in spring the biobugs are not up and booting at all. the green stuff acts as the
filter removing nutrients and fish wastes. replacing all the water may or may not
add more nutrients to the water. best is to remove the green stuff with daily filter
cleaning until the water temp is high enough to support the biobugs, OR, if you got a
veggie filter that the plants are removing most of it.
at this time of the year in my heated pond where I am feeding the fish I am happy
there is green algae to soak up the nutrients (my seachem ammonia alert says no
ammonia) ... when I begin running my veggie filter before putting in the plants the
string algae does a good job. only when the plants are in and I see good root growth
do I turn on the UV to get rid of the suspended algae. and I watch carefully for any
ammonia or nitrates. Ingrid

"Gareee©" wrote:
Oh, MAN! Cleaned out the pond today, and the filter. (milk crate in the pond
type)

It was literally almost SOLID green gunk, and the algea and debris in the
pond were staggering. The pond was actually clear in Novermber, so all this
accumulated in the last few months. (Winter was MUCH more mild then the
norm.)

The water coming out of the new pump was almost solid green, and it was
almost the consistancy of pea soup.. I'm glad I started cleaning early.

The water now is about 9/10ths fresh water, and all the fish, salamanders,
and taddies seem just fine. the water is still VERY green with gunk, so
after a day or so, I'll drain it down again, and add more fresh water.



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