Algae problem
 

I live in Cambridgeshire in the UK and I have a 5m x 5m x 1m pond. The
water is perfectly clear and clean, and I have varied plants and oxygenating
weed.
The problem I am having is an excess of green slimy weed. It appears on a
daily basis and gets everywhere. I have tried removing all of it but I
can't keep up.
The pond is stocked with mostly goldfish and koi and has two aquatic
turtles. The pond has not full sunlight but is not shaded.

Thanks for any help.

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Hi Kerplunk,

All algae thrives on sun, fresh water, fish waste, fertilized run off,
rotting plants and blown in dirt. In new ponds and spring ponds algae
is always the first thing to start growing.

The best defense against algae is to have lots of plants, plants and
more plants to compete for the nutrients, few fish, not overfeeding
those fish, some shade and cleaning up debris. And since you have
turtles they also add to the bioload. Can you reduce
your goldfish population?
I have four turtles in 3,000 US gallons and that will be my next
step, cut down on the rampagingly reproducing goldfish!


kathy :-) www.blogfromthebog.com
this week ~ a snake story

Pond 101 page for new pond keepers ~
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

Message ,
by author KerplunKuK aka
inspired me,
I live in Cambridgeshire in the UK and I have a 5m x 5m x 1m pond.
The water is perfectly clear and clean, and I have varied plants
and oxygenating weed.
The problem I am having is an excess of green slimy weed. It
appears on a daily basis and gets everywhere. I have tried
removing all of it but I can't keep up.
The pond is stocked with mostly goldfish and koi and has two aquatic
turtles. The pond has not full sunlight but is not shaded.

Thanks for any help.

You feed your fish more than the plants can handle.
There should be a balance between fishfood and plants. If it isn't in
balance you get the green soup, i.e plants that fill the gap.

Refresh the pond, 10% each week, drain from the bottom if possible.
Use an airbubble pump during filling of the fresh water.
That doesn't bring the balance back.

Install a good filter, redude the number of fish or feed them less.
Feeding tip: 5 minutes max a day and they should eat it all in that
time.
The fish are well capable to survive a week without food.
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Message acit.net,
by author 2Rowdy aka inspired me,

Refresh the pond, 10% each week, drain from the bottom if possible.
Use an airbubble pump during filling of the fresh water.

During a month. That should bring the excess of plantfood to an
acceptable level.
--
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2Rowdy scribbled :

You feed your fish more than the plants can handle.
There should be a balance between fishfood and plants. If it isn't in
balance you get the green soup, i.e plants that fill the gap.

Refresh the pond, 10% each week, drain from the bottom if possible.
Use an airbubble pump during filling of the fresh water.
That doesn't bring the balance back.

Install a good filter, redude the number of fish or feed them less.
Feeding tip: 5 minutes max a day and they should eat it all in that
time.
The fish are well capable to survive a week without food.


I have a filter and pump that can handle twice the volume of my pond. My
fish always eat everything I feed them, so I think I will have to insert
more plants and do water changes. What is an airbubble pump?

Thanks
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"KerplunKuK" wrote in message
...
2Rowdy scribbled :

You feed your fish more than the plants can handle.
There should be a balance between fishfood and plants. If it isn't in
balance you get the green soup, i.e plants that fill the gap.

Refresh the pond, 10% each week, drain from the bottom if possible.
Use an airbubble pump during filling of the fresh water.
That doesn't bring the balance back.

Install a good filter, redude the number of fish or feed them less.
Feeding tip: 5 minutes max a day and they should eat it all in that
time.
The fish are well capable to survive a week without food.


I have a filter and pump that can handle twice the volume of my pond. My
fish always eat everything I feed them, so I think I will have to insert
more plants and do water changes. What is an airbubble pump?

Thanks

If you have a pump and are churning up the surface (a water fall will do
this), you don't need an air pump. It will do nothing for your algae
problem, and may actually make it worse. You need more plants, and I would
also add a product like aquazyme. It contains bacteria and enzymes that
help digest the nutrients in your water, and so compete directly with the
algae for food. The bacteria is beneficial to the pond. It takes about a
month for it to become firmly established, and even then, it doesn't hurt
to continue to treat the water with this product to ensure that the
bacgteria remain established in the pond. It will go a long way towards
starving out the algae, and will digest it as it dies off. This product
also helps to prevent buildup of black sludge and any leaves at the bottom
of your pond, which is also a source of unwanted nutrients. Do note,
however, that you will likely always has some amount of algae in your pond.
This is not a bad thing, and if you cut back a little on feeding your
goldfish, they will take to munching on it like mine do.

Message ,
by author KerplunKuK aka
inspired me,
2Rowdy scribbled :

You feed your fish more than the plants can handle.
There should be a balance between fishfood and plants. If it isn't
in balance you get the green soup, i.e plants that fill the gap.

Refresh the pond, 10% each week, drain from the bottom if possible.
Use an airbubble pump during filling of the fresh water.
That doesn't bring the balance back.

Install a good filter, redude the number of fish or feed them less.
Feeding tip: 5 minutes max a day and they should eat it all in that
time.
The fish are well capable to survive a week without food.


I have a filter and pump that can handle twice the volume of my
pond.

Big filter is good. But many people clean the filter to often. The
filter shouldn't filter, it should provide a good place for bacteria
to do their work in converting fish stuff into plantfood.

My fish always eat everything I feed them, so I think I will
have to insert more plants and do water changes. What is an
airbubble pump?

An air pump with a bubble stone on the end. Often tap water contains
gasses that is bad for fish. The bubbles expel those gasses.
--
d:Johan; Certifiable me

IHUMFA

"2Rowdy" wrote in message
et...
Message ,
by author KerplunKuK aka
inspired me,
2Rowdy scribbled :

You feed your fish more than the plants can handle.
There should be a balance between fishfood and plants. If it isn't
in balance you get the green soup, i.e plants that fill the gap.

Refresh the pond, 10% each week, drain from the bottom if possible.
Use an airbubble pump during filling of the fresh water.
That doesn't bring the balance back.

Install a good filter, redude the number of fish or feed them less.
Feeding tip: 5 minutes max a day and they should eat it all in that
time.
The fish are well capable to survive a week without food.


I have a filter and pump that can handle twice the volume of my
pond.

Big filter is good. But many people clean the filter to often. The
filter shouldn't filter, it should provide a good place for bacteria
to do their work in converting fish stuff into plantfood.

My fish always eat everything I feed them, so I think I will
have to insert more plants and do water changes. What is an
airbubble pump?

An air pump with a bubble stone on the end. Often tap water contains
gasses that is bad for fish. The bubbles expel those gasses.
--
d:Johan; Certifiable me

IHUMFA

If you add fresh tap water with a garden hose with a nozzle attachment,
nearly all of any harmful gases (even some of the chlorine - I recommend
using stress coat at this staqge) will escape almost immediately. As long
as the pump inlet is pumping water from the bottom of the pond and
returning it to the surface, and creating ripples on the surface, the water
will be constantly turned over and will outgas and pick up oxygen. I know
that you must be thinking about carbon dioxide buildup, but that is not
usually a problem in most ponds that have adequate circulation. The
problem here is likely one of too high a nutrient load (in the case of an
algae bloom, the culprit is usually high nitrate concentration, but can
also be phosphates). A bubbler will do nothing to get rid of nitrates,
because of the high partial pressure of nitrogen in the atmosphere, and so
the equalibrium pressure of nitrogen is high. It will also do nothing to
get rid of phosphates. If the nitrate level is high, adding O2 with a
bubler can actually make the algae problem worse (algae using up carbon
dioxide and release O2 in the day, but the process is reversed at night, so
then it releases CO2 and uses O2). Adding plants and beneficial bacteria
to the pond will increase competition with the algae, and will reduce the
nutrient levels enough starve out the algae. And as the algae dies, the
bacteria will digest it and prevent the nitrates from building back up to
problematic levels. Unless the levels are dangerously high, I never
recommend partial water changes to solve this problem because that tends to
knock the pond out of chemical equilibrium. The key to the solution to
this problem is patience. Perhaps if the person posting his question could
post his water parameters (pH, ammmonia, nitrites, nitrates, general
hardness), we could give him more specific information.

George scribbled :
Perhaps if the person posting his question could post his water parameters
(pH, ammmonia, nitrites, nitrates, general hardness), we could give him more
specific
information.

Will do that tomorrow and post the results. Thanks for all the advoce so
far.
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"KerplunKuK" wrote in message
...
George scribbled :
Perhaps if the person posting his question could post his water
parameters
(pH, ammmonia, nitrites, nitrates, general hardness), we could give him
more
specific
information.

Will do that tomorrow and post the results. Thanks for all the advoce so
far.
--
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Gamertag: Devil Ray UK
Games: Flat Out, Worms, Links 04, RS3BA, Splinter Cell : CT, Top Spin,
Halo 2, GR2, PGR 2, Doom 3, Rallisport 2, Forza, NBA Inside Drive, NFL
Fever, Amped 2, Pariah, NHL Rivals


Glad to help. Got any pics of your pond? Don't post them here, but if you
can post a link, we like pond pictures when we can get them. Also, as for
using a bubbler, pH becomes a problem when it changes rapidly and as the
water heats up in summer. Koi and goldfish do best at 7.5 (neutral) but
will tolerate 0.75 plus or minus this as long as it is what they are used
to. High pH (alkaline) conditions makes ammonia more toxic. The tendency of
some koi shows to freely bubble their vats blows off CO2 and raises pH. At
that point, even minor increases in ammonia levels can cause big problems
with the fish. More of a problem, especially in bare liner ponds with high
fish loads, is loss of alkalinity. On the other hand, warm summer waters
hold less oxygen than cold winter water. Ironically, most people add a
bubbler in the winter to keep a hole open in the ice, and remove the
bubbler in the summer. I am of the opinion that as long as your pond is
not overstocked, adequate circulation and breaking up the surface with a
waterfall splash will provide adequate oxygen for your fish in the summer
without adversely affecting the pH. I have limestone rock in my pond to act
as a buffer, and as part of the waterfall. It helps keep the pH and
alkalinity stable, and slowly leaches trace elements into the water
(depending on the type of limestone). But, it is always wise to
periodically check you water parameters, especially in summer, and
especially pH, nitrates, and alkalinity.

Here is a link to my pond with the filter set up (I have more plants in the
pond than are shown in these pictures, which are a couple of years old):

http://home.insightbb.com/~jryates/filter.htm