here's what I had, what I did...what's next step?

[radarcontact]

Real quick:

I got green algae in my pond last year. Tried chemicals, etc. Long story short, i gave up until this spring. I got a UVC and split my incoming line from my pump to my filter with it...like a bypass around a city. I figure that the UVC will get about 35-40% of the flow that way (it's NOT the path of least resistance).

Anyway, while im waiting for the UVC to do it's thing, should I try to remove all the sludge, or should I wait till the water is clear so I can see what I'm doing? I dropped the water level to about 1/3 of it's normal 2k gallons and it looks like pea soup! lol

I want to buy an aerator for it, gonna post now in classifieds...

 

[jupiter1]

Alot of variables to consider . Pond is 2500 gl . What size and type of filter ? Pump size and actual flow rate . Hours of direct sun light ? Bio load ?

Right filter set up and flow rate matched to the other factors should solve problem.

 

[sissy]

if you have fish you could hurt them not being able to see them and pea soup water sounds like more than just an algae problem do you test your water and what are the levels ..What kind of filter media do you have in your filter and how dirty is the bottom of the filter .It sounds like your filter is not doing it's job .Do you have plants in your pond do you put salt in your pond . Chemicals only resolve the problem for awhile and not solving your problem .I bought my air pump on ebay and it has 5.8 psi and was around 40 dollars with shipping and had it a couple of days so far and great .

 

[vertigo72]

Why would you do it as a bypass? Its perfectly ok to put the UV in line, in front of your filter. That will double your filtering capacity.

 

[sissy]

But water has to go through uv at a slower rate to be effective and if it goes through slow it will not be enough water for the filter to work and considering the amount of algae he has he really needs it to go through slow to kill some of it .For uv to really work all sights that sell uv say the same thing slower is better.The more time water is in contact with uv the better .I have a uv on my in house water filter and it says the same thing on the booklet I received with it and thats why it should be before the water storage tank than after as water going into the tank goes in slower but comes out to the house faster ,but that is a storage tank , it goes to filter then uv and then to tank then out to house and this uv is not one of those small tiny things used for ponds .

 

[bsr8129]

For UV you can have it flow quickly though if you are just killing algae, to kill other paristies and for house water you want it to flow slowly. I have a UV on my pond its on a seperate pump from the filter, i beleive the pump is rated at 700gal/hr. For my UV system, it goes through the UV and dumps right back into the pond, it will clear my pond in a day or two after it has started to go green.

When i first set up my pond it was pea soup green and couldnt see more then 6 inches if that into it, once the UV was running for about a week it was crystal clear.

Pond is approx 1200gal. Now if UV would only kill string algae i would be a happy ponder.

 

[fishin4cars]

If your sting algae is bad start by using barley extract, If it's not bad but still keeps coming back try Barely bales where there is a strong water current, (If you have a petsmart you can get two 1000 gallon bales for $12) I use two boxes a season, with your size pond one box per season may get you through since you really only need one bale at a time for your pond.I have one directly in the skimmer basket. Still doesn't get rid of it 100% but for what little I have now I'm 100% satisfied with it now, just a few spots sometines in the stream, Easy to remove, and some in the bog in the lily and watter lettuce, the larger plants choke it out as it gets warmer, they are in full growth now. About another two weeks and I will have enough water lettuce that I will need to start throwing some in the decomp pile.

 

[radarcontact]

...should I try to remove all the sludge, or should I wait till the water is clear so I can see what I'm doing?

I'll wait till the pond is clear.