Algae on rocks

[kitty59e]

@pinion ponder, I have regular crocs that I wear outside in the garden and in the pond. I love them. :yellowbounce: We are sure enjoying our pond, we sit on the deck and just wait and watch for the fish to come out .

 

[j.w]

Now that you mention it I do have water shoes for boating.

 

[charleyd]

Get shoes with a felt bottom and you will not slip around. I wear them when I go flyfishing and they grip the algea covered rocks almost as good as dry shoes on dry rocks. Just make sure you have a pair dedicated to your pond as the felt can tranfer bacteria and parasites from one body of water to another.

 

[koiguy1969]

alge is a plant, it feeds on nitrates. nitrates are not nearly as bad as nitrites or ammonia, but they arent neccessarily good either. alge feeds on them so its serving a purpose. it helps in the ridding your pond of nitrates. its not neccessarily a sign of a healthy pond, but is a sign of natures working to obtain and maintain a healthy ecosystem. this is especially true in a man made "closed system" enviroment. its nature compensating for a lack of plants supplied by us. our fish dont mind alge, we do. they will eat it, spawn in it, hide in it, and even play in it.. theres no biofilter that will get rid of alge, even tho you may hear or read claims to such. the final product of even the best bio filter is nitrates, the better the filter the more nitrates will be produced. something has to eliminate these nitrates.so basically, if your pond is under planted or overstocked with fish, more alge forms to pick up the slack.

 

[pinon ponder]

@pinion ponder, I have regular crocs that I wear outside in the garden and in the pond. I love them. :yellowbounce: We are sure enjoying our pond, we sit on the deck and just wait and watch for the fish to come out .

Kitty, I had some crocs for gardening but found my feet hurt if I wore them for more than a couple of hours. I need something comfy cuz I often do marathon gardening sessions. lol I found some slip on Sketchers that I can wear for along time. Hmmm, maybe they're waterproof.

I know what you mean about enjoying the pond so much. I'm happy to be a pond addict.

 

[kitty59e]

I am having a new problem now, my water is very cloudy. It looks all green but when I put some water in a cup it looks clear. The deep part you can barely see the fish. What should I do?

 

[max384]

I'm new to ponds; I've only had mine built since spring, so take my advice for what it is. I bought Japanese trapdoor snails and they do an excellent job of keeping everything clean. They actually do too good of a job it seems. There is almost no algae anywhere, including the places where the liner is showing. I kinda wish some algae would grow there to cover it up more. There is a ton of algae on the rocks in my waterfall where the snails can't reach, so I am attributing the lack of algae in the pond to the snails. They are advertised as a live-bearing species, which cuts down on their rate of breeding. I put about 20 or so of them in and I've only seen a handful of baby snails since getting them. I also have it pretty heavily planted.

 

[sissy]

need to ask are your snails the black japenese trap door snails max384 .KItty are you getting a lot of rain or big changes in temps between night and day that could be causing your green water .I would check the water temps .All you can try to do is filter the fine stuff out more and I have heard alot of good things about snails

 

[kitty59e]

Thanks sissy, yes we have had big temperature changes at night. We did a water change and put bating in our filter box. It has cleared up alot. Seems to be getting back to normal now :yellowbounce: . I will test the water today. I am just so happy it is clearing :razz: .

 

[sissy]

the rains are great and the cooler days and nights but it reeks havoc on the pond water quality .That's why I say if I had it to do over again I would do a pondless waterfall it's a lot less worry and a heck of a lot less work

 

[kitty59e]

Yes it is alot of work but there is nothing like sitting on my deck and watching the fish in my pond and seeing and hearing my fountains. So relaxing :razz: .

 

[max384]

need to ask are your snails the black japenese trap door snails max384 .KItty are you getting a lot of rain or big changes in temps between night and day that could be causing your green water .I would check the water temps .All you can try to do is filter the fine stuff out more and I have heard alot of good things about snails

Yep. They're the black ones. I got them from here: http://www.pondkoi.com/trapdoor_snails.htm

 

[addy1]

Sissy you would miss your aggie...

Glad your water is clearing up kitty, it can be frustrating.

 

[JoaniePA]

Back to the conversation on water shoes, I was a Girl Scout leader for 13 years and my senior scouts and I did A LOT of backpacking. We always brought along a pair of woolen socks for those times when we had to cross a creek with our heavy packs. They do not slip on algae or moss, and you get good "feel" ability as you're moving around. Much less slippy than water shoes.