If you want a no-hassle long term natural combatant for algae then
just use barley straw. I added 1/3 bale to my 35'x55'x4' pond and
within 3 weeks crystal clear water with NO string algae and NO other
hassles. Now I can see my thousands of minnows swimming around.
That's what I get for throwing in 9 dozen of them 2 months ago. Our
new wild rescued from the side of the raod turtle has pleanty of food
he can 'see'. Not to mention the thousands of tadpoles.

Rick


The Madd Hatter wrote in message . ..
Both of these seem doable for the short term. What would you suggest
as a natural combatant for the long term? If I cover 80% of the
surface with floaters like duck weed and water hyacinth, and some
lilies, would this gradually reduce the algae levels? I don't have
the budget to do anything expensive like put a UV clarifier etc in.

On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 00:30:02 GMT, "RichToyBox"
wrote:

For a special occasion you can use the 95%-100% water change method the day
of the festivities, but you will get the full algae bloom within a couple of
weeks after that. Just be sure to use plenty of dechlor, and add water
slowly to keep from shocking the fish with a temperature difference. You
can also use a polymeric water clarifier (Crystal Clear, ProClear,
Accu-Clear) that will flocculate the algae, making it easier for the filter
to trap it. They are relatively inexpensive, and have the same drawback of
algae bloom later.