Hi.....we're new to the group and to water gardening.....and I'm sure this
question has been asked numerous times....but here goes.

Our tiny pond off our patio (50 gallons) has greenish water. We purchased a
new pump/filter as the one that came with the preformed pond just wasn't
cutting it. (The new pump is a Beckett Versa Submersible Pump for up to 750
gallons. (Please don't tell me that they are not any good as we paid $120
for it.) We also talked to our local pond supplier (Lily Blooms) and they
advised us to add microlift to the water as instructed, which we have done
now for 3 weeks. Still the water has a greenish tint. We also added 5 snails
and one clam. We have put several surface plants in as well. Do any of you
experienced ponders have advice for us newbies? (I feel silly asking this as
our pond is so very tiny, and all of you have such big beautiful ponds.)


Thanks for any help you can give us..........

Lisa & Steve

"Steve and Lisa" wrote in message
.. .
We also talked to our local pond supplier (Lily Blooms) and they
advised us to add microlift to the water as instructed, which we have done
now for 3 weeks.

eeeeeek it's spelled Microbe-Lift


Lisa & Steve

If you keep water outside you are going to have algae. A greenish tint is fine.
Pea soup green is ugly and no fun. At 50 gallons, if you have fish, you have a
delicate balancing act to do. I would only keep two goldfish in 50 gallons, or
more fun, about 7 to 10 rosie red minnows. I would rarely feed them.
I'll post the green water primer for more information, not all of it will apply
to your pond :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


To achieve clear water, instead of pea soup green water, in your pond you
should:

~ Realize that algae is tough! It exists in extreme conditions, like ice, just
fine. It has many, many different
forms. It even has a home page! http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botany/projects/algae/
And, finally, without algae we wouldn't
be here so we should treat it with a little respect ;-)

~ Learn as much as you can about the natural balance of a pond and realizing
that new ponds must go through
a growth period which usually means green water before balance occurs. Even if
you set up a pond with lots of
plants they still need to catch their breath so to speak before consuming their
fair share of nutrients that algae loves.

~ Mother Nature designs pond to have
- LOTS of water
- few fish
- many plants
- and subtraction and addition of new water from time to time
- predators

She lets the fish find food on their own, lets the fish fertilize the plants,
encourages predators and lets the plants run rampant.

She never cleans her ponds out unless she sends a flood. If things really get
out of control she throws up her hands and lets the chips fall where they may -
lets the pond fill in, turn emerald green, flood it out, earthquakes,
hurricanes, record snowfall, elections too close to call - whatever...

~We pondkeepers stuff in lots of pretty fish, spoil them rotten with tasty fish
chow, over fertilize our plants and do everything possible to discourage
predators.

~ When designing a pond
Plan on 20 gallons of water per goldfish
Start with a minimum of 1,000 gallons for koi and an additional 100 gallons of
water per each additional koi
and plan for as many plants as you can stuff in.
A filter *DIY is best* and something for water movement (waterfall or
fountain).
Also consider a bottom drain and a skimmer.

~ Do not use chemicals, killing algae just makes lots of suddenly dead algae,
rotting algae robs the pond of oxygen and makes more stuff for the new algae to
feed on (unless you have a bottom drain to get it out).

~ Do not worry about green fuzzy algae on the side of the pond, that is good
algae and helps balance your pond.

~ Ignore a little string algae. Remove it with a small rake or by hand.

~ Lower your fish stocking, not over feeding fish - algae loves fish waste
(lots of yummy phosphorous)

~ Add lots plants of any type, marginal plants such as reeds, cattails, iris,
pickerel weed, arrowhead, floaters such as water hyacinth, water lettuce and
lots of underwater plants such as anacharis uses the nutrients up that the
algae would like.

~ Shade - lilies, the floaters (water hyacinth and water lettuce) and
artificial shade - shade cloth, umbrella, arch or trellis planted with vines,
No sun for the algae. 60% coverage is nice.

~ Clean up debris from the bottom of the pond,
less decaying stuff for algae food.
Trim dead growth from the plants and removing tropicals if you live in colder
climates.
Net the pond during the fall to keep leaves out of the pond.
The less dead plant matter in the pond the better.

~ Cut back or stop fertilizing plants - same principle.

~ Plant in fine gravel and top with larger rocks if you have koi.

~ Mechanical filtration of the fish waste - usually a settling chamber in your
filter, or the first row of brushs, filter media.

~ Biological filtration - more than you think you need as your fish are going
to grow and you will probably add more fish to your pond via purchase or your
fish breeding in the pond. (This does not help with the algae problem but
contributes to the overall health of your fish and any critters.

~ Construct a veggie filter - an area, 10% to 20%, of the size of your pond
surface area. A couple of inches deeper than the plant baskets (the rigid black
mesh baskets made specifically for water plants) you are going to use to plant
in. Plant the baskets with marginal plants with fine gravel. Pump the pond
water through at a turnover rate per hour 1/2 to 1/4 of the pond volume.
Veggie filter uses up many of the nutrients and provides a good place for
bacteria to grow. Build it with a bottom drain (or two) for ease of cleaning -
very important or you'll end up with backups and leaking over the edge. A
HREF="http://www.wernersponds.com/veggiefilter.html"Build a Bio Pond and
Veggie Filter/A
or
A veggie filter can be as simple as floating water hyacinth at the top of your
stock tank filter. Mine get to be almost three feet tall with leaves as big as
my hand.

~ Purchase sludge eating product - concentrated bacteria culture. I use BZT.
A HREF="http://united-tech.com"http://united-tech.com/A

~ Some folks love their UV sterilizer. Does cost some $. And you have to change
the expensive bulb every year.

~ Add a bale of barley straw to your pond for string algae.

~Phosphate Remover - It comes in a large clear container (maybe about gallon
sized) but it's also available in a smaller quart sized carton. It's usually
near the aquatic plant fertilizers and different chemicals available such as
ammonia remover and such.
You measure out the amount suitable for your pond size, place it in a mesh
bag, and first soak it in a pail before you put it in your filter. You need to
soak it because it gives off heat when it first gets wet.

~ Read this web page for interesting theroy on the life and times of algae
http://www.koiclubsandiego.org/GRENH2O.html

~ Make sacrifices to the Pond Goddess.
Run to your nearest garden center and buy a gazing ball,
a dragonfly garden stake and bullfrog spitter.
Place around your pond and ask humbly for clear water.

~ Patience, patience and eternal optimism.


k30a

Hi.....we're new to the group and to water gardening.....and I'm sure this
question has been asked numerous times....but here goes.

Our tiny pond off our patio (50 gallons) has greenish water. We purchased a
new pump/filter as the one that came with the preformed pond just wasn't
cutting it. (The new pump is a Beckett Versa Submersible Pump for up to 750
gallons. (Please don't tell me that they are not any good as we paid $120
for it.) We also talked to our local pond supplier (Lily Blooms) and they
advised us to add microlift to the water as instructed, which we have done
now for 3 weeks. Still the water has a greenish tint. We also added 5 snails
and one clam. We have put several surface plants in as well. Do any of you
experienced ponders have advice for us newbies? (I feel silly asking this as
our pond is so very tiny, and all of you have such big beautiful ponds.)

Thanks for any help you can give us..........

Lisa & Steve


More plants! More plants! More plants!

Forget about U.V.'s, as long as you have a big enough veggie filter
and enough plants in the water you won't have any problems with green
water. We had a little bit of green water in the beginning but now
that the plants have started growing, not a drop of green water at
all!

"Critical Popperian" wrote in message
om...
Our tiny pond off our patio (50 gallons) has greenish water...

snip

More plants! More plants! More plants!

I agree. The reason there can be a green bloom in the water is that there
are sufficient nutrients in the water for algae to grow. The nutrients come
from either the fish in the water, or from fertilizer in the plants potted
in the water. The solution is the reduce the amount of plant food in the
water.

1. Feed fish less.
2. When fertilizing potted plants, use tablets into the soil rather than
soluble fertilizer into the water.
3. Use lots of floating plants such as Parrot's Feather.

It may take some weeks to reduce the food load in the water, but it will
eventually clear up.

In article ,
says...
Hi.....we're new to the group and to water gardening.....and I'm sure this
question has been asked numerous times....but here goes.

Our tiny pond off our patio (50 gallons) has greenish water. We purchased a
new pump/filter as the one that came with the preformed pond just wasn't
cutting it. (The new pump is a Beckett Versa Submersible Pump for up to 750
gallons. (Please don't tell me that they are not any good as we paid $120
for it.) We also talked to our local pond supplier (Lily Blooms) and they
advised us to add microlift to the water as instructed, which we have done
now for 3 weeks. Still the water has a greenish tint. We also added 5 snails
and one clam. We have put several surface plants in as well. Do any of you
experienced ponders have advice for us newbies? (I feel silly asking this as
our pond is so very tiny, and all of you have such big beautiful ponds.)


Thanks for any help you can give us..........

Lisa & Steve



We've got a 3500 gallon pond containing 4 koi, 4 goldfish, a few frogs &
newts. It's got a 6 bay filter fed via a bottom drain & a UV filter. The
water has been green with blanket weed since spring. The pH is in the
high 9's despite constant water changes via a de chlorinator( tap water
is around 7.5 - 8 ). The next plan is to build a second pond, fill it
with weed & plants & use it as a bio filter fed from a second pump in
the main pond.

"Bern Muller" wrote in message
...

in the water. The solution is the reduce the amount of plant food in the
water.

1. Feed fish less.
2. When fertilizing potted plants, use tablets into the soil rather than
soluble fertilizer into the water.
3. Use lots of floating plants such as Parrot's Feather.

It may take some weeks to reduce the food load in the water, but it will
eventually clear up.

I forgot to add to the list:

If your pond gets runoff from the lawn, lawn fertilizer may be a
contributing factor. You should arrange your pond to avoid lawn runoff.

Thank you everyone for your answers and ideas.....I guess we'll need to get
out and purchase more plants and feed our fish less. We will have to get use
to the fact they can fend for themselves a bit...especially as I have seen
them leap out after flying bugs..lol felt a bit like that Dr Seuss story
over feeding them as we were...just glad they didn't grow out of the
pond...just made more algae.



Lisa