing both reflection and refraction of the light. Your tank lights sit directly over the tank for the whole photoperiod and
probably have a lesser amount of reflection/refraction.
Dosing a Pond 
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