Ive had my pond for 10 yrs, it seems like every few yrs after they grow to 10 lbs or so i put to much algee destroyer in there and kill all my koi.

[don hollowell]

any idea on keeeping my pond pretty much algaee free. no more chemicals for me

 

[mrsclem]

Sorry to hear that. Lets start with how many gallons in your pond, type of filtration and number of koi. It could be the koi are overwhelming the filtration. The algaecides do seem to kill a lot of fish regardless of what the labels say.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Algaecides are really terrible things, they shouldn't be marketed to the pond hobby at all.

Some more info about your setup would be helpful, but I will give you one idea that will cure your issue. An upflow wetland filter! ( you will hear it referred to as a bog around here ) Basically water flowing up through pea gravel and plant roots, the pea gravel houses bacteria which break down the waste, and then the plants uptake that broken down waste. My favorite easy to follow bog build to look through is @poconojoe 's build. @addy1 also has a great article that digs deeper into the whole thing. I will link both below:

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

Edit: I cant find addy1's bog article, I am sure another kind soul will link it for you

 

[Jhn]

Edit: I cant find addy1's bog article, I am sure another kind soul will link it for you

Hers is stickied at the top of the pond construction section.

Agree stop the algaecide all it is doing is treating the symptom excess algae not the root cause excess nutrients. It kills the algae but the dying algae consumes oxygen as it dies (killing fish) then it just adds more nutrients back to the pond to start the process over again.

Another way if you don’t have space for a bog, is adding aloooot of plants to your pond. By a lot I mean covering more than half your pond. Ones that grow quickly and are easy to remove, are ideal as the quicker plants grow the more nutrients they consume. Quick growers are forgetmenots, creeping Jenny, water cress, water celery, parrots feather, to name a few. Irises can consume quite abit, but for me they always take a season or two to really get going.

The idea either way is using plants to outcompete the algae for available nutrients thus starving it out.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Adding on to what Jhn said, if they’re legal in your area water lettuce and hyacinth are great fast growing nutrient sucking floaters. I use them in my fish tanks to keep nitrates under control, and I am sure they could do the same in a pond!

 

[don hollowell]

Sorry to hear that. Lets start with how many gallons in your pond, type of filtration and number of koi. It could be the koi are overwhelming the filtration. The algaecides do seem to kill a lot of fish regardless of what the labels say.

my pond is 6500 gallons. i have a large bog filter. i had 2o large koi in it,, now i have 20 small butterfly koi in it..

Algaecides are really terrible things, they shouldn't be marketed to the pond hobby at all.

Some more info about your setup would be helpful, but I will give you one idea that will cure your issue. An upflow wetland filter! ( you will hear it referred to as a bog around here ) Basically water flowing up through pea gravel and plant roots, the pea gravel houses bacteria which break down the waste, and then the plants uptake that broken down waste. My favorite easy to follow bog build to look through is @poconojoe 's build. @addy1 also has a great article that digs deeper into the whole thing. I will link both below:

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

Edit: I cant find addy1's bog article, I am sure another kind soul will link it for you

i just installed a 4000 gallon bog fi;lter...hopefully that will resolye the problem

 

[don hollowell]

Algaecides are really terrible things, they shouldn't be marketed to the pond hobby at all.

Some more info about your setup would be helpful, but I will give you one idea that will cure your issue. An upflow wetland filter! ( you will hear it referred to as a bog around here ) Basically water flowing up through pea gravel and plant roots, the pea gravel houses bacteria which break down the waste, and then the plants uptake that broken down waste. My favorite easy to follow bog build to look through is @poconojoe 's build. @addy1 also has a great article that digs deeper into the whole thing. I will link both below:

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

Edit: I cant find addy1's bog article, I am sure another kind soul will link it for you

i do have the upflow bog filter,, its 4 tons of peagravel...i know we need more plants,,and i will have them this coming week. iam giving anything a chance,,or rather trying anything we can...thanks for the help

 

[Mmathis]

Your answer is “plants” and more plants (others will chime in on this one). But I’m curious about size of your pond, what type of filtration you have, and what your water parameter readings are? Also, where do you live? Algae is generally a sign that you have more nutrients in the water than your biofilter is able to process……IOW, it’s an issue of water quality.

Edited to add: it looks like you joined us about a year ago, have made a few posts, but you haven’t told us anything about yourself or your pond. So, hello and welcome, and please introduce yourself! We love to see pics of others’ ponds, you are apparently located in my zone — feel free to let us see your pond!

 

[TheFishGuy]

I am surprised that you are having these issues! It seems like you have a reasonable fish load and a great big filtration system.

You say you just installed it? How long has it been running?

 

[GBBUDD]

Don need some pictures they speak volumes.

two plants i highly recommend are water cress grows like a weed and easy to rip out.

Lotus as it is an nutrient pig loves to absorb all it can but it can get out of hand and is not as easy to control.

stay away from penny wart , any type of clover

where are you located

 

[don hollowell]

I am surprised that you are having these issues! It seems like you have a reasonable fish load and a great big filtration system.

You say you just installed it? How long has it been running?

the bog has been running about 3 months.. today i just incresed the water flow to the bog...iam sure that will solve the problem ,,, with more plants...iam searching for more plants now...i live in the shreveport la area...i think its area 5

 

[don hollowell]

Don need some pictures they speak volumes.

two plants i highly recommend are water cress grows like a weed and easy to rip out.

Lotus as it is an nutrient pig loves to absorb all it can but it can get out of hand and is not as easy to control.

stay away from penny wart , any type of clover

where are you located

i will post pics tomorrow....the wife has had me doing .....honey doos...severak days

 

[don hollowell]

i will post pics tomorrow....the wife has had me doing .....honey doos...severak days

my pond is 30 ft by 16 ft 2 to 5 ft deep

 

[GBBUDD]

i just incresed the water flow to the bog...iam sure that will solve the problem

Bogs work better on low flow not high how big a bog and haw many gph?

 

[GBBUDD]

that is a good sized pond similar to mine and i went opposite of you i loaded the heck out of the pond made the bio over load and crank. but it took into the second season before completely stabilizing