the dreaded green water

[JCschild]

hey guys,
so since building the pond late last summer i have been chasing waterfall leaks and only running the pump sporatically.
since chasing down most of the leaks i have been running it more frequently but not constant.
i have had no filter at all until recently.

3 ponds 800 gal with 3 waterfalls (down a hill) the first fall really was not much of one as the water came out the 2" pipe and mostly hit the water with only a little going on the falls.

just started to get some string algae but even with that i had very clear water (could see the writing on the EPDM)
i also had only 5 fish (got pretty big lately)

so i bought a filterfall 17" added lavarock as my media this made the "pipe effect" go away and quieted down the water
at the same time (a few days) i added 12 more fish pretty small ones really and in dont think we have feed them more than once.

suddenly my water is very green and the filter fall already needed cleaning.
we have had many hot days prior to this (last month or so really)

what gives?

 

[ComputerGuy]

By feeding the fish and adding more fish, you created an environment that fertilized the algae. Normal part of the pond cycle. Plus, the hotter it is, the more the algae likes it.

 

[Waterbug]

Do you still have string algae?

 

[JCschild]

pretty sure i got most if not all of it the other day when the water was still clear, but yesterday when i took a small broom to the bottom of one of the ponds i pulled up more.. of course i cant see the bottom anymore. starting to hate my pond. :-(

 

[addy1]

It will get better and better, takes time, don't hate it