The algae never quits

[Shdwdrgn]

This weekend while I had the pumps shut down to clean out the massive amount of string algae clogging them up, I used up four bottles of peroxide hosing down the waterfall and squirting it directly into the largest masses of algae in the water. The results were less than spectacular. While the waterfall itself is definitely much better, the algae in the pond appears to have not even noticed the treatment. I left the water standing for well over half an hour before turning the pumps back on again, so there was plenty of time for the peroxide to work.

I think my only other solution is to try and remove the nutrients. I thought with the large amount of lilies and hyacinths I had growing, this wouldn't be a problem, but the algae has proven me wrong for the last few years. Since we just got through a week of heavy rains and flood conditions, I need to wait awhile, however I think I'll try to clean out the gravel bed in the stream and drain out about half the water from the pond. Maybe I can hose down some of the algae while the water level is low. I'm just so sick of the stuff, it won't even die through the Winter when the pond is frozen over.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Removing the nutrients and identifying the source(s) is the long-term solution to any algae problem. Since filamentous algae (string) thrives on Phosphorus, rendering the Phosphorus unavailable is likely your best course of action until you can identify and eliminate (or at least control) the source. The use of PhosOut is the most non-toxic and non-intrusive way to accomplish this.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Well I would assume the source is all the fish in the pond. Would PhosOut be harmful to any other plants growing in the pond? There's no way to remove the plants without completely tearing down the pond.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

PhosOut is completely benign. It acts as a flocculant, binding the Phosphorus rendering it unuseable.

 

[CometKeith]

My string algae goes away every year once my pond cycles and I never use chemicals of any kind. This may sound funny but ....what is the state of your beneficial bacteria? I'm thinking that too many nutrients may be related to too many fish or fish food for the bb to handle and that your biofiltering is not sufficient for what you have in your pond.

 

[MitchM]

Well I would assume the source is all the fish in the pond. ..

Fish are not a source of phosphorous.
If you feed your fish, that is one source, if you fertilize your lilies, that would be another.
You need to bind the phosphorous, like Meyer suggests, or continue to export it by manually removing algae. You could also add more blooming plants.
Reduce the amount you feed your fish (If you do feed them) and reconsider what medium you have your lilies planted in.
I have never had string algae, but I don't feed my fish and don't have lilies.

 

[Lisak1]

Peroxide will work - but you'd need more than four bottles (I assume you meant the pint bottles?) for 1600 gallons to have any effect on that amount of algae. We use 8 quarts in our pond as a maintenance dose. In our pond it helps to clear the tannins from the water and make it clear again.

We only have algae issues when the spring weather is slow to warm up - the plants are slower to start, but the algae doesn't mind the cold and gets a head start... kind of like the weeds in my gardens! We use sodium percarbonate to clear up the waterfall and the edges around the pond where the algae gets the thickest. Within 24 hours the algae is all dead and gone and the pond is clear.

 

[DoDad]

I use Baquacil Oxidizer it's 27% hydrogen peroxide. I dose 1 cup for every 2000 gallons of water every other day for about a week or till string algae is gone.

 

[Marina Willison]

Hi Dear,

I think you should use a better treatment for this kind of algae and buy a good product for it.There are many string algae treatment product available in the market. I suggest you one of the best product ( Hydra ST- 703 ) it will clear and remove algae from your pond and give you good results.You can find this product on google and other sites easily....

 

[mrtrumpet]

My favorite is GreenClean. It is an amazing product and solved all the algae problems in my last pond/falls. I'm hoping that if I have problems with my new one it will work as well. Good luck!

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Hmm I never got a notice that there were so many replies in this thread! So to answer a few questions -- Yes I might be overfeeding my fish in the Summer, but certainly not through the Winter (the algae never goes away). I don't use a planting medium, the irises are tucked into large rocks stacked around the edge and their roots bind to the rocks. My dosage of peroxide was based on what others had suggested before.

So this weekend I hit one of the koi pond stores and related my problem. I told him I've tried everything and folks were suggesting phosphates, but he just kept going around with other ideas, then was getting frustrated because I kept turning down his ideas (dude, I've TRIED that already). He got to the point were he was giving me that look like I was one of those people who wasn't going to accept anything. Finally I just said I don't know, this is where I'm at, please just run the water tests and tell me if it shows us anything.

Oh look... phosphates are at 2.0 and climbing? Yeah, can I have that bottle of treatment now? Plus one of those phosphate test kits so I can watch it myself? Thanks.

In the meantime, we ordered some PhosOut from Amazon which is MUCH more concentrated than the stuff I got from the store. But I put in my initial dose yesterday afternoon, and within a couple hours there was a film on the surface of the bottom pond. I'll keep an eye on the algae and if it seems to be withering from the lack of phosphates, then I'll nuke it with another batch of peroxide. Eventually I'll be able to do a large water change on the pond, but the ground is still too wet right now.

Here's hoping that I finally see some progress...

 

[MitchM]

There shouldn't be any film on the water surface using a product like that.
I wonder what that's from.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I assumed it was some kind of proteins from the phosphates breaking down... but if not, it may have just been a sudden dusting of pollen off the blue spruce trees next door.

The algae seems a little pale today and appears to be clumping up in areas. Odd, I really didn't expect any rapid change, but I'll take it. Had to clean out the pumps today, so if it builds up again quickly it will be a good indication that the algae is really breaking down.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

The algae is definitely withering. My pumps were almost completely stopped on Tuesday from being clogged by algae, and this morning they were again running slowly. Also, I didn't realize before but the water seemed to be almost black and I couldn't see very deep. The last couple days it has had more of a muddy look to it, but seems to be clearing up. I did a lighter dose of the phosphate remover on Tuesday evening, and once again had a film on the surface of the lower pond within an hour. The phosphate was down to about 1.0ppm, hopefully it will continue to drop to 0.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

WOO-HOO! The phosphate levels have dropped down to about 0.25ppm. I'll flush out the filters today to try and help it a bit more, but the pond is definitely looking better this week.