~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:

Well, yea... that is the same one I read several years ago and no mention
of higher plant forms, he does call different algaes higher plants forms
than suspended algae. And he does qualify at the bottom of the article that
he is talking about "koi ponds".

Fish crap is fish crap and green water will grow in anything. The ideas
should apply to any pond. I have 2 medium sized koi and too many
shibunkin (want some?). Is it a koi pond or a fish pond?

Many of us here when we talk "more plants"
we mean the lilies, marginals, submerged, etc. not string algaes. ;o)
In a
mixture of koi/goldfish & water gardens.

You type too fast or I lost what you were trying to get at. Nobody said
string algae was pretty/fun/tasty or have any socially redeeming values.

"THERE IS SOME COMPONENT IN CLEAR ESTABLISHED POND WATER THAT IS TOXIC
TO THE BLOOM ALGAE."


He's talking about a possible inhibitor between species. Similar to
sunflower seed hulls, ever notice that nothing grows under a sunflower seed
bird feeder, except maybe sunflowers?

I wouldn't quite say that. The algicide doesn't come from plants. It
comes from rotting algae. I.e., you could have clear water with no
plants. At least for awhile. That's what his tests showed.


He says the added algicide is a byproduct of some type of bacteria (not
the kind that removes ammonia) that feeds on dead algae cells. If this
is true


But see, his hunches/theories aren't any more true than the belief here
that more plants and NOT scrubbing the string algae off the sides of the
pond does the same thing.

I don't know, he ran tests. Besides, now that my soup algae is gone I
don't have any string algae. But my plants are happier.

A combo of inhibitor plus removal of nutrients
perhaps?

I think this is a key idea. Plants are about the only way to remove the
nutrients and eventually the nutrients have to be removed. But plants
are not what kill the algae. So a healthy pond will have both plants and
a place for the algae to rot. If you can put in 100 plants then maybe
you don't need a filter (How many plants and fish do you have in your
filterless pond?). If you can only afford 10 plants then a filter that
can hold rotting algae is probably a good idea. Or a veggie filter with
the right design will also work.

It would be helpful if we could quantify some of these ideas.


Well I guess we don't do a very good job of quantifying because we're
afraid that if we tell them how many plants we really think they need, it
will scare them right out of the hobby. ;o)

I think you're right and I think that's not a good idea. Better in the
long run to have a happy ponder.

Matt