1) I quote from Norm Meck: "When algae dies and is subjected to aerobic
bacterial decomposition by heterotroph bacteria, a by-product of this
process is a substance, released into the water, that is toxic to the
living algae." (http://www.koiclubsandiego.org/GRENH2O.html). That
would be an algicide. I'm not misquoting and, based on his tests, I
don't think it's a myth.

2) Nothing else explains why my pond is now clear. I did the usual
plants shade potash potasium advice for two years that pours from this
newsgroup and it did nothing. I put in a big stock tank and three weeks
later my pond cleared up.

3) Barley decomposes into something other than the nutrients it grew on
so why can't algae?

4) I'm just trying to help someone by describing my experience, so back off.


~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:
On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 16:45:02 GMT, MattR wrote:


snip


I've read that rotting algae creates an algicide


Matt, I don't mean to be attacking your creditability, but please, let's
not start a myth. I would like to see the article this "can't possibly be
true" information came from. Perhaps you misquoted Norm's Green Water
article regarding string algae versus's suspended algae in regards to
natural algaecide?

Gardening common sense says the only thing dead/rotting algae releases is
all the nutrients it ate as live algae. Getting it out of the pond, so it
releases those things before the bio-filter, giving the filter bacteria
time to break those down so it is less available for more algae to start
up. Not to mention, while it is rotting it is a good source of hydrogen
sulfide, that when left in the pond can be toxic to your fish when
disturbed. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website