... chosen by Gardening Which? as a best buy.  One application lasts all season,
saving you time and money

During 2006, “Gardening Which?” commissioned a major algae control trial.  In total, twenty one products were tested and the results were featured in the May 2007 issue of the magazine.  Six of these products were described as best buys.  The other fifteen products were simply listed by name.

The six best buys are given as – NT Labs Pond Aid Aquaclear, Greenways Lavender Pond Pads, Hozelock Blanketweed Treatment, Aquahydrotech Extract of Barley Straw, Interpet Blanket Weed Buster and our Viresco™ Aqua.

The products were marked out of 5 for certain aspects - greenwater control, blanketweed control and ease of use. Of the six featured products, four, including ours, were given 9 stars out of 10 for both blanketweed and greenwater (algae bloom) suppression. The other two – Hozelock Blanketweed Treatment and Aquahydrotech Extract of Barley Straw - were given fewer stars. 

The costs of one dose per 1000 litres were also given. These ranged from 49p to £2.58 for the 6 best buy products.

These costs are for one application only. However, the pondkeeper wants to know how much the treatment costs for a full year when he uses the number of doses recommended by the manufacturer. This was not calculated in the "Gardening Which?" feature.

From the data given in the article, we have converted this cost data to 1000 gallons, a better unit for pondkeepers.  When the full annual treatment costs were calculated, these were as follows:

Annual Cost of using Algae Control Products per 1000 gallons

These differences are shown graphically below:

The fifteen products that were not included in the 6 best buys were – Aquaplankton, Blagdon Natural Algae Clear, NT Labs Pond Aid Algae Stopperz, Hozelock Green Water Treatment, Interpet Green Away, Nishikoi Goodbye Green Water, Pond Doctor Anti-Green Water, Tetra Pond Algorem, Waterlife Algizin G, Blank-Kit Excel, Nishikoi Goodbye Blanket Weed, Pond Doctor Anti-Blanket weed, Tetra Pond Algofin, Waterlife Algizin P.
 

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