(John) wrote in message m...
Experts:
Please take a look at the link below, and give me some advice. It is
really ugly now!
Thanks in advance.


The images posted were too big to view, you really need to optimise
them to around 100k, or many browsers wont access them

there are quite a few types of algae, blanketweed is a well known form
which is distintively a filament type, it forms endless lengths

There are other single celled algaes, which can form a 'scum' at the
surface too... either way, its the result of fertile water and the
algaes ability to grow fast... Its the perfectly normal reaction of a
simple plant in healthy water conditions.
string algae...spirogira... its often called blanketweed... when it
builds up it is a serious problem to a pond.
Eventually conditions can cause it all to die at the same time, and
you have a severe pollution problem then, too much going off at the
same time.
You can step up plants that take up the surplus fertility and starve
it out, you can hand clear it when it is thick enough to be
convenient....
As far as I can tell, no one has any success supressing blanketweed
with uv filters... the stuff simply isnt obliging enough to amble up a
pipe for nuking.... free floating algaes maybe, alas to break down to
pollutants which you pump back in a pond hohum
In a pond without fish, you are likely to have much less volatile
conditions for algae. There arent the fish pumping fertile 'output'
...... plants get to grow much better, you wont need pumps or filters
which will turn algae into pollution... a natural balance of beetles
and dragonfly predators will destroy mosquitoes far more efficiently
than fish on a permenant pond, so you will find a 'fishless' pond a
far more pleasant and diverse water garden... expect clear waters,
amphibians and dragonfly galore, and crystal clear water when there is
a well balanced range of aquatic plants taking a grip on water
quality.
Another factor with algae is the ponds configuration, algae thrives
in shallow ponds, they can cope with water warming and cooling
rapidly, where many plants would struggle, making a pond shallow is
really condemning yourself to a permenant green soup bowl.... ponds
with an average depth of 30" deep will be stable temperature wise and
aquatic plants will thrive better...
Most algae 'chemical remedies' are based on copper sulphate... and
can be quite pricey.
If you locate copper sulphate, a 0.3ppm dose will kill a lot of it,
without distressing fish too much (2ppm is lethal to insects and fish)
By selectively targetting small areas of blanketweed, you could use
copper sulphate to suppress it, one area at a time. Thats useful where
blanketweed is seriously smothering delicate plants... You can find
copper sulphate at farm supplies, $7 for a pint quantity will last
years....

Some so called 'algae' treatments are misleading, to be avoided...if
its based on simazine... (ethylamino)-s-triazine, its a vicious and
persistent herbicide poison, with unknown and unresearched impact upon
young fish and many species of plant...

Simazine is absorbed by all, it moves to affect the process of
growth causing cells to starve and die, in a process which may take 10
weeks to show in many species, though on algae its effect is within
3-14 days...

So if the marvel of algae dying in a few days excites you, don't be
too surprised if the label on the pack does not tell you odd things
continue to happen weeks later

Now while the success of simazine will impress you, you may be
tempted to use it often.... a normal human reaction.

Alas, the poison is persistent and way more complex when doses are
repeated, expect unknown things to happen, like lilies dwarf, parrots
feather and water hyacinth suddenly sicken, developing fish die.

Panic then, as you imagine some disease is causing distress to your
fish and you start doing wacky salt treatments and other voodoo dances
in desperation, as well as buying more over priced and poorly
specified chemicals with a pretty picture of happy fish on the pack
from greedy lying thieving executives in chemical conglomerates

Sounds bad? it is. Some smart ass executive has thought of a way to
make 10,000 doses out of a bucket of poison so they can brag they
flogged $50,000 of poison to a bunch of mugs at the next board
meeting...

The moral of the story is, if the components of the chemical are not
clearly specified for you to research accurately, its probably a scam
to sell some disreputable chemical companies poison at a monster of a
mark up, callously intended to rip you off

I shouldnt freak about considering using chemicals, until the algae
seriously chokes stuff, or presents an imminent threat to fish by
reducing surface area to such an extent the fish can't get oxygen. As
with any plant, there is a time of day, around dawn, where plants have
seriously depleted oxygen in a pool...
Blanketweed does have some upside, It can and does clarify water
quality, while you wait for other plants to build up in numbers,
restricted to small areas, it does provide shade for fish, and they do
like pumping spawn into it, so it can be quite useful for fish
breeding purposes

A long term fix for blanketweed is plants....
I'd suggest you crank up the aquatic plants, in batches. Say three
varieties at a time. That would be a convenient quantity to phase in
as parcels by mail order. When the pond, whatever size, or
configuration is planted about 60% area with aquatic plants, they will
take control of water quality

.....Heres a short list of the better 'algae busters'

fast foliage plants- they grow fast but need restraining
soon.......
lizards tail
azolla
water hyacinth
parrots feather copes with fish grazing
typha's (reeds, the small varieties, not the nasty latifolia) copes
with fish grazing
salvinia

slow foliage types, easier to control in the long run.......
aquatic iris ... slow but steady growers, easy to control copes with
fish grazing
sedges copes with fish grazing
cyperus copes with fish grazing
scirpus copes with fish grazing
pickerel copes with fish grazing
sweet flag copes with fish grazing
any small to medium water lilies copes with fish grazing

The reason I'd categorise plants into two categories for algae busting
is that the 'slow' varieties are best in the long run, having more
attractive features and being well behaved and easy to control, while
you wait for varieties like that to take control, a combination of the
'fast foliage' types can be used to get control.... these are
extremely invasive plants but do have the redeeming feature that they
are fairly easy to control at a later date

One of the problems for new ponders is that 'green water' is a sudden
event and there is often the desperate attempt to go for the 'quick
fix' to hide embarrassment at all that work to make a pond, going to
waste to end up with a green soup bowl.... which often results in
ineffective solutions like emptying, silly pumps and junk,
chemicals... The plain fact is green water is healthy water.... and
your fish are accelerating the process.

Cranking up the plants steadily will with time crush the algae, big
time, long term, for less than the price of pumps and junk... Here I
have ponds which have no fish, no mechanical nonsense, just aquatic
plants ....they are crystal clear most of the year until something
stirs it up.

regards, andy
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html
(andys aquatic plant list for interesting swaps)
http://groups.msn.com/pondplantaquaticplantexchange
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