Like many people here our pond developed it's usual pea green algae
bloom this spring. On top of that the fish had been mostly unseen for
about 18 months after a plant emptied it's soil into the pond and turned
it murky.

So, after reading all the useful replies here, I decided to tackle the
problem. The methods that I chose were UV clarifier and filter wool.
The UV device is an 18 watt basic unit off of eBay, it cost about £45
with postage and packing. We plumbed the UV clarifying in between the
submerged pump and filter tank. The filter wool is 12mm thick, 1m wide
and came in a roll of 10m. We layered that two ply on top of the filter
media as a final filtration step before water exited into a small veggie
filter. Without the wool I don't think my Skipy style filter would have
caught the flocculated algae cells.

The result -
After one week the water was looking less murky, but still pea green.
After two weeks the water was 'transparent' but green.
After three weeks the water was crystal clear.

I suspect that the dissolved solids were rendering the UV clarifier
almost useless to begin with. Once the water was clear and 'transparent'
the UV could travel further and do more work on the algae.

The filter wool clogs up quickly, it will change from white to brown in
a few hours. We cut it in to squares that fit the filter tank and used
either 2 or 3 layers. They needed changing or cleaning every 4 or 5 days
while the algae was being removed. Now that the pond is clear they last
a week. It's wonderful being able to see the fish again, so I highly
recommend tackling the problem seriously to solve it in time for summer.

Thanks again for the r.p.m wisdom.

--
DavidM
www.djmorgan.org.uk

Congratulations, David!

Your post should be kept as an example of follow through with algae!
Now, lots of plants to continue grabbing nutrients and you will not
need the UV. You might try that out in a short while. We needed ours
at the start of the season for a number of years. This year, we have
not bothered as the water has been clear throughout.

Jim

Phyllis and Jim wrote, On 31/05/2008 01:39:
Congratulations, David!

Your post should be kept as an example of follow through with algae!
Now, lots of plants to continue grabbing nutrients and you will not
need the UV. You might try that out in a short while. We needed ours
at the start of the season for a number of years. This year, we have
not bothered as the water has been clear throughout.

Jim

Thanks Jim. I think half the fun on ponding is overcoming these kind of
challenges, it gives a real sense of achievement. The trouble is, I'll
now find different things in the pond to focus on, that will probably
cause new problems

For the first few years our pond was crammed full of plants and the
algae was less of a pest. That seemed to introduced it's own problems
though, such as filters clogging up with partly decomposed plant and
trapped material rotting in the pond. I'm pretty sure that a bad fish
infection was due to organic pollution in the water. I removed most of
the plants a couple of years ago, and now try to keep them to their baskets.

Now that the algae has been removed, the small veggie filter is
overflowing with water cress and mint. The large iris in baskets are
also doing very well. Like you say, the aim is to turn off the UV soon
and hopefully let the plants starve out the algae. I expect it will take
a while to get the balance just right. Do you allow water to flow
through the until UV unit all year, or do you divert it. I'm not sure
how much damage will be done to the glass pipes inside.


--
DavidM
www.djmorgan.org.uk

The water has been moving through the filter for a decade. No
problems. We do clean off the sleeve from time to time.

Jim

I am baffled, but after having NO algae with my "in pond veggie filter" this spring I
suddenly got algae. The temp had dropped again (outside and in the pond). I turned
on the UV and in 3 days it was clear. But I am surprised that the algae reappeared.
maybe because the pond was getting more sun. sigh. so my hope for not having to use
the UV are once again dampened. Ingrid

Bummer about the algae. I am hoping my pond does not hear about the
situation!

Jim

Phyllis and Jim wrote:
The water has been moving through the filter for a decade. No
problems. We do clean off the sleeve from time to time.

Jim

Hi,

We have a fountain that is like a pond, in that it is 2ft deep and 10
feet in diameter. The problem I have is not only algae, but lots of
muck in the bottom. I don't raise fish or plants in the water. Last
year I emptied it and scrubbed it down. This year it was even worse
with leaves and debris on the bottom. The problem is since it is vinyl
lined with folds in the bottom, it is very hard to get the muck cleaned
out. Also we don't have a drain so I have to siphon the water out, so I
can't use water pressure to clean in the folds.

Does the filter you use fix that problem? If so, what kind of filter do
you use.

Thanks,
Sheila

Sheila wrote:
Last
year I emptied it and scrubbed it down. This year it was even worse
with leaves and debris on the bottom. The problem is since it is vinyl
lined with folds in the bottom, it is very hard to get the muck cleaned
out. Also we don't have a drain so I have to siphon the water out, so I
can't use water pressure to clean in the folds.


The way I would attack this is
1) Siphon almost all the water out
2) With a hose, spray as much muck out of the corners and crannies as
you can.
3) Repeat 1) and 2) as necessary.

Chip

Sheila wrote:
Last year I emptied it and scrubbed it down. This year it was even worse
with leaves and debris on the bottom. The problem is since it is vinyl
lined with folds in the bottom, it is very hard to get the muck cleaned
out. Also we don't have a drain so I have to siphon the water out, so I
can't use water pressure to clean in the folds.

Hi Sheila, have you tried a shop vac after you've gotten it empty? ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

If your fountain has no living things in it, you can use an algecide
to keep it clear. You will still have to clean out the muck.

Jim

If nothing else I would get a sump pump or the like to empty out the
fountain so you can clean it properly. What is the sprinkler/fountain
mechanism? Do you have overhanging trees or something else that is dropping
litter in the pond or is the organic debris simply from algae? You can get
pool chemicals that will keep the water free of algae. If you don't have
anything else dropping litter in the pond, then that should be enough to
keep it clear and clean. With something that size I would not able to
resist at least a few plants and gold fish - of course then you could not
use the pool chemicals... Donna


"Sheila" wrote in message
. ..
Phyllis and Jim wrote:
The water has been moving through the filter for a decade. No
problems. We do clean off the sleeve from time to time.

Jim

Hi,

We have a fountain that is like a pond, in that it is 2ft deep and 10 feet
in diameter. The problem I have is not only algae, but lots of muck in
the bottom. I don't raise fish or plants in the water. Last year I
emptied it and scrubbed it down. This year it was even worse with leaves
and debris on the bottom. The problem is since it is vinyl lined with
folds in the bottom, it is very hard to get the muck cleaned out. Also we
don't have a drain so I have to siphon the water out, so I can't use water
pressure to clean in the folds.

Does the filter you use fix that problem? If so, what kind of filter do
you use.

Thanks,
Sheila

Chip wrote:
Sheila wrote:
Last
year I emptied it and scrubbed it down. This year it was even worse
with leaves and debris on the bottom. The problem is since it is
vinyl lined with folds in the bottom, it is very hard to get the muck
cleaned out. Also we don't have a drain so I have to siphon the water
out, so I can't use water pressure to clean in the folds.


The way I would attack this is
1) Siphon almost all the water out
2) With a hose, spray as much muck out of the corners and crannies as
you can.
3) Repeat 1) and 2) as necessary.

Chip

Thanks Chip,

I drained it the other day and was waiting for it to completely and was
waiting for it to dry. It rained 2 days ago and refilled it a couple
inches, I'll drain again and will try using my husband's shopvac. There
was lots and lots of algae in the pond, also tadpoles, red mud and sand.

Your idea to spray in the cracks and redrain and repeat is a good idea.

Sheila

~ jan wrote:
Sheila wrote:
Last year I emptied it and scrubbed it down. This year it was even worse
with leaves and debris on the bottom. The problem is since it is vinyl
lined with folds in the bottom, it is very hard to get the muck cleaned
out. Also we don't have a drain so I have to siphon the water out, so I
can't use water pressure to clean in the folds.

Hi Sheila, have you tried a shop vac after you've gotten it empty? ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us



Jan,

I drained it a couple days ago and am waiting for it to completely dry
and that is what I was going to try next. It rained that night a couple
inches and we had company all day today, so I haven't tried it yet.



Thanks for the suggestion.

Sheila

Phyllis and Jim wrote:
If your fountain has no living things in it, you can use an algecide
to keep it clear. You will still have to clean out the muck.

Jim


The trees a quite a ways off, but it was full of algae, mud, sand, and
tadpoles.

I will now use an algaecide to keep it clear, but it the muck that
builds up that I was hoping to filter, out mainly mud and sand.

Sheila

On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:29:55 EDT, Sheila wrote:


The trees a quite a ways off, but it was full of algae, mud, sand, and
tadpoles.

What did you do with the tadpoles?

builds up that I was hoping to filter, out mainly mud and sand.

Is it real dusty around you, or has it been a long time since the last
clean out? ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us