Suspended Algae

[Gomer14]

My pond is a cloudy green color. I can barely see the bottom of it.I am assuming it suspended algae. It is about 1000 gallons in size. I am running a Sunterra 1250GPH Pump,a smaller pump for a aerator,and a Bio Filter,and lilypads The deepest part of my lower pond is about 18" deep. I hope to make it deeper next year. Pond parameters are about perfect. My question is should let my pump and filter clear the water by themselves or should I add some chemicals to the pond to try to clear the water? Is Tetra Pond Clarifier any good ? Or should i add some barley extract to the water?. The enclosed pics will give you a idea of what my pond looks like. The photos were taken about 3 years ago.

 

[vertigo72]

Short story: you need plants in there. A filter catches solids (dirt) and breaks down toxins produced by your fish, namely ammonia and nitrite and converts it in to fish safe nitrate. Nitrate however, is like plant fertilizer. If you have no plants absorbing those (and other minerals), then algae will. Its that simple.

You can eliminate floating algae with certain products or with an UV light, but that wont give you crystal clear water without plants. If it gets rid of the algae, you;ll get brown foaming water and some time later, almost certainly string algae or floating algae neither of which can be helped with UV. So UV is good, but only if in combination with plants. Chemicals, Id avoid, but they have the same effect anyhow.

If for some reason you cant or dont want to put plants in the pond, or run the water by a plant filter, then you willl need to do regular substantial water changes to get rid of the nitrates.

 

[Gomer14]

Thank you. Not shown in the photo of both pond are lily pads that I have growing in my lower pond. They usually cover about half of the lower pond by the time my pond season is over with. Will these help control the algae or should I buy some submerged water plants? Will putting some lily pads in my upper pond help also? I also have noticed that water striders are nonexistent in my pond as in previous years. Is this a coincidence with my water quality ?

.

 

[sissy]

your lillies should be able to help you keep the water clear .The algae in your pond is not really that bad I have seen worse .Barley helps I buy liquid barley and I also buy the lavender scented floating barley pads .I just added my floating plant ring to add floaters to the pond to help keep it clear .I got water lettuce and hyacinth floating in it and I put them in the top of my filter also

 

[vertigo72]

Thank you. Not shown in the photo of both pond are lily pads that I have growing in my lower pond. They usually cover about half of the lower pond by the time my pond season is over with. Will these help control the algae or should I buy some submerged water plants? Will putting some lily pads in my upper pond help also? I also have noticed that water striders are nonexistent in my pond as in previous years. Is this a coincidence with my water quality ?
.

lillies will help yes, though floating plants apparently are among the best to compete with algae. Water lettuce, water hycanths and the like. But if half the lower pond is covered by lillies, Id consider an UV light to break down the algae and let the existing plants remove the nutritients. Partial water changes and quilt batting in the filter can help accelerate the cleanup.

Do you have any fish in there?

@sissy, pics dont look too bad, but they are 3 years old :twisted:.

 

[addy1]

One of my little ponds (all fish free) in the stream got algae, the other 5 did not. The big pond is algae free.

I took a net full of tadpoles, 3 water hyacinths, one parrot feather tossed them in. Within 24 hours most of the algae is gone. This was that fine green slimy floating on the top of the water algae, might be string, but didn't feel like it. That pond had some small lilies starting but no real plant coverage. What a difference pretty quickly.

So if my pond I would get some plants and throw them in.

 

[Gomer14]

Thank you. I bought a water iris today and put it in my pond. We will see if anything changes. I forgot to mention also that my pond gets a lot of sunlight. We have had also a lot of rain here this spring. My local pet store suggested to me today to put a clarifier in the pond

 

[sissy]

I just got more plants for my pond and I 'm trying to protect them from the terror I call aggie .Funny out of all my fish she is the only one who rips plants apart .big witch .My pond is all sunlight but this year I put up a shade sail with metal conduit they use to run electric as I think it is going to be one hot summer after all this rain and now heard next week it is supposed to be in the 90's

 

[addy1]

Thank you. I bought a water iris today and put it in my pond. We will see if anything changes. I forgot to mention also that my pond gets a lot of sunlight. We have had also a lot of rain here this spring. My local pet store suggested to me today to put a clarifier in the pond

My stream and ponds are all full sun, no shade, south east side of the house on a slope. major sunlight.

 

[vertigo72]

Thank you. I bought a water iris today and put it in my pond. We will see if anything changes.

I think you are a bit optimistic here. A single iris isnt going to magically clean the pond. They are great plants to have in a pond, but its gonna take more. Do partial water changes and/or put quilt batting in the filter to get rid of as much algae as you can. Think of it as a fight over nutritions between algae and your other plants, as long as the water is green, algae is winning and you need to help the others.

 

[addy1]

gomer vertigo is right, I have bunches of different plants between the bog, stream and ponds. I don't even have a lot of the carpet algae on the sides of the pond, the bog is working too good.

 

[Gomer14]

Thank you. I figured I was being overly optimistic about the iris. I have a stupid question,but what exactly is quilt batting and if it is can I get this at my local craft store? We have had also very heavy rain here over this past weekend.

 

[addy1]

You can get it at walmart, kmart, most likely a craft store. It is what you put in quilts when making them.

Very fine filter material, you do need a net bag or something to contain it.

 

[Gomer14]

Thank you Should I use the batting in addition to the two filter pads,one is black while the the other is blue,that are already in my Sunterra Bio filter or on it own ?

 

[addy1]

Either or, if there is room in your filter it can go there ow on its own. Anywhere the water flows through it.