I have had green water and now its clear using clear pond. I have had long
string algae running from my waterfall and got rid of that using SAB. But I
still have a fine green algae that clings mostly to the bottom rocks and
lies floating in clumps along the bottom. I scraped up a leaf bag full of
the stuff. What type of Algae is it and what can I use to get rid of it?.
Obviously clear pond and SAB do not work. Pond is 7000 gal with few fish,
plenty of anarcharis and 5 waterlillies

I expect the algae you are scooping up is all the dead single cell algae and
string algae you got 'rid' of using the water treatment products.

Algae that grows attached to the rocks is a substrate algae and contributes to
the health of your pond, provides food for fish and little critters and uses up
nutrients that feed the single cell algae and string algae.

Algae is not *bad* it is just misunderstood~~~
99.99% of algae problems are caused by too many nutrients in the water, those
nutrients being: sun, dirt, dead plant matter, fish and critter waste, plant
fertilizer from pond plants or run off.

This is the big version of the collected rec.ponds tips for dealing with algae:
:-)

~ 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.

~ Mother Nature designs pond to have few fish, many plants and subtraction and
addition of new water from time to time.
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.

~Plan on 20 gallons of water per goldfish and 100 gallons of water per koi and
as many plants as you can stuff in.

~ 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.

~ Install bottom drains and skimmers for ease of removing sludge and debris.

~ Net the pond during the fall to keep leaves out of the pond.

~ Trim dead growth from the plants and removing floating tropicals if you live
in colder climates.

~ 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.

~ Clean up debris from the bottom of the pond and
stock snails to chew up the debris - less decaying stuff for algae food.

~ 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. Go here to
read a great description about how to build one
http://hometown.aol.com/k30a/myhomepage/garden.html
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.
BZT is available through
A HREF="http://www.united-tech.com"http://www.united-tech.com/A
Check the 800 number. When you call ask for the "Ponder's
Special", it's only available on the phone not the website.

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

~ Add a bale of barley straw to your pond for string algae. Read this webpage
http://hometown.aol.com/rosiedawg/my...ollection.html

~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

Thanks for your help. Immediately after treating the algae my mechanical
filter would clog twice a day with brown mud like consistency. I assume
this was the dying algae. Now the filter is running clean, the pond is
clear and no string algae on the waterfall rocks. The only thing is I can
not see the bottom with all of this fine bright green hairlike algae.
Although I got most of it just by going into the pond and skimming the
bottom I am afraid it will just come back. If it were the dead algae would
it not be bright green?

Thanks for your help. Immediately after treating the algae my mechanical
filter would clog twice a day with brown mud like consistency. I assume
this was the dying algae. Now the filter is running clean, the pond is
clear and no string algae on the waterfall rocks. The only thing is I can
not see the bottom with all of this fine bright green hairlike algae.
Although I got most of it just by going into the pond and skimming the
bottom I am afraid it will just come back. If it were the dead algae would
it not be bright green?

Thanks for your help. Immediately after treating the algae my mechanical
filter would clog twice a day with brown mud like consistency. I assume
this was the dying algae. Now the filter is running clean, the pond is
clear and no string algae on the waterfall rocks. The only thing is I can
not see the bottom with all of this fine bright green hairlike algae.
Although I got most of it just by going into the pond and skimming the
bottom I am afraid it will just come back. If it were the dead algae would
it not be bright green?

bright green
As in light bright green?
Almost like day glow green?
Does it rise to the surface?
It might be blue green algae
which is a whole other ball game
as well as not really algae.

I saved this post about blue green
algae.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subject: Floating Clumps of Flourescent Green Algae
From: ajames54 A "ajames54@Hotmai l.com/A
Date: Wed, Jun 11, 2003 8:11 AM
Message-id:


There have been a couple of posts lately about algae
described like this. Or describing algae that forms in lumps that
break up and dissolve on contact. Or describing algae the has a
really disgusting smell ...

Any of these posts could in fact be describing
cyanobacteria, also known as Blue-Green Algae. Cyanobacteria, as
the name says, is more accurately a bacteria than an algae.
Though it certainly appears like algae it is best to think of it
as bacteria that has developed the ability to produce its own
food through photosynthesis. Some, though by no means all are
actually toxic, currently the is a bit of a crisis on the
California coast, hundreds of seals and otters are sick after
eating fish and shellfish poisoned by this stuff.

Because of its unique abilities it is extremely difficult
to deal with, most traditional methods of algae control simply
don't work. Tinting the water and increasing shade is
ineffective, because it can move about and adjust its buoyancy
(one of the reasons it often floats up overnight) it will simply
migrate to the areas where there is light. It is very tolerant of
differing water conditions and can survive in conditions that
would kill fish or other plants, (it was one of the first
organisms to appear on earth, when the planet was still
inhospitable to most life). Like other animals it is able to
store the nutrients it needs when there is a surplus (Many of the
"nitrogen fixing bacteria" you want in your soil are
cyanobacteria) so massive, frequent water changes may help but
will not eliminate the problem.

The best way to proceed after removing excess decaying
material from the bottom of the pond is to combine physical
removal of the Cyanobacteria while encouraging the growth of
higher plants.

Cyanobacteria is uni-cellular (though it often grows in
colonies) so it is difficult to mechanically separate it from the
water, fortunately those cells are fairly large so a fine filter
like quilt batting will work (Though if you put the quilt batting
in your bio filter you need to change it regularly and be aware
that this may damage the "good bacteria" that are colonizing your
filter.)
You should also gently skim clumps off the surface with
something like an old nylon stocking (the finer the better).

Encourage your existing plants to grow and if necessary add more
plants, over time the higher plants will out compete the
cyanobacteria for the nutrients in the water... (which is pretty
much what has happened over the entire planet and is a good
solution to most algae problems).

You should also make water changes, but be aware that some water
sources contain phosphates (Some sources I've read suggest that
Cyanobacteria blooms in high phosphate conditions, primarily
because it can store nitrogen compounds)

I've also heard of people controlling it with small doses of
copper sulphate, though this is dangerous as even a small
overdose can kill your biofilter, invertebrates, plants and fish.

In a small pond or an aquarium it can be effectively controlled
with doses of Erythromycin (called Myacin as aquarium medication)
double the duration of the treatment from that listed on the
package. (This can get Very expensive Very quickly)...

Anyway if that was not already too much info you can check out
these links


A
HREF="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanointro.html"http://www.uc
mp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanointro.html/A

A
HREF="http://www-cyanosite.bio.purdue.edu/"http://www-cyanosite.bio.purdu
e.edu//A

A
HREF="http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ehp/ehd/catalogue/general/iyh/algea.htm"http
://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ehp/ehd/catalogue/general/iyh/algea.htm/A

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