Algae

[nemo2]

Hi all,

Sorry to see religous types are trying to take over this newsgroup,
but I hope all true ponders will continue to post.

However, I have a pond about ~600 gallons that is 21 months old, built
in July 2003. In 2003 I didn't have any problems , but in 2004 I was
plagued with what I believe was string algea. I tried some chemical
cures, but they didn't really work. Now early 2005 when the
temperatures are still fairly low (UK temps 5 - 10 degrees C) I seem
to have an algea problem developing. I don't really want to go through
the problems I had last year so I'm considering 2 options, the first
is UV light and the second is barley straw (where can you buy it in
UK?)

Pond guessitmated (I know there's no such word) to be about 600-700
gallons, 12 green tench and 25 golden rudd. At least I hope as I have
a heron visit several times a week, but I believe the pond is designed
to protect the fish, i.e. no shallow banks and over 3 foot deep in the
middle.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Regards

nemo2

[kathy]

Hi Nemo,

You are having single cell algae problems, green
water?

You may have too many fish.
I looked up green tench and golden rudd online and
the tench look like they get large, not sure of the
rudd. Larger fish provide more fish waste for the algae
to feed upon.

But I would
- reduce the number of fish
- clean the pond of any muck, dead plants, if needed
- build a filter that runs the water through plants

I would also consider an UltraViolet filter if you can
afford it. (I don't have one but others really like them)
They won't work on string algae though.

I've heard of barley straw, but also never tried it.

My keys to clear water are low fish stock, low fish
feeding and plant filtering.

Good luck!
kathy

[~Roy~]

Well I keep my 1.65 mil gal natural pond pretty well free of algae
with baraclear-80 which is nothing more than common alum bonded with
bentonite clay in pellet form. I use powdered alum in my holding tanks
and outside aquariums with good results. It will make the water cloudy
since its a powder, but it settles out within a few hours just fine.
The pelleted form Baraclear does not cloud water and sinks right to
the bottom, but I did not have sufficient amount of pelleted form on
hand so I tried just the plain powdered alum and it works just fine,
except for initial clouding. And contrary to what you hear alum is not
harmfull to fish any more than any thing else is if its used in the
proper proportions. I would think you can buy alum in any pharmacy in
the UK or anywhere else in the world.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:08:24 +0000, nemo2 > wrote:

>===<>Hi all,
>===<>
>===<>Sorry to see religous types are trying to take over this newsgroup,
>===<>but I hope all true ponders will continue to post.
>===<>
>===<>However, I have a pond about ~600 gallons that is 21 months old, built
>===<>in July 2003. In 2003 I didn't have any problems , but in 2004 I was
>===<>plagued with what I believe was string algea. I tried some chemical
>===<>cures, but they didn't really work. Now early 2005 when the
>===<>temperatures are still fairly low (UK temps 5 - 10 degrees C) I seem
>===<>to have an algea problem developing. I don't really want to go through
>===<>the problems I had last year so I'm considering 2 options, the first
>===<>is UV light and the second is barley straw (where can you buy it in
>===<>UK?)
>===<>
>===<>Pond guessitmated (I know there's no such word) to be about 600-700
>===<>gallons, 12 green tench and 25 golden rudd. At least I hope as I have
>===<>a heron visit several times a week, but I believe the pond is designed
>===<>to protect the fish, i.e. no shallow banks and over 3 foot deep in the
>===<>middle.
>===<>
>===<>Any suggestions appreciated.
>===<>
>===<>Regards
>===<>
>===<>nemo2


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

[Yorkshire Pudding]

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:08:24 +0000, nemo2 > wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>Sorry to see religous types are trying to take over this newsgroup,
>but I hope all true ponders will continue to post.
>
>However, I have a pond about ~600 gallons that is 21 months old, built
>in July 2003. In 2003 I didn't have any problems , but in 2004 I was
>plagued with what I believe was string algea. I tried some chemical
>cures, but they didn't really work. Now early 2005 when the
>temperatures are still fairly low (UK temps 5 - 10 degrees C) I seem
>to have an algea problem developing. I don't really want to go through
>the problems I had last year so I'm considering 2 options, the first
>is UV light and the second is barley straw (where can you buy it in
>UK?)
>
>Pond guessitmated (I know there's no such word) to be about 600-700
>gallons, 12 green tench and 25 golden rudd. At least I hope as I have
>a heron visit several times a week, but I believe the pond is designed
>to protect the fish, i.e. no shallow banks and over 3 foot deep in the
>middle.
>
>Any suggestions appreciated.
>
>Regards
>
>nemo2

Got an approximately 100 gallon pond, currentlly inhabited by 2
fantails and 2 golden tench, over the last couple of days 6 "pairs" of
frogs have been seen. But fortunately as yet I haven't had an
infestation of hypocritical, child murdering Jehovahs Witnesses.
They don't seem to come to my door for some strange reason, couldn't
possibly be anything to do with me flashing my blood/organ donor card
at them when they call could it?

Howard
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/otters/Fish.htm

ICQ: 321716099

[Benign Vanilla]

"~Roy~" > wrote in message
...
> Well I keep my 1.65 mil gal natural pond
<SNIP>


YOUR WHAT!?!??!?!?!?

HOW MANY GALLONS?


--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
http://www.iheartmypond.com
Help IHeartMyPond.com, by doing all of your eBay shopping via our
eBay Affiliate Link: http://www.kqzyfj.com/click-1609574-10357516.
It doesn't cost you anything, but an extra click!

[~Roy~]

Your what what?????????????????

Thats what I said. 1.65 MILLION GALLONS is what my pond
contains.............sounds like a lot of water but its not a lot for
the average sized natural ponds normally found around here.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 20:16:40 -0500, "Benign Vanilla"
> wrote:

>===<>
>===<>"~Roy~" > wrote in message
...
>===<>> Well I keep my 1.65 mil gal natural pond
>===<><SNIP>
>===<>
>===<>
>===<>YOUR WHAT!?!??!?!?!?
>===<>
>===<>HOW MANY GALLONS?


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

[Benign Vanilla]

"~Roy~" > wrote in message
...
> Your what what?????????????????
>
> Thats what I said. 1.65 MILLION GALLONS is what my pond
> contains.............sounds like a lot of water but its not a lot for
> the average sized natural ponds normally found around here.

<snip>

In my book, you gots you a lake. :)

How many acres is it? Depth? How do you filter it?


--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
http://www.iheartmypond.com
Help IHeartMyPond.com, by doing all of your eBay shopping via our
eBay Affiliate Link: http://www.kqzyfj.com/click-1609574-10357516.
It doesn't cost you anything, but an extra click!

[Joe Williams]

I get my straw on E-bay

[~Roy~]

On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 08:57:52 -0500, "Benign Vanilla"
> wrote:

>===<>
>===<>"~Roy~" > wrote in message
...
>===<>> Your what what?????????????????
>===<>>
>===<>> Thats what I said. 1.65 MILLION GALLONS is what my pond
>===<>> contains.............sounds like a lot of water but its not a lot for
>===<>> the average sized natural ponds normally found around here.
>===<>
>===<><snip>
>===<>
>===<>In my book, you gots you a lake. :)
>===<>
>===<>How many acres is it? Depth? How do you filter it?

Depth varies up to 21+ feet deep. its not filtered, just
aerated.........covers better than 1 acre but it varies from time to
time as I am always increasing my ponds boundaries and changing
things. Banks range from tapering from 0" to banks that just drop off
down to 5' of more. I just finished raiseing the pond level an
additional 10 inches, which in turn changes its boundaries yet again.
Someday, I'll get it where I want it.


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

[Stephen Henning]

(Joe Williams) wrote:

> I get my straw on E-bay

I get my barley straw at Ace Hardware (Weaver's in Fleetwood, PA).

--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman

[nemo2]

On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:28:22 GMT, (~Roy~) wrote:

>On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 08:57:52 -0500, "Benign Vanilla"
> wrote:
>
>>===<>
>>===<>"~Roy~" > wrote in message
...
>>===<>> Your what what?????????????????
>>===<>>
>>===<>> Thats what I said. 1.65 MILLION GALLONS is what my pond
>>===<>> contains.............sounds like a lot of water but its not a lot for
>>===<>> the average sized natural ponds normally found around here.
>>===<>
>>===<><snip>
>>===<>
>>===<>In my book, you gots you a lake. :)
>>===<>
>>===<>How many acres is it? Depth? How do you filter it?
>
>Depth varies up to 21+ feet deep. its not filtered, just
>aerated.........covers better than 1 acre but it varies from time to
>time as I am always increasing my ponds boundaries and changing
>things. Banks range from tapering from 0" to banks that just drop off
>down to 5' of more. I just finished raiseing the pond level an
>additional 10 inches, which in turn changes its boundaries yet again.
>Someday, I'll get it where I want it.
>
>
>==============================================
>Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

Don't know about my pond being green, but I certainly am with envy.

Thanks for the response I get back when I've had time to read them and
let you know what I've tried and what luck I've had.

Regards

nemo2

[nemo2]

On 16 Mar 2005 15:23:26 -0800, "kathy" > wrote:

>Hi Nemo,
>
>You are having single cell algae problems, green
>water?
>
>You may have too many fish.
>I looked up green tench and golden rudd online and
>the tench look like they get large, not sure of the
>rudd. Larger fish provide more fish waste for the algae
>to feed upon.
>
>But I would
>- reduce the number of fish
>- clean the pond of any muck, dead plants, if needed
>- build a filter that runs the water through plants
>
>I would also consider an UltraViolet filter if you can
>afford it. (I don't have one but others really like them)
>They won't work on string algae though.
>
>I've heard of barley straw, but also never tried it.
>
>My keys to clear water are low fish stock, low fish
>feeding and plant filtering.
>
>Good luck!
>kathy
Hi Kathy,

You may be right, but they only small at the moment and I would like
to keep them as you don't see them too often especially the tench. My
brother has a slightly larger pond, but a lot more golden rudd (no
tench) and he hasn't got the same problem. Neverless I will bear your
comment in mine and try it if all else fails.

Regards

nemo2

[nemo2]

On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:22:35 +0000, Yorkshire Pudding <> wrote:

>> snipped

>Got an approximately 100 gallon pond, currentlly inhabited by 2
>fantails and 2 golden tench, over the last couple of days 6 "pairs" of
>frogs have been seen. But fortunately as yet I haven't had an
>infestation of hypocritical, child murdering Jehovahs Witnesses.
>They don't seem to come to my door for some strange reason, couldn't
>possibly be anything to do with me flashing my blood/organ donor card
>at them when they call could it?
>
>Howard
>http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/otters/Fish.htm
>
>ICQ: 321716099

Howard,

Duh, I meant in this newsgroup (yeah I know I'm being wound up, but
I's envious of Howard's sense of humour I'm even more envious of Roy's
pond!!). I trust that you are a blood donor as that something I've
done for more years than I care to remember.

Anyrate, thanks for a bit of relief from worrying about my pond.

Regards

nemo2

[nemo2]

On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 10:32:44 -0500, Stephen Henning >
wrote:

(Joe Williams) wrote:
>
>> I get my straw on E-bay
>
>I get my barley straw at Ace Hardware (Weaver's in Fleetwood, PA).

That's quite away for me to travel to Fleetwood, PA so eBay might be a
better bet. I meant to mention that I'm in the UK not far from the
Japeneese Koi Carp Center in Bedfordshire, but I've never seen barley
straw there; maybe more moey in chemical solutions! That's a bit
unfair as I've always found friendly and helpful, but I've still got
an algea and green water problem.

I meant mention that when I measure the water quality there's nothing
that appears to be out of order (not measured it since last summer).

When you use barley straw how do you put it in the water and how much
do you have to use? Could I go to a farmer and just ask him for some,
we very rural here but it's the wrong time of year?

Regards

nemo2

[Yorkshire Pudding]

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 20:16:40 -0500, "Benign Vanilla"
> wrote:

>
>"~Roy~" > wrote in message
...
>> Well I keep my 1.65 mil gal natural pond
><SNIP>
>
>
>YOUR WHAT!?!??!?!?!?
>
>HOW MANY GALLONS?

Nah, I fink you've got it wrong, it is in fact a 1.65 millilitre pond,
probably occupied by amoeba, rotifers and other single celled
organisms, best viewed in the early evening under the 300 times
magnification of a microscope. Occaisional visitors to the pond
include flatworms and kippers.
Sorry for the sarcasm, no offence intended.
Seriously though, would there be any chance of a link to some photos
please.

TIA
Howard
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/otters/Fish.htm

ICQ: 321716099

[~Roy~]

Well I would have at one time, however now, with a few individuals who
are notorious to email bombs and stirring up- problems I prefer to not
advertise my site since the last episode I had with one certain
individual and threatening emails.......If its worth your trouble you
can always do a google search back around sept 04 or so and you can
probably find a link to it, but like I said, at the present time, I
prefer not to post any links.

If there is an email contact on your website, I'll send you a link to
my website that way..........

Its nothing fancy, just a hole with lots of water and a few dodads
around.....hopefully this year with all the Iris and other plants I
have in it will look a lot better than it has in years past.



On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 00:10:19 +0000, Yorkshire Pudding <> wrote:

>===<>On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 20:16:40 -0500, "Benign Vanilla"
> wrote:
>===<>
>===<>>
>===<>>"~Roy~" > wrote in message
...
>===<>>> Well I keep my 1.65 mil gal natural pond
>===<>><SNIP>
>===<>>
>===<>>
>===<>>YOUR WHAT!?!??!?!?!?
>===<>>
>===<>>HOW MANY GALLONS?
>===<>
>===<>Nah, I fink you've got it wrong, it is in fact a 1.65 millilitre pond,
>===<>probably occupied by amoeba, rotifers and other single celled
>===<>organisms, best viewed in the early evening under the 300 times
>===<>magnification of a microscope. Occaisional visitors to the pond
>===<>include flatworms and kippers.
>===<>Sorry for the sarcasm, no offence intended.
>===<>Seriously though, would there be any chance of a link to some photos
>===<>please.
>===<>
>===<>TIA
>===<>Howard
>===<>http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/otters/Fish.htm
>===<>
>===<>ICQ: 321716099


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

[Yorkshire Pudding]

On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 01:10:08 GMT, (~Roy~) wrote:

>
>
>Well I would have at one time, however now, with a few individuals who
>are notorious to email bombs and stirring up- problems I prefer to not
>advertise my site since the last episode I had with one certain
>individual and threatening emails.......If its worth your trouble you
>can always do a google search back around sept 04 or so and you can
>probably find a link to it, but like I said, at the present time, I
>prefer not to post any links.
>
>If there is an email contact on your website, I'll send you a link to
>my website that way..........
>
>Its nothing fancy, just a hole with lots of water and a few dodads
>around.....hopefully this year with all the Iris and other plants I
>have in it will look a lot better than it has in years past.
>
Still in the process of building our website, but thanks for reminding
me to make more of an effort on it. I'll put a temporary contact
address on it until I figure out how to stick it on a button to open
Outlook. Many thanks for your reply Roy and I look forward to seeing
your website with lots of water and a few doodads around hehehe.
Sorry, just the Yorkshire sense of humour showing through again.
Catch you later mate,

Howard
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/otters/Fish.htm

ICQ: 321716099

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

>I meant mention that when I measure the water quality there's nothing
>that appears to be out of order (not measured it since last summer).

What tests are you performing and what are the results? Besides ammonia &
nitrite, what's the pH and KH? Water temp? ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

[nemo2]

On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 23:01:57 -0800, ~ jan JJsPond.us
> wrote:

>>I meant mention that when I measure the water quality there's nothing
>>that appears to be out of order (not measured it since last summer).
>
>What tests are you performing and what are the results? Besides ammonia &
>nitrite, what's the pH and KH? Water temp? ~ jan
>
>
>See my ponds and filter design:
>http://users.owt.com/jjspond/
>
> ~Keep 'em Wet!~
> Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
> To e-mail see website
Hi Jan,

I haven't run a test this year yet, but when I was having the problem
last year pH was neutral and absolutely no trace of anything. I
brought a pond vac today gave the pond a good clean so I let it settle
and then run a water test and post the results here.

Not sure what the water temperature is, but I was getting some stones
from the bottom of the pond and my arm was freezing. Seriously, I'm in
the UK and the air temperature has been in the high 60's degrees F for
the last couple of days, but before the week before the pond was
frozen. I did see my fish swimming around which was nice as I said
earlier that a heron is a frequent visitor.

regards

nemo2

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

>On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 21:18:40 +0000, nemo2 > wrote:

>>What tests are you performing and what are the results? Besides ammonia &
>>nitrite, what's the pH and KH? Water temp? ~ jan
>>
>I haven't run a test this year yet, but when I was having the problem
>last year pH was neutral and absolutely no trace of anything.

Hmmm, with a pH of 7.0, I'm betting your KH (buffer) isn't adequate. If
buffer isn't adequate, filtration/nitrogen cycle isn't efficient.

>brought a pond vac today gave the pond a good clean so I let it settle
>and then run a water test and post the results here.

With more complete info, we can guess better. ;) ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

[nemo2]

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:08:24 +0000, nemo2 > wrote:

>Hi all,
>
> snipped
>
>However, I have a pond about ~600 gallons that is 21 months old
>
> snipped
>
>Regards
>
>nemo2
Hi,

My pond is looking a bit better now having vacuumed it a couple of
times to remove as much debris as I could. There's no real sign of
string algae, but the water's a bit cloudy which should settle out in
the next few days.

I've taken some measurements and I don't believe that they are too
bad:

Water tempurature 60°F
pH 7.5
Nitrite 0 ppm (=mg/L)
Oxygen 12 ppm (=mg/L)
Total ammonia 0 ppm (=mg/L)
Chlorine 0 ppm (=mg/L)

As the water temperature was above 55°F I feed the fish and they
seemed pretty hungary. I ws please to see that the chlorine in the
pond was 0 ppm as I have a slight leak in my stream and have had to
replace about 25% of the water over the last 2-3 weeks and the
chlorine in my tap water is 0.25 ppm; need a nice day to sort the leak
out.

At the moment the string algae seems to be under control, if anynody
has any suggestions how I can keep in that way I would apprciate them;
prvention being better than cure. I appreciate that I need to cure the
leak in the stream asap as adding fresh water will promote the growth
of string algae.

Regards

nemo2

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

>On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:11:35 +0100, nemo2 > wrote:

>As the water temperature was above 55°F I feed the fish and they
>seemed pretty hungary. I ws please to see that the chlorine in the
>pond was 0 ppm as I have a slight leak in my stream and have had to
>replace about 25% of the water over the last 2-3 weeks and the
>chlorine in my tap water is 0.25 ppm; need a nice day to sort the leak
>out.
>
>At the moment the string algae seems to be under control, if anynody
>has any suggestions how I can keep in that way I would apprciate them;
>prvention being better than cure. I appreciate that I need to cure the
>leak in the stream asap as adding fresh water will promote the growth
>of string algae.

The new water at that rate isn't going to promote algae. You should get
some chlorine detox though, as constant exposure to minute amounts of
chlorine can be stressful over time on fish.

To keep the algae at bay, add more plants (if you haven't) and go easy on
the feeding. If the algae seems to be taking off, stop feeding. Fish are
little fertilizing machines. :) ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

[nemo2]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 08:10:38 -0800, ~ jan JJsPond.us
> wrote:

>>On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:11:35 +0100, nemo2 > wrote:
>
>>As the water temperature was above 55°F I feed the fish and they
>>seemed pretty hungary. I ws please to see that the chlorine in the
>>pond was 0 ppm as I have a slight leak in my stream and have had to
>>replace about 25% of the water over the last 2-3 weeks and the
>>chlorine in my tap water is 0.25 ppm; need a nice day to sort the leak
>>out.
>>
>>At the moment the string algae seems to be under control, if anynody
>>has any suggestions how I can keep in that way I would apprciate them;
>>prvention being better than cure. I appreciate that I need to cure the
>>leak in the stream asap as adding fresh water will promote the growth
>>of string algae.
>
>The new water at that rate isn't going to promote algae. You should get
>some chlorine detox though, as constant exposure to minute amounts of
>chlorine can be stressful over time on fish.
>
>To keep the algae at bay, add more plants (if you haven't) and go easy on
>the feeding. If the algae seems to be taking off, stop feeding. Fish are
>little fertilizing machines. :) ~ jan
>
> ~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~
Jan,

Thanks, Jan will follow your advice.

Regards

nemo2

[uvdoc]

hi I live in Virginia and have had a real bad problem with algae also tried
every thing could not keep it away the warmer it gets the harder it is and
then the water will get green and cant see the fish so I purchased a really
good filtration system and also added a UV light they are expensive but
works wonderful no more problems all last year just thought I would share
that Jim in Virginia
"nemo2" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:08:24 +0000, nemo2 > wrote:
>
> >Hi all,
> >
> > snipped
> >
> >However, I have a pond about ~600 gallons that is 21 months old
> >
> > snipped
> >
> >Regards
> >
> >nemo2
> Hi,
>
> My pond is looking a bit better now having vacuumed it a couple of
> times to remove as much debris as I could. There's no real sign of
> string algae, but the water's a bit cloudy which should settle out in
> the next few days.
>
> I've taken some measurements and I don't believe that they are too
> bad:
>
> Water tempurature 60°F
> pH 7.5
> Nitrite 0 ppm (=mg/L)
> Oxygen 12 ppm (=mg/L)
> Total ammonia 0 ppm (=mg/L)
> Chlorine 0 ppm (=mg/L)
>
> As the water temperature was above 55°F I feed the fish and they
> seemed pretty hungary. I ws please to see that the chlorine in the
> pond was 0 ppm as I have a slight leak in my stream and have had to
> replace about 25% of the water over the last 2-3 weeks and the
> chlorine in my tap water is 0.25 ppm; need a nice day to sort the leak
> out.
>
> At the moment the string algae seems to be under control, if anynody
> has any suggestions how I can keep in that way I would apprciate them;
> prvention being better than cure. I appreciate that I need to cure the
> leak in the stream asap as adding fresh water will promote the growth
> of string algae.
>
> Regards
>
> nemo2