15 replies to this topic

[Joe]

Hi, I'm here in western Oregon and have been reading about pond tints. My pond is very large and is clear of algea. Would putting tint in my pond help for future algea control now, or am I better off waiting till we start getting more warm and sunny days in a few months. I purchased a gallon of Aqua Shade so I have enough to last quite awhile. Thanks for any input.

[DrDave]

It may be safe but I am against anything that is not natural in a pond. Mine are clear and I don't use anything but a good bio filter and plants.

[Joe]

I would definitley like to stay natural. But my pond gets full sun almost all day and did get algea starting to build up last summer. Cleared up fine once the weather got cooler and the sun was lower. From what I've read the tint stops some of the wavelengths of light that the algea needs to grow. I hate to wait till after I've had a problem and then try to fix it. Appreciate the imput. Joe

[Joe]

Your right about the plants. I could use more of them and plan on adding more in the spring

[DrDave]

So add water hyacinth and water lettuce early and they will cover the pond before the summer sun.

[jason081180]

So when is a good time or temp to add water hyacinth and/or water lettuce?

[oldmarine]

When there is no more threat of frost

Happy ponding,

Rich

[DrDave]

Good answer. Water temps over 60 degrees F helps as well. When it gets above 65 F they will start taking off and spreading.

[oldmarine]

Last winter I kept water hyacinth in the pond well into November until the tops started to freeze. The only reason they did so well up thaat point was because I used a 150 watt heater in my skimmer/pre-filter. The water for the most part stayed up around 55* to 60* F until the night temps dropped down into the teens.Then I had to compost the hyacinths.

Happy ponding,

Rich

[DoDad]

I also live in western Oregon and had a problem with the sun. I use a square shade sail and that works great.In the morning I get a little sun through the side but the rest of the day it's shaded,
Now are we talking about single cell algae (pea soup) or string algae?

Joe said:

Hi, I'm here in western Oregon and have been reading about pond tints. My pond is very large and is clear of algea. Would putting tint in my pond help for future algea control now, or am I better off waiting till we start getting more warm and sunny days in a few months. I purchased a gallon of Aqua Shade so I have enough to last quite awhile. Thanks for any input.

[oldmarine]

DoDad,

That's a great idea. My pond is situated kind of between two houses, and I concidered putting up a nylon screen suspended between the two houses last summer when we had the temps up around the triple didgets.

Happy ponding,

Rich:coffeemug:

[DoDad]

Rich, I tried triangle shaped ones for a short while but sold them and went with the square one.

[koikeepr]

they used to sell them fairly inexpensively on www.overstock.com. If I remember, they were made by a company named Coolaroo or something like that.

[DoDad]

I got my Coolaroo on ebay.

[Joe]

Mostly string algae. I think my pond might be too large for that to work unless I put up a huge shade block