My backyard pond is failry new (this spring) and the water is always green. I've tried the chemicals, cleaned the filter and added lillies and other vegetation to block out the sun. Nothing works! The water is green as ever, any suggestions?
Look into Barely.
Aerate until nutrients are used up. Algal growth will stop. This may take a while though, depending on size of pond size of pump (air or water). Don't suppose the pond has a fountain?
I had the same problem with a small pond (100 gal) that I have in the front garden. It's in full sun and stayed green no matter what I did. I finally consulted a pond expert. We pitched the underwater filter and went with an external one with UV sterilization. (I went with a Laguna Pressure-Flo - and sized it about twice the rated size since I intend to add a water fall soon. I _love_ this filter, by the way!) After a couple of weeks with the new filter - the pond was crystal clear. I can actually see my goldfish now!
YMMV
Cheryl Lyons, TX
ponds without fish will eventually clear after the nutrients in the water are used up. adding new water will send the pond back to green. aeration is absolutely essential to clearing ponds.
the quickest way to clear a p>My backyard pond is failry new (this spring) and the water is always
What chemicals have you tried?
I have heard that big ponds do not have that problem, small ones do. I do not have a pond, however almost all of my neighbors do. Many of the smaller ponds have windmill pumps to aerate the water. They also add blue die to the water to make the water darker. The darker the water, the less the algae growth.
Next door stocked his pond with pickerel and other fish, but he does not eat them. It is cool to watch the kingfisher birds dive in to get their meals. His is a large man made pond about 20 feet deep and 150 feet wide.
Their are several businesses in my area that specialize in ponds. Like the previous poster check out a pond expert. If you live in Southeast Michigan I can email you the names of such businesses.
Enjoy Life ..... Dan
Green is a healthy sign. You probably have algae bloom due to high nitrogen. Wheat hay or fish can help, but really no need to be concerned.
Oops, that would be barley, not wheat. Also some plants such as anacharis will reduce algae, but that one can be invasive.
Barley straw is said to help. Fish just add more nutrients and increase the green load. fish dont eat the pea soup type algae, actually, koi and goldfish arent herbivores in general. Ingrid
On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:38:26 GMT, Phisherman wrote: Wheat hay or fish can help, but really no need to be
You need some floating plants that you can remove as they multiply, water lettuce, water hyacinth, duckweed , etc. Just try to pick one that isn't an invasive in your area. Let them use the nutrients and then remove them to your compost .
Sound advice!
We just added water lettuce and water hyacinth. Plants a crucial item . Filters those things we can't see. Just replaced my filter which is physical, charcoal and maybe bacterial an hour ago.
Bill a small concrete pond guy.
I'm in agreement with all the others suggesting more plants. A couple other suggestions: Minimize feeding of your fish. The most common cause of pea soup water is excess nutrients, caused by either / or too many fish, or overfeeding of fish. Most fish food is quite high in phosphates. Excess phosphates, along with nitrogen, and algae flourishes. If you already have a good number of plants, and still have lots of algae, another good thing to try is adding Potash to the pond. Buy a small bag of Muriate of Potash from you local garden center. It's very cheap. I add a small handfull to my roughly 1500 gallon pond every couple of weeks during the summer months. Very unscientific dosing method I use is, when the Red Stem Parrots Feather & Water Celery, or Hyacinths & Water Lettuce seem to be slowing in growth, or are not that nice deep dark green, time to add more potash. Higher plants typically need all 3 of the major nutrients to thrive. N,P,& K on a fertilizer bag. Algae, however, will thrive on only one or two macro-nutrients. A shortage of K, which is seldom high in a pond, will allow algae to take over. With a more balanced nutrient mix, the higher plants can out-compete with the algae for available N & P, and the result is clear water. I also periodically add a bit of Liquid Iron/Trace Element to the pond. You can buy high priced (& very diluted) trace mix from a pond or fish store, which comes with specific dosage instruction. I'd prefer my money to be in my own pocket, so I buy the quarts of Iron/trace concentrate from the garden center, and add a teaspoon or so at the same time I add potash. HTH
Add vegetation and more vegetation...had a customer give me a bunch of vegetation..parrots feather and a "grass" looking plant. In less than two weeks the water went from a "pea soup" to clear water.
Lar
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