frothy pale green bubbles on surface of pond - how to make it go away!

[djoliver1]

Hi everyone:
Last October I had a pond built in my backyard, which is on a sloping hill. It consists of a creek flowing out of the back corner of my yard, down a slope for about 20 feet over a small waterfall into the pond, which is an oval about 15 feet long, 10 feet wide and 3 - 4 feet deep (probably closer to 3 feet deep, but I didn't measure). Anyway, my pond guy told me I probably wouldn't need a uv light or filter because I don't get much sun in the backyard, which meant he didn't expect much algae. Now a couple months later I've seen that the ph is too basic and I'm gettting some frothy pale green bubbles on the surface of the water in the pond. Welcome to pond life.

My pond guy thought the high ph was caused by the portland cement in the creek portion of the water works, which will stop making the water basic once it finishes curing. The ph was initially off the chart, but is down to about 8.2 now, since we added some ph Down gradually over a couple weeks. We'll probably add more to gradually get it down to 7.2 to 7.6. The friend who tested the water's ph also tested it for the presence of nitrates, which were not present, so we know we aren't getting any run off from neighbor's yards. We put some pond algacide from home depot in the pond to see if that would make the froth bubbles go away, It didn't.

My pond guy looked at it and said it's definitely algae and he recommended putting a submersible UV light in-line with the pump, which pumps the water out of the pond and up to the top of the creek through an underground PVC pipe. He said he can guarantee that the water in the pond would clear up from this addition, but he couldn't guarantee that the algae in the creek would clear u.

I don't know what this uv light will look like, but I assume that it is not directly exposed to the water in the pond. It's rather the water pumped past the uv light inside an enclosed tube which kills the algae as it is pumped out of the pond and back up the top of the creek. So that made me wonder if such an arrangement would really kill the algae in the pond, since it really only kills the algae in the water pumped out of the pond, which could pick up new algae as it flows down through the creek, so that by the time it reaches the pond it's algae-laden again.

Sorry for the long intro, but my questions are: 1) do these bubbles in the attached photo look like algae? 2) how does one best get rid of it? Thanks for any suggestions you make in response to this post. I really don't want my pond to look like it is full of dirty dishwater or drainage from a washing machine!

Djoliver

 

[sissy]

you can use crushed oyster shells to stabilize your ph and you can get them at tractor supply .they use them to make chickens egg shells stronger .For green algae peroxide works great

 

[sissy]

alo solar salt for your pond at lowes or home depot in the blue bag .Are you or do you have fish yet and what kind of filter are you using.That algaecide stuff is not healthy for fish

 

[koiguy1969]

first off...do not add crushed oyster shells, until you get the ph where you want it. and know why its been off. oyster shells are a good buffer or "lock in" for ph, but they wont lower it. the color in the water looks to be tannins to me. that means dead plant matter, fallen leaves, etc built up in the pond are dyeing the water with their colors as they breakdown. and the foam is more than likely DOCs (dissolved organic compunds). coming from the same souces, as the tannins, and fish wastes,etc.. am i correct in assuming you've got a good bit of "muck" on the floor of your pond? if so this should be cleaned up. you might consider a flocculant to help clean up the water. flocculants bind together small particles in the water into larger clumps so the filter can more readily catch them. you may also want to put a mesh container with a good amount of fiberfill pillow stuffing in a point of good flowing water to aid in capturing the particles. single cell alge will gren up the water as well, and the mesh basket fiberfill set up can also quite effective at cleaning that up as well.

 

[djoliver1]

Hi:
Thanks for your responses. This pond has only been in existence since October, so I don't think there is that much organic material collected in it yet. We don't get that many leaves since the pond is surrounded by cypress trees, which are evergreen. I put about 30 very small gold fish into the pond though and don't know how many survived, so I don't know if that is a contributing factor. I don't have a filter at this point and I'm not bothered by the green water at all. It is just the frothy bubbles that annoy me. I tried adding hydrogen peroxide to lower the ph, but after adding 10 quarters to no effect, I switched to the ph Down, which I know is not healthy for fish, so I've been adding only little amounts at a time. I'm sure I can get the ph to go down, but it's the frothy bubbles that haven't responded to anything yet. Do you think a uv light would get rid of them?

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the forum !! Like Koiguy suggested (DOCs) It could be uneaten fish food or even a dead fish all can add up to bubbles

 

[djoliver1]

So to get rid of the foam, it sounds like you are recommending a filter more than a uv light, is that correct?

Then add flocculants to bind together small particles in the water into larger clumps so the filter can more readily catch them. I've never heard of flocculants before. Is that something I can buy on the internet? Is there a brand name you can recommend? Any particular filter you would recommend and how about the position of the filter? I think you know that the water is pumped from the pond underground to the top of the creek, where it flows back down into the pond. I suppose the filter could be the first thing the water goes through upon exiting the pond, or it could be the last thing before the water goes into the creek -- any difference?

Adding a mesh container with a good amount of fiberfill pillow stuffing -- that is something that would float on the top of the pond? We have a little waterfall, so are you suggesting the mesh container should be positioned under the waterfall as a point of good flowing water to aid in capturing the particles?

We don't feed these fish. We just let them find food in the pond. I have no idea what they eat, but they seem to be surviving. It's quite possible that some have died. They don't float to the top when dead. They sink to the bottom.

Do you think I should empty the pond, remove anything on the bottom (after only 3 months) and add new water?

Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

[sissy]

no you will be starting over then .I use quilt batting in my filter .You can get a net and slowly net the bottom and get the gunk out .I would get a filter running to clean it .

 

[HARO]

Just how does hydrogen peroxide lower the ph of water??? John

Hi:
Thanks for your responses. This pond has only been in existence since October, so I don't think there is that much organic material collected in it yet. We don't get that many leaves since the pond is surrounded by cypress trees, which are evergreen. I put about 30 very small gold fish into the pond though and don't know how many survived, so I don't know if that is a contributing factor. I don't have a filter at this point and I'm not bothered by the green water at all. It is just the frothy bubbles that annoy me. I tried adding hydrogen peroxide to lower the ph, but after adding 10 quarters to no effect, I switched to the ph Down, which I know is not healthy for fish, so I've been adding only little amounts at a time. I'm sure I can get the ph to go down, but it's the frothy bubbles that haven't responded to anything yet. Do you think a uv light would get rid of them?

 

[djoliver1]

I'm not sure of the details, but hydrogen peroxide is acidic, so it will shift the ph towards the lower end of the scale...

 

[sissy]

I use peroxide to keep any algae under control and to keep the rocks in my waterfall mostly algae free as my pond is in full sun .I have really never seen it do anything to my ph and only use baking soda to raise it and crushed oyster shellto stabilize it .I also use activated charcoal in my filters inside laundry bags from the dollar store

 

[djoliver1]

I was told by a pond guy I met that hydrogen peroxide can lower the ph of your pond without harming the fish. I put 8 quarts of it in my 500 gal pond without any apparent result. I just looked on Wikipedia, which says: "Pure hydrogen peroxide has a pH of 6.2; thus it is considered to be a weak acid. The pH can be as low as 4.5 when diluted at approximately 60%." I think the hydrogen peroxide you buy in a store is generally diluted to about 70%, so it makes sense that if you dump enough of it in your pond, it should effect the ph. I have no idea how much it would take though.

Why does it affect your algae Sissy? How does that work, chemically speaking?

 

[sissy]

It just turns it white and it floats away and that is what the quilt batting picks it all up in the filter .If you turn off your pump and spray the algae and wait about 15 minutes it just turns white and then you can see the reaction of how it gets rid of algae .I do not put algae directly in my pond as koi seem to not like it and I don't want to get rid of all the algae or have the peroxide effect my japenese trapdoor snails .I have learned a lot about ponds since starting my first one and you never stop learning .I test my water but also take my water to a local pet store I trust 100% and he gives me a whole print out on my water in my pond and I have never lost a fish yet ,well except the one that jumped out last spring .Several of my neighbors have ponds and have taken some of my baby fish and I help them tend to there ponds and they have yet to have a fish die on them .So I have been very lucky and joining this forum has really helped me learn a lot more .Plus make friends and see great pics of other peoples ponds and help a little .

 

[sissy]

Thats a lot of peroxide for 500 gallons .One quart last me 3 months and I only use it sparingly .I soak my folded quilt batting in it and spray my rocks with it sometimes .I have 2 filters 2 waterfalls and 13 fish and 2 of them are koi over 2 feet long .My water is clear and I use cheap harbor freight pumps

 

[djoliver1]

Wow Sissy. It's hard to see the waterfalls in your pond from that one photo, but I can see that the water is definitely very clear and those two koi are fantastic. How long have you had them and how big were they when you got them? Were they expensive?

Is the green plastic milk carton your filter with the activated charcoal in laundry bags inside it? It looks like that set-up is just sitting in the pond . I thought your filter would be outside the pond in a water-tight container with a pump hook up to pump the water through it and then back into the pond. No? Please explain. Where do you get the activated charcoal, by the way?

Are you using just regular hydrogen peroxide from a pharmacy (which is 70% solution, I think) or something else?

Thanks,
Dave