On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:07:50 CST, Me wrote:

We moved in to a new house about a year ago and I have been trying to
rehab the koi pond after years of neglect.

So far so good. We have a nice assortment of plants that are thriving
and after trying out some tester fish I have some Koi that are getting
bigger. I have a small stringy algae problem but I am taking care of
that.

I have been using Laguna Phosphate Control, Algaefix and some other
stuff that adds 'bio-mass' (I can't remember the name but it is a dry
flake that looks like bran and you mix it with pond water before
pouring it in)

The pond only has a pump and no filter. The water is clear but the
bottom liner and pump is starting to get covered with a brown furry
algae. The fish don't mind and seem to like to eat it. I don't mind
as long as it stays at it's current level. Any idea if I can control
this with chemicals or something. Is this from the bio-mass stuff?
A.S.

Hi AS, :-)

If you keep your fish load VERY low, and your # of plants very HIGH, you
can manage w/o a filter.

The way to know if your pond is healthy is with test kits. Ammonia,
Nitrite, pH, KH and a thermometer. If you have a problem you'll need the
results of these tests for people to diagnosis what the problem may be.

How many koi, how many gallons?

I don't use chemicals, other then Koi Zyme (to keep the bacteria that can
infect the fish down) and salt when needed to increase slime coat. As far
as water treatments though, I do use a similar product to your 'bio-mass'
called BZT once in a great while. Most WQ issues can be controlled with
small frequent water changes. Are you doing those?

One of the best info sites on water quality, imho, is this one:
http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/H2Oquality.html by Norm Meck
~ jan
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Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us