Just signed in to this forum....hand built pond basically for Koi, but have a couple goldfish also. Algae is forming rapidly and am now trying to discover and locate sources for water plants. Have only a couple lily pads, but sources in this area are few and far between. Pond is approximat 2,000 gallons.
ALGAE CONTROL.....
- Thread starter CAGUY
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Welcome to our forum :wave:
With winter coming, I'd say your chances of finding pond plants are very slim, although Pet co. does sell pond plants in small numbers all year. And you might also find pond plants online.
With winter coming, I'd say your chances of finding pond plants are very slim, although Pet co. does sell pond plants in small numbers all year. And you might also find pond plants online.
Welcome! I'm not sure I would worry to much about it. As Wendy indicated it might be hard to find plants to start with. But with the temps dropping you should find that the algae won't be much of an issue. If you are getting green water, you might want to think about getting a UV if you don't already have one. If you have a UV it might be undersized if you are getting green water.
Algae growing on the sides and walls of the ponds is not a bad thing. It provides food for the fish in the winter when you stop feeding them. You probably should be stopping the feeding soon or cutting back depending on your water temperature. The algae on the walls also takes nutrients from the water that feed the single-celled floating algae that cause green water. So in that regard the wall and bottom algae work like adding plants. Even string algae is helpful at an early stage. But if it becomes a problem a toilet brush works great to remove a bunch of it when it gets bad.
Craig
Algae growing on the sides and walls of the ponds is not a bad thing. It provides food for the fish in the winter when you stop feeding them. You probably should be stopping the feeding soon or cutting back depending on your water temperature. The algae on the walls also takes nutrients from the water that feed the single-celled floating algae that cause green water. So in that regard the wall and bottom algae work like adding plants. Even string algae is helpful at an early stage. But if it becomes a problem a toilet brush works great to remove a bunch of it when it gets bad.
Craig
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You can spray algae with peroxide and it just turns white and dies .It does not harm the fish and just adds some oxygen to the water .I turn off my pumps spray my waterfall rocks and wait 15 to 20 minutes and turn pumps back on and after an hour or so rocks are clean .
crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
Welcome Caguy!! Nice to have ya.
I tend to be a windy, ramble'n guy, so bare with me.
Algae is nature's filtration system and very prehistoric plant so it does not take much at all for this plant to grow and thrive.
All you can do is choose what type of algae you want to have and these type of algae will likely starve the various nitrogens such as ammonia and nitrate and other stuff like phosphates and emit allelopathic chemicals to try to prevent the growth of other algae species. Quality of bio-filtration will make a big difference as well since algae often prefers to consume ammonia directly for food. I think the reason why streams are used is so that the algae you want is in the streams and stays out of your main pond. So, do not disturbe the algae that is not an eyesore and do disturb the algae that is an eyesore.
UV is helpful with killing anything that is free floating such as free floating pathogens, free floating bacteria (good and bad), free floating algae, and free floating spores. UV will only kill the stuff in the water of what is exposed to the UV light.
Once algae is established, it is tough to control. So, try to keep some algae in a stream or in your bio-filtration.
Eventually, the algae can become so thick that it increase the BOD (biological oxygen demand) so high that it kill all aquatic life. So, don't let your pond be a "rainforest" of algae.
I have read that hydrogen peroxide does work temporarily, but any free floating hydrogen peroxide will also kill the good and bad bacteria as well.
"pea green" algae and cyanobacterium algae (also called string algae, blanket weed, etc) are the most prevalent. "pea green" algae is free floating so it is easily neutralize with a properly installed UV; the UV must be properly installed otherwise its effectiveness is severely decreased. The cyanobacterium algae is actually a bacteria that becomes algae and this is why hydrogen peroxide works so good on it, but cyanobacterium becomes a self fertilizing plant once it becomes established. So, you may knock back the growth of the cyanobacterium, but you never will actually keep it "under check" until the phosphates and nitrogens is so little the algae will remain relatively small. UV will only kill the stuff in the water of what passes through it. UV will not kill anything if there is dead spots, or areas in the pond that has a very slow or nonexistant water current. The cyanobacterium spores will eventually land in your bio-filtration or around the small spaces of pots and rocks where the water current is quite slow. So, all you can do is hope you get some algae growth in your streams or bio-filtration or around/near/underneath the plants so that this algae can help to compete with other algae.
People will admit they are 100% algae free, but they really aren't algae free and the algae is clearly seen with very clear, very close and precises photos of the surface area around plant pots, rocks, etc.
It is understandable that algae becomes the biggest problem for beginners since you can't simply just buy a product at the store nor plant that "fixes" algae. Combating algae takes a multi-faceted attack of plants, filtration, water flow, and the eye pleasing algae.
In my area, pond stores don't start selling plants until the last freeze, which is around mid-April to first of May in my area.
I tend to be a windy, ramble'n guy, so bare with me.
Algae is nature's filtration system and very prehistoric plant so it does not take much at all for this plant to grow and thrive.
All you can do is choose what type of algae you want to have and these type of algae will likely starve the various nitrogens such as ammonia and nitrate and other stuff like phosphates and emit allelopathic chemicals to try to prevent the growth of other algae species. Quality of bio-filtration will make a big difference as well since algae often prefers to consume ammonia directly for food. I think the reason why streams are used is so that the algae you want is in the streams and stays out of your main pond. So, do not disturbe the algae that is not an eyesore and do disturb the algae that is an eyesore.
UV is helpful with killing anything that is free floating such as free floating pathogens, free floating bacteria (good and bad), free floating algae, and free floating spores. UV will only kill the stuff in the water of what is exposed to the UV light.
Once algae is established, it is tough to control. So, try to keep some algae in a stream or in your bio-filtration.
Eventually, the algae can become so thick that it increase the BOD (biological oxygen demand) so high that it kill all aquatic life. So, don't let your pond be a "rainforest" of algae.
I have read that hydrogen peroxide does work temporarily, but any free floating hydrogen peroxide will also kill the good and bad bacteria as well.
"pea green" algae and cyanobacterium algae (also called string algae, blanket weed, etc) are the most prevalent. "pea green" algae is free floating so it is easily neutralize with a properly installed UV; the UV must be properly installed otherwise its effectiveness is severely decreased. The cyanobacterium algae is actually a bacteria that becomes algae and this is why hydrogen peroxide works so good on it, but cyanobacterium becomes a self fertilizing plant once it becomes established. So, you may knock back the growth of the cyanobacterium, but you never will actually keep it "under check" until the phosphates and nitrogens is so little the algae will remain relatively small. UV will only kill the stuff in the water of what passes through it. UV will not kill anything if there is dead spots, or areas in the pond that has a very slow or nonexistant water current. The cyanobacterium spores will eventually land in your bio-filtration or around the small spaces of pots and rocks where the water current is quite slow. So, all you can do is hope you get some algae growth in your streams or bio-filtration or around/near/underneath the plants so that this algae can help to compete with other algae.
People will admit they are 100% algae free, but they really aren't algae free and the algae is clearly seen with very clear, very close and precises photos of the surface area around plant pots, rocks, etc.
It is understandable that algae becomes the biggest problem for beginners since you can't simply just buy a product at the store nor plant that "fixes" algae. Combating algae takes a multi-faceted attack of plants, filtration, water flow, and the eye pleasing algae.
In my area, pond stores don't start selling plants until the last freeze, which is around mid-April to first of May in my area.
Welcome to the Forum!
j.w
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Welcome! I wouldn't worry about it this time of year since "nature" is shutting things down for the season. Any interventions may or may not even work. Then when spring rolls around, you can start off by getting your water in good shape, adding plants, etc.
UV bulb in pump near bottom of pond solved my problem. The pump sucks the water in, kills whatever needs killing, and then sends it to a filter outside the pond.
fishin4cars
True friends just call me Larkin
I can tell you what NOT I can tell you what NOT to waste your money on. A Ion Gen. This is suppose to be better than a UV, simply put, It's a joke, only algae it slows down is string algae. and it can do it at the cost of the health of your koi. @$199 money better spent would be a UV. Personally, let nature take it's course or start building a bog filter. Algae in the pond is really the best food for the fish during the coldest part of winter anyway. If you still really need to get plants going check local petstores for Anachris. It's available for aquariums and will grow through the winter.
Hi CaGuy. :beerchug: