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Green Algae


Elton

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Posted on behalf of Clint. Please add all replies to this thread:

 

Need your help to reduce the build-up of green algae in a private clay pond?

 

The pond contains live fish and plant stock and has a water volume of (77,000) gallons and depth of 60cm to 1.4m and a Ph of 7

 

Each year we spend a great deal of time removing it, tried barley straw together with pro-crystal (barley extract enzymes).

 

This year the water level has dropped by 35cm so We require a conditioner to remove chlorine from tap water as we intend to top-up the pond. I know rain water is best, but don't have source large enough.

 

 

Can anyone help?

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I'm guessing that if you are spending time removing it, it must be filamentous algae ("blanket weed") that you're having trouble with rather than suspended algae in the water column?

 

Either deprive it of light or deprive it of nutrients (or both). You could use emergent plants (water lilies for example) to deprive it of light. There is also a shading dye commercially available for this purpose, though I don't like the idea of that. Depriving it of nutrients is harder on something the scale you are talking about - I'm guessing this is something like one and a third tennis court's worth? On the scale of a large garden pond, pumping the water through a reed/watercress bed works very well to remove nitrate and phosphate from the water column and starve the blanketweed out, but space and pumping costs might be prohibitive on such a large pond.

 

One thing to beware of - if you kill it off with herbicides, you may find that instead of blanketweed, you have pea soup.

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One more thing - dechlorinator - it will be cheaper to buy sodium thiosulfate in bulk and calculate the correct dosage. Sodium thiosulfate is the active ingredient in most dechlorinators, sold at an eye-watering mark-up that we only tolerate because we don't need much and it's easier to pick up a bottle from the pet shop than to obtain the raw materials and calculate dosages.

 

You will need to research it and calculate the dosage correctly. This is a good start:

 

http://www.cnykoi.com/calculators/calcdechlor.asp

 

Beware of the gallons, they're probably US - convert your volume to litres to be safe. You can get test strips for chlorine.

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One more thing - dechlorinator - it will be cheaper to buy sodium thiosulfate in bulk and calculate the correct dosage. Sodium thiosulfate is the active ingredient in most dechlorinators, sold at an eye-watering mark-up that we only tolerate because we don't need much and it's easier to pick up a bottle from the pet shop than to obtain the raw materials and calculate dosages.

 

You will need to research it and calculate the dosage correctly. This is a good start:

 

http://www.cnykoi.com/calculators/calcdechlor.asp

 

Beware of the gallons, they're probably US - convert your volume to litres to be safe. You can get test strips for chlorine.

Sodium thiosulfate is also called sodium hyposulfite or “hypo". You can buy it in a good chemists or in camera shops, it's also used in B&W film processing.

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  • 1 month later...

I have had the same problem with my own Pond.

 

From my own experience and as a Pond Keeper with 20 years experience--

***Note that with Tap Water, if you are filling to less than 1/4 of pond volume the contaminates will not affect fish and are quickly neutrilised within Days by the pond vegetation***

 

I have solved my Algae problem in several ways.

 

1: I have massively increased the amount of Pond Plants Using Canadian Pondweed, Water Cress, Lillies, Border Plants such as Iris, Bullrush and Pond Grass. These take up the nutrients that the Algae need to readily grow.

However, do not attempt to strip the pond of all Algae as those animals lower in the foodchain but no less vital to pond health will be affected.

 

2. Increase the amount of Snails--this also has the benefit of a food source for your fish. Segregate an area for Snail reproduction where they can breed and mature safely.

 

3. Add, if you do not have, plankton species to your water such as Cyclops and Daphnia. They are avid Algae browsers.

 

4. Add your Barley Straw from October onwards, Spring is too late as it takes upto 2 months to begin working.

 

5. Remove at most 60% of your sediment from the Pond, if possible, in Autumn. It is necessary to leave some for Spring growth.

 

6. Use a UV Filtration system large enough to cope with your pond size. I have a Pond 11feet x 15feet and use the Oase Bitron system.

The UV itself kills harmful microbes, viruses and Algae.

 

Don't worry too much with minor PH fluctuations as these go up and down with the Seasons. Fish that do not experience these fluctuations in PH levels are often more susceptable to issues relating to sudden PH change. I learned this to my cost 4 years ago.

Like people the more you expose the fish too the stronger they are in handling it.

 

Accept that weak fish will die.

 

Importantly ensure that you are not overstocked.

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