Basically I have a pond which is fine, clear as glass really and no UV
filter on it. It isnt a very large pond as far as they go but its all going
great....

My mothers pond on the other hand is completely green with suspended algae.
She has a larger pond than I do. Before she had a small filter which had a
UV light in it but we swapped it for a larger filter without UV.

Yesterday I fixed it so that the pump is pumping to both the larger filter
and the small one with the UV lamp in it. How long should it take to become
clear? I've heard that you need to replace the UV bulb every year, should I
do that today?

Since it is very green should we empty out some or most of the water and
start with fresh tapwater to give the UV lamp less to do or just let it rip
on the super green water?

Poor old mum is getting a bit stressed out.

Many thanks for your help,

Regards,

Dan Bowles

Hi Dan!
I'll let the UV users address your UV questions.
And I'll post the algae primer to help you pinpoint what is going on in your
mom's pond.
Hopefully we can solve the problem!


Algae fighting tips
~ Nutrients for all forms of algae are sun, new water, fish waste, fertilized
run off, rotting plants, blown in dirt.
~ New ponds and spring ponds need time for plants to get established, algae is
quicker at getting going.
~ add plants, of any kind, in the pond. Especially underwater plants.
~ Shade is good - provided by lily pads, floating plants or artificial shade
for part of the day.
~ LOW fish stocking (20 gallons per goldfish, 100 per koi after starting with
1,000 gallons) and *not* overfeeding the fish. Too many fish and too much
feeding is probably responsible for most pea soup water, followed closely by
too much decaying plant matter, sludge and overall gunk in the water
~ adding a combination mechanical and biological filter to screen gunk and
convert fishy ammonia waste for fish health.
~ do not use algaecides, they only make lots of suddenly dead algae
and that will feed the next algae bloom.
~ do not worry about algae that grows on things (substrate algae) this is good
for a pond
~ gently remove string algae
~ build a veggie filter, to run water through plants
- as easy as floating water hyacinth in your filter or
Ingrid's post on plant filters:
The essence of a plant filter is a water proof container with the water from
the pond
being pumped in one end flowing thru the roots of various plants and flowing
back
into the pond at the other end.
It needs to be long enough that solids settle to the bottom OR have filter
material
that will slow or hold the solids (and get rinsed out periodically).
It needs plants of different kinds to maximize removal of all wastes.
it needs sufficient amount of plants to remove in one day all the wastes
produced by
the fish load in one day. It needs plants with extensive roots and/or plants
that get big so they used up more
nutrients. It needs to be only 8-12" deep so it doesnt go anaerobic.
~ clean up dead plant matter and screen for falling leaves
in the fall. Clean out pond once a year.
~ water movement, occasional water changes of 10%
~ add a sludge consumer, concentrated bacteria.
many rec.ponders use http://www.united-tech.com/m-aq4u-toc.html
~ Check your pH, too high, over 8.8, or too low, under 6.4, and most higher
plant forms can't take up the nutrients.
~ building ponds with bottom drains and skimmers.
~ UV lights work on suspended algae (green water) - does cost some $$.
~ patience and time ;-)


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Let the uv do its thing. Adding lots of new water just helps grow lots of
new algae. The bulbs do lose intensity over time. Some say as much as 40%
per year, and that means the effectiveness the next year is pretty low to
get the same results as last year. Give it a week and see what happens, and
if it is not clearing, then buy a new bulb.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html
"Dan" wrote in message
...
Basically I have a pond which is fine, clear as glass really and no UV
filter on it. It isnt a very large pond as far as they go but its all
going
great....

My mothers pond on the other hand is completely green with suspended
algae.
She has a larger pond than I do. Before she had a small filter which had a
UV light in it but we swapped it for a larger filter without UV.

Yesterday I fixed it so that the pump is pumping to both the larger filter
and the small one with the UV lamp in it. How long should it take to
become
clear? I've heard that you need to replace the UV bulb every year, should
I
do that today?

Since it is very green should we empty out some or most of the water and
start with fresh tapwater to give the UV lamp less to do or just let it
rip
on the super green water?

Poor old mum is getting a bit stressed out.

Many thanks for your help,

Regards,

Dan Bowles

Otoh, if one hasn't done a water change in the last 2 weeks or more, a
20-25% will help (assuming one is using city water and not irrigation or
well water with high nitrates). ~ jan

On Sun, 30 May 2004 01:25:18 GMT, "RichToyBox" wrote:

Let the uv do its thing. Adding lots of new water just helps grow lots of
new algae. The bulbs do lose intensity over time. Some say as much as 40%
per year, and that means the effectiveness the next year is pretty low to
get the same results as last year. Give it a week and see what happens, and
if it is not clearing, then buy a new bulb.

(Do you know where your water quality is?)

Many thanks for your replies guys!

We went and got a new bulb and put that in so hopefully itll be on its way
to clearing.

What had happened was that the fish in the pond were spawning and the water
had become very "polluted" (fine as far as dangerous chemicals go) but it
seemed that the algae was feeding on what the fish has done to the water,
maybe it was coincidence though...I only have 3 years of ponding experience
so far.
Anyway mum decided to replace around 2/3 of the water in the pond which im
not sure was a great idea since the algae in there fed like mad and made it
as much of a pea soup as it was before.

[Ka30p] - That "algae checklist" is wonderful, ive emailed it to my mum and
she has it printed out.

Thanks again for your great help!

Many Regards,

Dan

Xref: kermit rec.ponds:148562

Dan,
Is your UV matched to your pump and pond capacity?

BTW, I don't believe in UV.

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

"Dan" wrote in message
...
Many thanks for your replies guys!

We went and got a new bulb and put that in so hopefully itll be on its way
to clearing.

What had happened was that the fish in the pond were spawning and the
water
had become very "polluted" (fine as far as dangerous chemicals go) but it
seemed that the algae was feeding on what the fish has done to the water,
maybe it was coincidence though...I only have 3 years of ponding
experience
so far.
Anyway mum decided to replace around 2/3 of the water in the pond which im
not sure was a great idea since the algae in there fed like mad and made
it
as much of a pea soup as it was before.

[Ka30p] - That "algae checklist" is wonderful, ive emailed it to my mum
and
she has it printed out.

Thanks again for your great help!

Many Regards,

Dan

On Sun, 30 May 2004 09:07:07 +0100, "Dan"
wrote:

Anyway mum decided to replace around 2/3 of the water in the pond which im
not sure was a great idea since the algae in there fed like mad and made it
as much of a pea soup as it was before.

Yup, not a good idea, unless there's a serious toxic chemical problem like
pesticides or runoff, one should never do more than a 25% change. Hard on
the critters and upsets any balance one is trying to achieve. You might
want to send her this website: http://www.koiclubsandiego.org/H2oQual.html
and tell her to read Water Change Outs and Green Water. ~ jan


(Do you know where your water quality is?)