Another Algae Question

[Sandy Wood]

Looking for some next step advice on the algae in my pond.

I have a 700 gallon water garden that was recently completely cleaned out. It was pretty overgrown with water lilies and lots of muck. I repotted about 6 water lilies in new pots and added some mosquito fish as well. Within a few weeks the water began greening up so I added some Aquascape Beneficial bacteria which cleaned up the green in about 2 weeks. Now it's started to get greener again and the bacteria doesn't seem to make much of a dent in the water clarity. The fish are fine and the lilies are starting to grow nicely. I live in Southern California so we get our share of sunlight so I'm guessing it's what might be causing the algae. Is there anything else I might do to clear up the water or should I just wait for the lilies to spread out and create more shade in the pond?

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[TheFishGuy]

Algae only grows when there are nutrients to enable that growth. Because of this your best bet will be to remove those nutrients. While just adding plants usually does the job, it sounds like you have a ton already, so we need to move onto something a bit more serious.


Enter….. Uplfow Wetland Filter! ( or bog as you will hear it around here ) to oversimplify it, water rises up through layers of gravel and plant roots. The gravel houses bacteria which breaks down the waste into something usable by plants. You then put plants into the gravel, and those plants uptake the nutrients and grow!

It may sound a little confusing, so here is a bog build thread so you can see the process that adding one may be like:

My add-on bog build

I finally did it! I joined the bog club! The bog is approximately 14 feet by 5 feet and about 12 inches deep. I know my 1600+ gallon pond has been overpopulated due to my fish reproductive rates! Last year the water never cleared up to my liking. I figured my two pressure filters and my...

www.gardenpondforum.com

And I know saying this won’t be popular, but if you really need to then a UV clarifier will clear the water right up. Only problem is it doesent remove the nutrients, so other types of algae tend to take over.

 

[Mmathis]

Do you have any fish other than the mosquito fish? Do you have any other plants besides the water lilies? How did you fertilize the water lilies?

 

[Sandy Wood]

No, we just have mosquito fish. And I just have the small water lilies that we fertilized with tablets when replanting them. I'm wondering if the fertilizer tablets are adding to the algae?

 

[TheFishGuy]

No, we just have mosquito fish. And I just have the small water lilies that we fertilized with tablets when replanting them. I'm wondering if the fertilizer tablets are adding to the algae?

If you planted them in the soil it really shouldn’t be a problem.

 

[GBBUDD]

Try duckweed during the spring and summer shading the pond . for that matter get a shade over the pond. A bog will certainly help

 

[Jhn]

A couple things. All day sun/shade does not matter in how much algae is in your pond if it is setup correctly. Circulation in your size pond would be shooting for 2x pond volume per hour, intake and return on opposite ends of the pond to eliminate dead spots. When you clean out your pond, which it sounds like it was needed ( nothing wrong with that, just don’t scrub it clean.) You are kind of starting from scratch with a new pond now, which is where you typically see the green water (coined as new pond syndrome). this is normal, your pond is balancing itself. Don’t fight against it, just let it be and if your pond is setup correctly ie proper fish load, circulation, balance of plants, the green water will clear on its own in a few weeks or so. Patience, the only thing that happens fast in keeping fish or any aquatic life are bad things, establishing and keeping balance in the pond takes time and some effort.

On to plant choice for nutrient removal/banking….Lilies aren’t the greatest choice for nutrient removal/banking. You want faster growing plants, perennials in most areas like water celery, water cress, forgetmenots, creeping Jenny, annual floaters like water lettuce, water hyacinths work well,to name a few. these grow fast and are easy to yank out ie the nutrient removal part, if you don’t remove/prune the plants you are really just nutrient banking, so if the plants die back nutrients go right back in the pond.

If you learn nothing else from here, come away with patience, the pond will clear if you follow the above suggestions and it will stay clear.

 

[poconojoe]

I don't think you mentioned your filtration.
What are you using as a filter?
Is it adequate for your setup?