stuck in green stage?

[micaaronfl76]

hello all,

last year i built 400-450 gallon pong in my backyard. this year i rehabed it becuase i used way too much river rock and the waterfall kinda sucked. when i filled it last year the pond went through a green stage and eventually went clear again- i did not use a uv light.

This year i drained hte pond cleaned it out with a hose and made the waterfall a stream and removed alot of the river rock and added some slate peices. i filled the pond and it looks great- very clear. I put back the two shubumkins and added water lillies, water hyacints. giant pennywort and a few other grasses.

well this year its been about 2 weeks and the pond is still in the green stage with no sign of improvement. 2 days ago i added a second pump(water fountain pump connected to a tetra 9 watt UV light.

no improvement...

the bottom rocks and stream are covered in algae and the pond does get alot of light (its up against my house with white siding. )

odd that i am having a problem this year, any ideas its been about 2-3 weeks in the green stage.

The weather here is pennsylvania has been kinda crazy though- got really warm like 80's then dipped again to 50's back to 80's and so on...

 

[micaaronfl76]

i took a video, and loaded into youtube:

before and after the green stage.

before

after

 

[addy1]

some of the green looks like that slimy green algae that likes to grow right now. I have some in my bog, which went away as the plants grew.
The water looks like the small cell green stuff that uv should kill, I never have that issue so will let others help you with it.

 

[micaaronfl76]

sorry here is the before video

 

[micaaronfl76]

thanks addy thats good to hear, do u think i need more plants? also last year when i built the pond it was in the middle to late summer so i dont know if that had anythiing to do with the green stage being shorter.

also do u think a seperate fountain pump with the uv is good, i assume it might take longer to clear, but i dont feel like ripping up the pond waterfall tubing as i had problems with leaks last year.

btw this is a aquascape pond system

 

[micaaronfl76]

i also didnt know if the kind of rock i used this year might be a problem - i used a few peices of slate instead of river rock.

 

[addy1]

I can't really help on uv light, I filter with only a bog, have no issues with green water, algae etc. Lots of plants.

Slate can disintegrate over time in water. I had a slate shower, the previous owners put in, the floor leaked, dropped the dry wall ceiling in the downstairs. If treated well or the less porous slate it might be fine. We have shale rock here it turns to dirt within a year if out in the air and rain. It might be causing some algae issues.

 

[micaaronfl76]

god i hope thats its no the slate i dont feel like replacing that. this kind of slate can be found around the mountains here i cant believe it would break down.

 

[Waterbug]

The 9 watt UV will clear a 450 gal pond in 2 to 4 days. The algae would actually be killed within a few hours, but it takes a couple of days for the dead algae to decompose and lose the green color.

However, the UV has to be installed correctly. I assume this is a new unit. I assume you can tell that the unit is actually on? The most common problem is pushing water through it too fast...that has no effect on algae.

You can reduce the GPH going to the UV by putting a ball valve between the pump an UV and turning down the valve until you get the flow you want. Normally you can just turn it down a bit by eye and wait 4 days to see if it clears, and if not, turn it down some more.

Or you can send the output to a 5 gal bucket and time how long it takes to fill and compute the GPH. Tthe manufacture should publish a GPH for the filter, hopefully they will have at least 2 numbers, one GPH for "clarifier" and a lower value for "sterilizer". Call them if you can't find it. I prefer GPH to be more in the sterilizer range especially for smaller ponds because the the unit is way big enough, so why not.

If turning down the flow doesn't work you need to check other things, like replacing the bulb. If it's a new unit, and you've done the flow measurements, the manufacturer should replace the bulb or do whatever they need to make it work.

Unlike virtually every other "fix" for green water UV is the only one that is 100% effective. If you want clear water, that's the place to focus.

 

[micaaronfl76]

waterbug,

thanks for the reply, i have a cheap home depot pump says it pushes 600 gph and the tetra uv light is brand new, says on the box good for ponds from 325 pgh to 1800 gph. yes at night the uv light is glowing.

i positioned this pump in the skimmer box next to the main pump, i didnt want to mess with the main pump as the uv light is not submersible and says to keep relatively dry so i didnt have an option the way my setup is.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

When you set up your pond last Summer, did you have a lot of plants you dropped right into the water? My experience has been that when the water reaches somewhere around 50 degrees, the algae is the first to bloom, so its common to see green water in the early Spring. Then as the temps get into the 60's, the other plants start blooming and suck up the excess nutrients from the water, starving off the algae. When you set up last year, your other plants may have taken off as fast as the algae was trying to grow, and prevented the green water from getting bad. Now here you are at the worst part of the season, after rebuilding your pond and forcing it to cycle from scratch again, so your plants are struggling with the combination of new water and colder temperatures, allowing the algae to bloom like crazy.

You cannot have *too many* plants in your pond. As many will attest to, the more plants you have, the cleaner your water will stay. I just set up a new pond last year, so this year the plants are well established and the only algae bloom I've seen so far was the water turning a brownish tea color for a few weeks, but just about the time I thought I might be seeing some green, the other plants took off and suddenly my water is crystal clear. Compare that to last year, when I filled up the pond in May and had very few plants in the water... my water turned bright green for a good 4-6 weeks before everything started clearing up. I think the only reason it finally cleared up was because during that whole period I was continuing to add more plants to my new pond.

If your UV filter doesn't do the trick, you may simply have to wait it out. Once the other plants get established, they'll help clear up the water, but if in doubt, more plants are always good!

 

[Waterbug]

the tetra uv light is brand new, says on the box good for ponds from 325 pgh to 1800 gph.

That doesn't sound right. Are you sure it doesn't say "for pond from 325 gals to 1800 gals"? GPH is gallons per hour. At the risk of being chastised again by koiguy I'm going to go out on a limb and say Tetra doesn't publish the GPH rate. You'd have to contact them for the info or try and find it some place. Or just try turning down the flow with a ball valve.

I don't I mentioned this earlier...it doesn't matter at all if the UV is driven by a separate pump. As long as the out flow isn't near the inflow. You don't want the same basic water to keep cycling through the filter.

If your UV filter doesn't do the trick

It will do the trick.

 

[Waterbug]

Here's a pretty good video on UV filters.

 

[micaaronfl76]

shdydr

When you set up your pond last Summer, did you have a lot of plants you dropped right into the water? My experience has been that when the water reaches somewhere around 50 degrees, the algae is the first to bloom, so its common to see green water in the early Spring. Then as the temps get into the 60's, the other plants start blooming and suck up the excess nutrients from the water, starving off the algae. When you set up last year, your other plants may have taken off as fast as the algae was trying to grow, and prevented the green water from getting bad. Now here you are at the worst part of the season, after rebuilding your pond and forcing it to cycle from scratch again, so your plants are struggling with the combination of new water and colder temperatures, allowing the algae to bloom like crazy.

You cannot have *too many* plants in your pond. As many will attest to, the more plants you have, the cleaner your water will stay. I just set up a new pond last year, so this year the plants are well established and the only algae bloom I've seen so far was the water turning a brownish tea color for a few weeks, but just about the time I thought I might be seeing some green, the other plants took off and suddenly my water is crystal clear. Compare that to last year, when I filled up the pond in May and had very few plants in the water... my water turned bright green for a good 4-6 weeks before everything started clearing up. I think the only reason it finally cleared up was because during that whole period I was continuing to add more plants to my new pond.

If your UV filter doesn't do the trick, you may simply have to wait it out. Once the other plants get established, they'll help clear up the water, but if in doubt, more plants are always good!

last year all i added was two lillies and a few water lettuce, but i cant remember if i added them before or after the green stage. i do know it was a week or two before i even added the lillies and a few water lettuce.

this year i added the water lillies and a few water hyacinths and a dwarf umbrella within a week of filling and now i have added more water hyacinths a dwarf papyrus, a giant pennywort, 2 snails and like i said before my shubumkins from last year. The lillies are starting to come to the surface now and the water hyacinths are blooming a bit (off hand do they need warm water to multiply? mine havent done so and i was told this stuff should take off like a weed.

also the temps here have been back and forth almost went down to freezing the other night and the pond temp looks to be around 60-65 degrees, now it looks like it will go back to the mid 80's by the end of the week. when i initially filled the tank it was hot for around here mid 70's 80's and now the temp took a dive and look to be rebounding.

 

[micaaronfl76]

That doesn't sound right. Are you sure it doesn't say "for pond from 325 gals to 1800 gals"? GPH is gallons per hour. At the risk of being chastised again by koiguy I'm going to go out on a limb and say Tetra doesn't publish the GPH rate. You'd have to contact them for the info or try and find it some place. Or just try turning down the flow with a ball valve. I don't I mentioned this earlier...it doesn't matter at all if the UV is driven by a separate pump. As long as the out flow isn't near the inflow. You don't want the same basic water to keep cycling through the filter. It will do the trick.

waterbug thanks on the box it says for ponds up to 1900gph the pump i am using says max 600 gallons. should i still call tetra and if it is max 1900 for the uv should i bother getting a ball valve if its well below the 1900 mark?
yes the intake is in the skimmer box and it flows back out into the main pond a few feet away.

thanks for all the help. btw will the uv light clear the algae off the stream rocks? eventually?