I've had the pond for 12yrs now just wondering about the UV. I do not get
any algae to speak of except over the waterfall at times. I read where the
UV also fights off parasites and such.
Just wanted some views on the subject. Might mention the fish are 12yrs old
too.
Patty
"Ka30P" wrote in message
...

There are many types of ponders and ponding.
BV says natural ponding. That's what I do but
I suspect I'm a natural ponder because I am,
at heart, a lazy ponder... I don't want to fuss
with a UV line and change the light bulb and
worry about it. Probably why I still don't have
a skimmer, I'd have to skim it!

That said... the universal problem of green water is what moves folks to
UV
lights so I will post my general list of green water fighting tips, of
which UV
is one of them.


Algae fighting tips
~ Nutrients for algae are sun, new water, fish waste, fertilized run off,
rotting plants, blown in dirt.
~ New ponds and spring ponds need time for plants to get established,
algae is
quicker at getting going.
~ add plants, of any kind, in the pond. Especially underwater plants.
~ Shade is good - provided by lily pads, floating plants or artificial
shade
for part of the day.
~ LOW fish stocking (20 gallons per goldfish, 100 per koi after starting
with
1,000 gallons) and *not* overfeeding the fish. Too many fish and too much
feeding is probably responsible for most pea soup water, followed closely
by
too much decaying plant matter, sludge and overall gunk in the water
~ adding a combination mechanical and biological filter to screen gunk and
convert fishy ammonia waste.
~ build a veggie filter, to run water through plants, as easy as floating
water
hyacinth in your filter.
~ clean up dead plant matter and screen for falling leaves
in the fall.
~ water movement, occasional water changes of 10%
~ add a sludge consumer, concentrated bacteria.
many rec.ponders use http://www.united-tech.com/m-aq4u-toc.html
~ building ponds with bottom drains and skimmers.
~ do not use algaecides, they only make lots of suddenly dead algae
and that will feed the next algae bloom.
~ do not worry about algae that grows on things (substrate algae) this is
good
for a pond
~ gently remove string algae
~ UV lights work on suspended algae (green water) - does cost some $$.
~ patience and time ;-)


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A