Blanket Weed help

[Gags]

I have a problem. The dreaded blanket weed. I don't have any in my pond but loads in the waterfall.

Is there anything I can do? removing it manually is just disturbing it and I can't see me removing it all...It would be impossible. Some of it is like a jelly and really hard to get out

The waterfall is has plenty of plants and 3 barley straw bails in the top reservoir.

Any help appreciated.

 

[bagsmom]

I am not sure, but I'm thinking your pond and bog plants are just getting going for the season. Once they start growing and taking up nutrients, perhaps the algae will settle down. I have also heard people talk about turning off the pump and spraying the waterfall rocks with peroxide, then letting it kill the plant build up. It apparently does it's thing and then fizzles out, so when you start up the waterfall later, it is inert and won't hurt anything. Read up on this first if you decide to try it. I've never done it before! Good luck!

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

@Gags I second @bagsmom thoughts that it should settle down with time. I personally wouldn't worry about it but that might just be me?

 

[Gags]

I cleaned the waterfall. I used a paint brush. Disturbed all the algae and muck from between the stones and let it hit the filter material I laid before entrance to the pond.

Added some Iris and more plants.

Pond is coming on nicely.

This tree wasn't helping. It was dripping sap and tiny seeds into the top reservoir. So I decided to cut it back.

here you can see the muck and goop and disturbed algea getting trapped by the polyester wadding...I replaced this 4 times!

It took about 45 mins to do, so I will keep an eye on it.

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

WOW @Gags that's a LOT of gunk!

 

[Lisak1]

String algae (or blanket algae or hair algae - pick your name) gets a bad name. It's not the enemy some make it out to be. It's like when your child has a fever - you recognize the fever as a symptom, but it's not the root problem. In this case your pond is the child and the algae is the fever - it's just a symptom. Address the symptom and the problem will resolve on it's own. Yes the fever can be annoying or troubling and can be treated, but if you don't get at the underlying cause it will just keep coming back unless you keep treating it. Same with the algae - you can kill it with chemicals, but it'll come back unless you fix what's allowing it to thrive.

What allows algae to grow in your pond? Nutrients. How can you control he nutrients? Fewer fish. Feed them less. Add more plants. All of the above. Some people will also add "give the pond some shade" to the list - I won't argue with that. But in the meantime, thank that green algae for doing it's part to keep your pond healthy for your fish. It's just another form of plant life after all.

Algae is extremely common in the spring before the plants have had a chance to start doing their part in your pond. A new pond is much more likely to "go green" in the spring. As your pond matures it will naturally happen less and less.

If the string algae gets really bad on your rocks and waterfall, you can use hydrogen peroxide as others have suggested. I use sodium percarbonate on my waterfall from time to time when it gets green - string algae loves running water - which breaks down into hydrogen peroxide and soda ash. You can buy it commercially as EcoBlast and other specialty pond formulations - buy it "generically" and save a bundle! But remember that the algae you kill will become food for more algae, so the more you can remove from the pond by hand first, the better the results will be.

 

[mgmine]

I got the idea from the helpful people on this forum and it really works.

 

[Gags]

Excellent video! Glad you managed to keep it under control!

 

[mgmine]

Excellent video! Glad you managed to keep it under control!

My water is very high in nutrients and I have to do this twice a season. Since I use water from a natural spring and a well and live next to a farm there isn't much I can do about it. The process works great and has never hurt the fish.

 

[Wammy]

I resort to manual removal from time to time. Certainly the full sun areas of my pond are more susceptible to string algae than the shaded areas.

For the stuff which is on the rocks I usually sprinkle some Laguna Pond Clean granules directly no it and it seems to kill it pretty well. I think water flow and oxygenation is important when using the granules. The Algae dies, floats to the top and my skimmer removes it. I don't use this product all the time, but when things bloom out of hand I find it helps quite a bit.



Wammy

 

[JamieB]

My water is very high in nutrients and I have to do this twice a season. Since I use water from a natural spring and a well and live next to a farm there isn't much I can do about it. The process works great and has never hurt the fish.

I’m on well water out in farm country too. I’ll be fighting that I’m sure once the new pond goes in. For now, I get the free floating kind that turn water into pea soup. Having a water polisher helps clear it up. To make a polisher, just set up a prefilter on a pump with quilt batting, it takes a lot of changing.

 

[zeuspaul]

How much hydrogen peroxide is too much? That looks like the algae growing in one of my mini ponds that I use to over winter plants (2 gal glass jar)

I did a little research and decided to try hydrogen peroxide. I am not sure of the best dose. The *pond* is so small I don't have to worry about cost. First I tried about 10 drops. I didn't see much response after a couple of days so I doubled the dose. Then a lot of the algae turned grey but I still wasn't satisfied with the kill. I tried a capful and most of the algae disappeared however still some remains.

How long does a dose remain active? The jar has a few baby lilies in it. How much hydrogen peroxide is too much for the lilies or other little plants (water lettuce)? So far the lilies look better now that the algae has been reduced.

 

[sissy]

On 5000 gallons I use a hole bottle sometimes ,but remember that algae growing is telling you it is trying to save your fish lives .Peroxide turns dorment after a few minutes exposed to light that is why the bottles have to be a dark brown

 

[addy1]

I used to put one liter per 1000 gallons in my AZ pond My stream would get string algae full.

 

[Lisak1]

You're on the right track - 3% peroxide is basically harmless, so just keep increasing your dose until you hit the sweet spot. It dissipates pretty quickly.