By pure accident found mention of this in one of my books. Has anybody got experience with this?
Putting powerfull magents on the pipe that returns water back to the pond.

what is the magnets suppose to do? Remember metal will rust.

keep in mind magnets are not in the water but outside the pipes. the idea is that the magnets will influence the algae that their photosynthesis will be inhibited, due to the realignment of its iron.

hmmm... i have heard about these things before in some of the UK magazines.

I think its a loooong shot but i might be wrong. (People get set in their ways and then nothing new can possibly work or be as good as their tech, we have a few of those people on this forum.)

As Einstein said: "Imagination is more important than knowledge"

Why dont you try it out and see if it works. Give us some feedbacck...remember to take the UV offline.

See the following article by Brian Dunning

Do magnets really have a mystical positive effect on pond water chemistry?

With a net in one hand and a pH testing kit in the other, let's wade into the murky waters of pond chemistry to test the latest fad in koi pond maintenance: magnets.

I was visiting my cousin up in Portland Oregon, and he showed me his cool koi pond. Being a koi pond guy myself, we compared notes on filter equipment, water testing, plant types, and all the usual stuff. His main filter pipe had a group of powerful magnets arrayed around it, which was something I hadn't seen before. I'm no super expert on ponds, so I guessed that maybe it was doing something like grabbing out metal filings from the pump. I asked him what the magnets were for, and he wasn't sure, but it was something to do with water chemistry. Right away, my radar went up. Unless there were significant amounts of iron, nickel, or cobalt in his water that required being magnetically held against the side of the pipe, there's really no physical way for the magnets to have any effect on anything in the water.

My cousin's friend at the pond store had recommended that he install the magnets, and he'd followed her expert recommendation. After all, he had no reason to doubt her suggestions. At my urging, he called her up to ask what the heck the magnets were supposed to do. She hemmed and hawed, said something about water clarity or chemistry or algae, and finally confessed that she had no idea, and that it was just a standard thing that a lot of pond owners do. The magnets were pretty expensive, so it wasn't surprising that a pond store would push them.

So I turned to the Internet, as I often do in times of need. It didn't take much searching to find the standard claim about magnets and ponds, and it has to do with algae growth. The claim is that magnets, mounted inline along any of the pipes, improve water clarity by altering iron alignment in free-floating algae, thus inhibiting photosynthesis. I also found one or two references to reducing lime scale build-up inside the pipes, but since this claim didn't even pretend to suggest a mechanism that might produce this effect, I discounted it. Lime scale is calcium carbonate. It contains none of the three magnetic elements and is thus completely unaffected by magnets. That claim pretty much busts itself, no help from me needed.

So what about this reduction of algae? The claim is that the algae will be reduced because its photosynthesis will be inhibited, due to the realignment of its iron. This is a fairly common type of claim. It makes no sense, but because it uses common scientific-sounding words, many people will simply accept it at face value without questioning it. My cousin's friend at the pond store did, and when she repeated it to my cousin, he did too. I even accepted it when he told me, albeit tentatively, pending some kind of reasonable explanation.

Here are the two problems with this claim. Number one, photosynthesis is a chemical reaction among carbohydrates. Iron is not involved. The presence of iron would neither hinder nor help photosynthesis. The magnetic orientation of any iron molecules nearby is not relevant. Realigning iron magnetically has no bearing on photosynthesis, and will not harm a plant in any way. Number two, iron, which is found in human blood hemoglobin, is not present in chlorophyll or in the other proteins involved in plant photosynthesis. Although I've never spent the time to wave a magnet past a plant several times a day, I'd be awfully surprised if that plant's photosynthesis stopped and it died as a result.

Another problem with this claim is the concept that briefly passing a non-magnetic object through a magnetic field will leave it altered after the magnet is removed. This is like turning the light in a room on then off again, and expecting the furniture to be somehow residually contaminated with light. Electromagnetic radiation doesn't work that way.

I should mention that when I set out to research this claim, I didn't merely gather enough information to shoot the claim down and then quit. I did make a good effort to find research supporting the effects of magnets on algae. But, since there are no plausible claims, there has never really been anything for anyone to test. However, I did find something close. In 2005, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute announced the results of research they'd done on certain bacteria that are known to carry magnetic crystals. These are called magnetotactic bacteria. In 1970, magnetotactic bacteria were also discovered in the Southern Hemisphere whose magnetic crystals were flipped around. The purpose of these tiny internal compasses has never been known, but since the 1970 discovery, the working hypothesis has been that they use the compasses to help navigate either up or down to find water with the best oxygen concentration. This would be consistent with the need for the polarity to be reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.

Alas for the pond magnet manufacturers, Woods Hole's research found that north-polarity and south-polarity bacteria are both found intermixed in both hemispheres, and also that there are numerous individuals who lack the crystals completely. All three types of bacteria navigate equally well to the water depths with the most desirable oxygen levels. The conclusion of the research is that the purpose of the magnetic crystals remains unknown, but it's clear that its reversal or even its total lack makes no difference to the health or life cycle of the bacteria. And, once the bar magnet was removed from the microscope slide, the magnetotactic bacteria realigned themselves normally with the earth's magnetic field, according to the polarity of each. There were no residual effects of having been briefly placed near a magnet.

I recommend that you do your own research, or at least ask for a reasonable explanation, when a salesman offers you a product that claims to accomplish something far fetched or contrary to your understanding of the laws of nature.



Brian Dunning

read that article, one of the comments on the article.....

Hi, I have a large garden pond and use a U.V light which makes my water clear, But when this happens I seem to get a lot of Blanket weed, So when I purchased a magnet which is on the inlet pipe I dont get blanket weed so it must work thanks

Gary Anderson, Liverpool, UK
August 05, 2008 10:07am


As magnets are sitting outside, what damage could they do otherwise?

Just had a look
http://www.modernmagnetics.co.za/pages/ferrite-and-ceramic

Modern Magnetics even has magnets that are round and could be fitted neatly around a 50mm pipe...

Adi
Ek het net so probleem met alg gehad in my damme.
Ek het by n maat van my Zol Kruger raad gekry nadat ek gesien het hoe skoon is sy dan die selfde groot as myne.
Hy gooi elke tweede week 5oogram koek soda in sy dam.
Ek het dit ook begin doen en net my sout n bietjie minder gemaak en my water bly helder skoon.

Koeksoda stoot die hardheid van water op en het ook 'n impak op PH.

Dis nie geevaarlik vir die kois nie maar wees gewaarsku dat visse shimis kan ontwikkel agv harde water en dat rooi visse hulle rooi mag verloor.

Harde water finish kois vroer, so kohakus mag pragtig rooi lyk nou maar dit kan veroorsaak dat hulle later hule rooi weg gooi omdat hulle tevroeg kleur uitgebring het.

Visse in hardewater groei ook nie baie vinning nie en die kleur selle gaan le plat en staan nie op die, so die visse se kleure sal helder lyk maar hulle sal geen luster he nie.

Sover ek weet het koeksoda geen effek op algae nie.

Hier is 'n paar artickels wat oor hardheid van water gaan en die impak op kois.
Softly does it
Magic water
The Mystique of the Mud Pond - Water Hardness

robert wrote:

Ek het by n maat van my Zol Kruger raad gekry nadat ek gesien het hoe skoon is sy dan die selfde groot as myne.
Hy gooi elke tweede week 5oogram koek soda in sy dam.

Hi Robert, hoop dit gaan goed daar in Aggenyes en groete aan ou Zol doer in die Kalahari. Ek sal met hom moet raas. Dink nie die koeksoda idee is goed nie, tensy hy sukkel met baie lae PH. Koedsoda jaag die PH op. Dit skep die moontlikheid van PH spronge wat baie nadeliger kan wees vir die vis.

Sover ek dit het hou vryvloeiende alge(wat die water groen maak) van lae PH maar blou-groen alge en "blanket weed" hou weer van hoer PH.

Koeksoda behoort dus wel die groei van alge te beinvloed, maar ek sal dit nie gebruik nie.