New pond overrun with algae! Help!

[slakker]

Has anyone tried barley straw? Apparently, barley straw bales (more effective if lavender straw is wove in) will also control green water algae as when it bio degrades, it produces hydrogen peroxide which eliminates algae as well. More natural, but less pretty with a baseball sized bundle floating in the water.

 

[Shannonpwns]

I read about the barley straw too, someone said they kept it in their waterfall tank so they didn't have to see it.

 

[slakker]

I read most say to weight it down with a rock too, as long as it's in oxygenated water...

 

[sissy]

It gets all slimy and not really worth the hassle to me .After I put a bale in my pond years ago I pulled it after 3 months the smell was bad and the reason i took it out koi rooted in it and all the loose stuff killed my pump and after that said no more

 

[Souper09]

I've used Algeafix from Pondcare - I don't work there, I treated my algae as the directions stated and it was bye bye algae.

But that all depends on what's going on with the rest of the pond, size of pump and filter. If the fish are not struggling to get O2 then can use the just wait advice, and monitor their activity.

 

[Shannonpwns]

The fish are fine, when I can see them at least haha. Mostly only at night with 2 flashlights can I even see through the water. There's rocks at the bottom of the pond, which they seem to just hide under during the day. Debating on whether to take the rocks out or not.

The pump is 1/5 hp, and pumps 1800 gallons per hour, so they should be fine. Plus I ordered an aeration thingy with 4 airstone outputs that should be here today or tomorrow, to get more o2 in the water at the bottom.

And my new filter media came today, so out with the old, in with the new! And I'm just reusing the old lava rocks from the front yard for the waterfall tank, considered getting bio balls...but the ones I want are 4-6 weeks delivery time and I'm impatient.

 

[sissy]

I had a hard time with bio balls wanting to float up .I guess if you put them in a bag your ok

 

[Shannonpwns]

Yea they're supposed to be in a mesh bag to keep them in place.

 

[dieselplower]

What are the bioballs supposed to do? To my knowledge the only thing that competes with algae for their food, nitrates mostly, is other plants. If you have a lot of waste from plants and fish you can filter it out of the pond before it is turned into nitrates, or you can hope for enough plants to starve the algae. Bioballs would be a place for the bugs that convert ammonia and nitrite.

 

[sissy]

I tried the bio balls because they claim they hold more good bacteria in all the openings and my pond was green all that year so I went back to my lava rock .I guess I know what works on my pond by now so stay with what works .I guess you have to try but sometimes the old stuff is more dependable

 

[Shannonpwns]

Yea I'm kinda skeptical about them, but some people claim they work. I cancelled my order and just cleaned up my lava rocks and stuck those in last week, ill stick with what I know works, rather than possibly waste money.

 

[dieselplower]

I tried the bio balls because they claim they hold more good bacteria in all the openings and my pond was green all that year so I went back to my lava rock .I guess I know what works on my pond by now so stay with what works .I guess you have to try but sometimes the old stuff is more dependable

Yes, that is true... The balls are designed with a large surface area so they can home a lot of good bacteria. However, to my knowledge, the bacteria do not consume nitrate, which I believe is one of the main contributors to the free floating algae that turn the water green.

 

[dieselplower]

Yea I'm kinda skeptical about them, but some people claim they work. I cancelled my order and just cleaned up my lava rocks and stuck those in last week, ill stick with what I know works, rather than possibly waste money.

They do work, in that they provide a home for the bacteria to live and consume ammonia and nitrite. I don't believe they consume nitrate though. Nitrate is the final product of the pond "cycle". When it gets too high, a water change is required.

 

[Shannonpwns]

I thought it was weird that my "pond master test kit" that I ordered didnt come with a nitrAte test. Does that not matter in ponds? I know it does in my fish tanks...

 

[dieselplower]

Yes it does matter in ponds as well. For whatever reason, ponds seem to build up nitrate more slowly than tanks. Could be that they are stocked less heavily or a number of other things I am probably clueless about.