Using plants to control algae

[hopkins.gail]

This summer I learned 1st hand how great a pond can look with enough plants. I have a top and bottom pond. The top pond is sparking clean and covered in lilies. The bottom pond is so full of algae you can't hardly see the fish. The only difference in the ponds is that the top pond has enough plants and there is only one lily in the bottom pond. The koi just uses plants as a snack in the bottom pond. It took me a while to figure out the right number of plants for my pond. I can across these suggestions and wanted to pass them on. Here's the numbers for each kind of plant based on common sizes of ponds. 4'x6'

1 Lilly, 5-8 bog plants, 3 floaters, 24 submerged plants. 6'x11' to 11'x11' 2 lilies, 9-13 bog plants, 6 floaters, 44 submerged plants. 11'x11' to 14'x16' 3 lilies, 10-15 bogs, 8 floaters, 90 submerged plants. 16'x10' to 16'x21' 5 lilies, 13-18 bog plants, 12 floaters, 160 submerged plants. 21'x21' to 26'x 26' 7 lilies, 20-28 bog plants, 15 floaters, 200 submerged plants.

[ythread]

way to keep algae down is to use a good algae control in small doses and cover the edges of the pond, where the algae starts, with landscaping rocks. Shove your rocks out over the edge far enough to block the sun light from the edge. The rocks knocked down the algae dramatically. If you can shade your pond it helps too.

Now if I could keep frogs from mating in my pond. Getting rid of tadpoles is a hassle.

[digitalmaster]

Try cutting back on the fish feed a little and the fish will take care of many of the tadpoles.

[jthread]

The fish are eating my lilly pads. I wasn't feedng much anyway, once a day. I've got 6 large gf in about 180 (?) gal pond. I'm going to have to find a taker. They're really pissing me off. I'm going to put the plants in another bucket.

The frogs balance out cause I kind of miss frogs. I grew up in the countryside. I like the dragon flies too.

Anybody want a gf in the 512 area code?

[valvejob]

[Lar]

My pond is roughly 300 gallons and I had a dozen or so of various potted plants and was having a problem with the pea soup type algae until a customer of mine gave me a trash bag of floating vegetation (Parrots Feather) and within 10 days the water was totally clear and has stayed that way for over a year now. There is string algae on the rocks and about the sides but it's part of the water eco-system.

Lar

[JimR]

[snip]

Parrots Feather is a good plant for keeping ponds clear. Fish will eat it, perhaps in preference to lilies, plus it grows very fast. It will get a little stringy unless it's in full sun. You'll have to harvest it every few months to keep it from taking over.

[hopkins.gail]

Gold fish love lilies but they really love anacharis and will often eat the anacharis and not the lilies. Are your goldies eating the roots? If they are try putting a layer of 3/4 inch gravel or marble chips over the soil s they can't dig. You could list the goldies in a newspaper to get rid of them. But try the anacharis first because you do want some fish to keep the bugs away and add color and movement to the pond.