High pH

[GBBUDD]

That my dear is af had some circulation on THE SURFACE made sure you skimmer was working properly and a good flow to the skimmer. regular maintence daily maybe twice a day to start.
It looks like theres no algae where the movement of the air bubbles are . even getting a power head or two would help.

but that scum as you call it is a sign of lots of organics in the water. lack of circulation and a filter that is too small and possibly not fine enough to do the job.

how often do you clean the filter / what do you have for a filter.

i saw you said the pond was 12 years old . you may just beyond what that pond can handle with the filter you have and the flow you are providing

 

[GBBUDD]

That my dear is a pond the algae is a sign that you have a large amount of organics and little filtration to remove it and or circulation. if you had some circulation on THE SURFACE made sure you skimmer was working properly and a good flow to the skimmer. regular maintenance ,daily maybe twice a day to start.
It looks like there's no algae where the movement of the air bubbles are . even getting a power head or two would help.

but that scum as you call it is a sign of lots of organics in the water. lack of circulation and a filter that is too small and possibly not fine enough to do the job. That algae also sas that the pond is living up to it''s part and has created the surface algae to help block the light to help absorb the surplus and keep the pond from becoming a bog with move land mass then water.

How often do you clean the filter / what do you have for a filter.?

i saw you said the pond was 12 years old . you may just be beyond what that pond can handle with the filter you have and the flow you are providing.

sorry for the repeat i just noticed half the text was missing . i have got to get rig of the dang gaming key board way to sensitive

 

[Rabungalow]

Could you add a wetland bog to that hillside by the Taros and just let it run over the wall into the pond?

 

[CharlotteSC]

Thanks all, this was my first pond and I made several mistakes in construction - no inwall skimmer.

I have an in-pond Pondmaster mini skimmer with basket (no foam as it clogs too fast)

a Pondmag 9.5 pump hanging on the bottom of the skimmer

then water goes to a Oase Filto Clear Pressure filter systems with UV (it has those foam media pads - you can back wash to clean)

then water goes to the bottom of an Atlantic filto falls that is full of bio-balls media and fall back into pond.
I am 99% there is NO runoff water getting in the pond. I have about 6 goldfish that I have not been able to enjoy feeding for the last 2 years.

I don't understand where the organics are coming from if not simply the sun. I really don't want to shade - with the location a shade would just add to the eyesore that exists.

I have kept my pump size at this level because I hate loud waterfalls and it was a good size rated for my oase filter.
Is it time to tear this down?

The thing that perplexes me is that I have not changed my approach as well as I can understand and this floating algae has only become a problem in the last couple of years. What has changed? Darn if I know. Pond is beautiful on a rainy day.

I clean out the skimmer basket a couple of times a week or when it needs it. I backwash the oase filter weekly and rinse the bio balls in pond water every Spring.

 

[Jhn]

Sun isn’t a cause of your algae issues. As was mentioned excess nutrients/organics are always the root cause of excess algae. You aren’t overstocked with 6 goldfish in there no matter how big they are.

How much mulm/detritus is in the pond bottom? Is the pump still pumping as well as it was when it was new?

IMO, Filtration system is fine, you just need to up the circulation in the pond by another 1000 gallons per hour. In a pond of 1000 gallons, I would shoot for 2x the pond volume turnover per hour, so 2000 gallons, you are at least 1000 gallons short with 9.5 mag pump.

Also, looking at your pond, try faster growing plants that need to be weeded back more often, like water cress, parrots feather, water celery, forgetmenots, creeping Jenny, are a few that work well for me and are easy to pull out. If you haven’t yet, consider trying water lettuce and see how it does.

There are many ways to setup a successful pond, but there are a few keys that can’t be circumvented. Filtersystem be it an out of the box one or a diy bog, you need a way to remove excess nutrients from the water, be it through cleaning filter pads and canisters or pulling excess plants as they grow are both forms of this. Proper circulation 1.5-2x pond volume per hour and so it eliminates as many dead spots where crap can settle as possible. the smaller the pond the closer the circulation needs to be to the upper end. Your pond is fairly small, so circulation should be around 2x pond volume. Managing fish load whether it be size of fish or number of fish, to keep filter system from being over loaded. (IMO this isn’t your issue)

Things constantly change, just because something worked for awhile doesn’t mean it will continue to, don’t dwell on it used to or it has worked. It doesn’t anymore be it your pump getting old and slowing down, lack of cleaning of plant mulm from the pond bottom. Just focus on it being a problem to solve.

Ime plants are the great equalizer in keeping a pond and will hide many flaws to a point in a pond design or system be it in a bog or just in the pond proper. Choose the right kind of plants, logically the faster it grows the more nutrients it will consume in order to grow. Choose ones you can pull out easily, plant them bare root wedged between rocks, most of the plants I mentioned will just spread via runners just floating in the water.

 

[cas]

Pretty pond.

Does the algae ever clear up?
As mentioned above, surface movement will help. I'm sure I would have the same problem if my skimmer wasn't collecting it. I clean the skimmer every other day and I have a nice clump of the floating algae in it. But later in the season, I don't have a problem with the algae.

You mention that you didn't have this problem in previous years. I find that the pond is like gardening. Problems and successes change each year. Some times I have an algae bloom, sometimes I don't. Sometimes certain plants do well, sometimes they are stunted. Mother Nature. Gotta love her.

 

[CharlotteSC]

Thank you. I don't have hardly any muck on the pond bottom as I have Oase pond vac and I check the bottom several times a season. Just bought a new pump this spring so the 9.5 is doing what it is designed to do.

If I get a larger pump - will it be too much for my Oase filto clear...1600.

Water lettuce can't take the sun this pond gets.

 

[CharlotteSC]

Pretty pond.

Does the algae ever clear up?
As mentioned above, surface movement will help. I'm sure I would have the same problem if my skimmer wasn't collecting it. I clean the skimmer every other day and I have a nice clump of the floating algae in it. But later in the season, I don't have a problem with the algae.

You mention that you didn't have this problem in previous years. I find that the pond is like gardening. Problems and successes change each year. Some times I have an algae bloom, sometimes I don't. Sometimes certain plants do well, sometimes they are stunted. Mother Nature. Gotta love her.

I don't have the problem at all on rainy days or during the Winter. But once the water warms up and sun gets hot - it's floating skum all Summer. Likely, as previously mentioned my pump may not be strong enough to suck off the top - I dislike noisy water so that's why I don't have a large pump but I may have to rethink that.

 

[Jhn]

Thank you. I don't have hardly any muck on the pond bottom as I have Oase pond vac and I check the bottom several times a season. Just bought a new pump this spring so the 9.5 is doing what it is designed to do.

If I get a larger pump - will it be too much for my Oase filto clear...1600.

Water lettuce can't take the sun this pond gets.

Have one pump feed into the filter and the return just hide it in the rocks, put it in a spot where it can push the surface water towards the skimmer and another pump feed into your waterfall. This way you get the proper circulation without the noise.

The other plants I mentioned will do well in full sun.

 

[CharlotteSC]

Okay guys, my new pump came today - I decided to go with the pondmag 1800 GPH and if the waterfall is too busy for me I will divert some. I'm going to replace my tiny skimmer with my Cal Pump Pond Skimmer SK1 that has a slightly larger weir opening.

This is my boggle.

These skimmers and baskets have holes that are large enough to allow some debris to get into the impeller chamber. But if I try to put any type of filter media in there - they become clogged too fast.

So, I have been installing by hanging the pump on the bottom of the skimmer - this helps hold the skimmer down and if the flow slows, I can use long nose pliers to reach into the pump opening and remove some debris without having to take off the housing.
Is this normal? IF not, how do you keep the impeller from getting clogged?

Also, the skimmer has a 1" male something adapter and I need a 3/4" for my pump inlet. My husband did a work around last time we tried this (with the small pump) but we had to use metal because no plastic fittings were available. I would love to avoid this because it also makes it impossible for me to clean the impeller entrance with my pliers. Any ideas?

 

[magillilnb]

Thanks all, this was my first pond and I made several mistakes in construction - no inwall skimmer.

I have an in-pond Pondmaster mini skimmer with basket (no foam as it clogs too fast)

a Pondmag 9.5 pump hanging on the bottom of the skimmer

then water goes to a Oase Filto Clear Pressure filter systems with UV (it has those foam media pads - you can back wash to clean)

then water goes to the bottom of an Atlantic filto falls that is full of bio-balls media and fall back into pond.
I am 99% there is NO runoff water getting in the pond. I have about 6 goldfish that I have not been able to enjoy feeding for the last 2 years.

I don't understand where the organics are coming from if not simply the sun. I really don't want to shade - with the location a shade would just add to the eyesore that exists.

I have kept my pump size at this level because I hate loud waterfalls and it was a good size rated for my oase filter.
Is it time to tear this down?

The thing that perplexes me is that I have not changed my approach as well as I can understand and this floating algae has only become a problem in the last couple of years. What has changed? Darn if I know. Pond is beautiful on a rainy day.

I clean out the skimmer basket a couple of times a week or when it needs it. I backwash the oase filter weekly and rinse the bio balls in pond water every Spring.

My pond is 900 gallons and the waterfall I have doesn’t sound loud. It depends on how you have the waterfall set up. If you have it flowing over rocks it won’t be loud. If you have it shooting out into the pond it will be louder. Also, I don’t understand your aversion to a tree or too to provide some shade. Depending on what type of tree and where you plant it, the pond would only be shaded part of the time.
I have a straw bale tied to a rock which soaks up the algae. I switch it out with a new bale when it gets green.

 

[magillilnb]