Once the other algae's, the green fuzzy sweater ones wake up the problem should go away.

On Mon, 2 Mar 2009 19:41:24 EST, Chris Hogg wrote:
Now there's a pearl of useful information for me, as a newbie to
ponds. I was under the false impression that there were only pea soup
and blanket weed! Thank you. Any idea very roughly how long it takes
for a new pond first filled last autumn to develop its 'green fuzzy
sweater', assuming nothing happened over the winter? Months? Years?

New pond with no UV, first year pea soup, unless lots of plants and few
fish added. Next year string algae, but clear water. Long string algae that
gets on everything, rake the worst out. Third year sweater algae, short and
fuzzy, can be up to 3 inches thick in some ponds, but koi can keep it
trimmed. Mine in most places is only 1/4-1/2" thick, doesn't normally grow
on other plants.

With UV, you can skip a year, but watch your water quality. Pea soup means
there are too many nutrients in the pond. The pea soup keeps those
nutrients from harming the fish... though pea soup can be a killer without
extra O2 add, like aeration, fountains or waterfalls. Larger surface area
helpful.

The above is based on not using ANY algaecides! Those just retards the
process an aging a new pond needs to go thru.

Smaller ponds we use water change outs and keep our fish loads low and our
plant load high to help get thru the first years. My lily pond has never
had pea soup per se, high plant load from the beginning, very few fish. My
only culprit, was high pH which retards the higher plants taking up the
nutrients.

There is a different algae for every water situation. When my pH went up I
got a suspended algae that just made the water a tad murky. Whenever an
unwanted algae shows up, I know it is time to test my water quality.

As time has gone on I found that water change outs have taken care of most
water problems from ever forming. This is dependent on how good one's fresh
water source is, what is safe for people isn't always safe for fish. pH,
chlorine/chloramines, even nitrate levels in some source water may need to
be treated before or as it enters the pond.

Cold, warm, hot water, low, medium, high light needs, low, medium, high
pH... my understanding, all different algae that may look similar to us as
suspended, string or blanket weed algae, are all different in some way due
to what environment they can survive in.

Sweater algae, ime, needs good sunlight, mid-range pH, clear water and not
too cold or hot.... hmmm, I guess we could rename it Goldilocks Algae.
~ jan
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Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us