"Reel McKoi" wrote in message
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"Gareee©" wrote in message
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"Reel McKoi" wrote in message
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Make sure the sleeve the bulb is protected by is CLEAN. Even a light
film will keep it from working properly.

Yeah it's clean, I checked the waterflow amount, and I think the problem
is too much sun, and never enough plants. I bought about $70 worth of
pont plants last year,and I can never get more then 20-30% coverage.
Someone sent me water lettuce late in the season year before last, and
that did ok, but still never grew enough to give me enough coverage to
reduge the algae.

There are very few stores here that carry any pond supplied, and I've
never been able to get enough fast growing cover foliage.. the fish
gobb;le it up faster then it can propagate.

Might try a uncovered filter this year, with some water lettuce in it, if
I can find any.

I might just plant the waterfall area with plants, instead of dicking
around with it this year.
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There are a few things you can try. First is to thin out the fish
drastically. Keep only a handful of the prettiest fish with the nicest
fins and sell or give away the rest. Make sure all the detritus is netted
off the bottom and removed. For cover nothing beats the water lily. If
water lettuce and water hyacinth doesn't grow well you can try adding some
potassium to the water. I buy it at a garden center and use 1 heaping
tablespoon per 800 to 1000 gallons. I learned about this on rec.ponds.
My koi will eat the roots off these floaters but the goldfish don't touch
them. They're a good hiding place if you don't net your pond and they soak
up the nutrients and help starve the algae.

I have one inground 150g pond that I clear up rapidly with a major water
change in the spring, then use Potassium Permanganate, do a 50% water
change and that's it. It stays clear until the following spring. It's home
to about 6 goldfish - they're culled every year to keep the population
stable. It's the only un-netted pond we have.

If the large ponds don't clear on their own I use the UV lights. They
work every time.

Tried adding potassium last year, and I do already have several water
lillies.. they are getting larger each year, so maybe they'll offer enough
coverage this year.

I also added about 40 marginals last year of variosu types, and iris seem to
do particularly well.

I got a ph test kit, and other then adding some additional baking soda last
year, everything look right.. the problem I think is just full sun exposure,
and not enough plant coverage. Hopefull since I;'m getting an eary spring
this year, the 3 year plants will have grown enough to finally bo doing thie
rjob.

My filter system was just way too small last year.. a rubbermaid storage
tub. I'm considering a large rubbermaid trashcan system this year, possibly
doubled, but since it's all in the middle of the yard, it becomes a tradeoff
using those, and having that eyesore, or having a green pond instead.

The filter worked last year, but it became almost solid muck after a few
weeks, and th esame happened with the upper pondlet, with it's plants hardly
doing anything at all to cut the greenwater.

Over population is the issue this year.. we started out with 7 goldfish, and
after the first year, had about 20... we sold off more then 1/2 of them, and
last year ended up with a ballpark number around 35-40!

In addition we have newts in the pond, and of course a ton of frogs as well.

Obviously the life is thriving in the pond, just too much so.


--
Gareee
(Gary Tabar Jr.)