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The Sting Alge is comming

My water is very clear but I can see String alge forming on the liner
all over.
Is there anything I can do?
My pond gets a lot of sun because I have a east west facing house and
the pond is in the back yard so from about 11am on its in the sun a
good part of the day. I have some shade for it but it really only helps
in the morning hours. I have anacharis in the pond and its doing fine
and now some new lily's comming to the top.
Whats the cure for string alge?

Thanks,
Chris

"Dude" wrote in message
ups.com...
My water is very clear but I can see String alge forming on the liner
all over.
Is there anything I can do?
My pond gets a lot of sun because I have a east west facing house and
the pond is in the back yard so from about 11am on its in the sun a
good part of the day. I have some shade for it but it really only helps
in the morning hours. I have anacharis in the pond and its doing fine
and now some new lily's comming to the top.
Whats the cure for string alge?

Broom handles. :)

--
BV
http://www.iheartmypond.com

Hi Chris,

I want to make sure that you've really got string algae
forming.
There are about a billion types of algae but mostly
we concern ourselves with
~ single cell, which makes the water look like pea soup
~ string algae, which looks like long, several inches to a foot, long
flowing hair
~ fuzzy algae, which grows on the liner, rocks, sides of plant baskets,
only gets a couple inches long
~ gloppy, gooey algae, which floats around in clumps, falls apart when
you try and net it out.

Of all these four types of algae, we like to encourage the fuzzy algae.
It is not bad for the pond, doesn't muck up the water or tangle plants
and fish. It helps use up nutrients in the pond that would otherwise
feed single cell, string or gooey algae. It provides hiding places for
infant fish, worms and insect larvae and is a source of food for the
pond fish as they eat up it, the infant fish, tasty worms and the
insect larvae. We think it is so good that we recommend not to scrub
the liner when cleaning out the pond.

Now if you've got the long, flowing, hair like, string algae...
remove it with a broom handle, a scrub brush, a stick. Just stick it in
the middle and twist. Some folks use some commercially availabe
products (they will post their favorite), some have poured koi clay or
plain kitty litter on it and it seems to disappear. My recommendation
is to cut back on nutrients - fish waste, decaying matter in the pond,
sunlight, runoff into the pond and too much fresh water in water
changes
-- all these are nutrients for string algae (and any other kind of
algae).

kathy :-)

www.blogfromthebog.com
new entry - attracting amphibians

Ahhh Haaa I see. Then I would say I have some string algae but mostly
fuzzy algae.
So this sounds like a good thing I guess and I will just leave it.
Right now I dont have any fish in the pond because I had ro redo it all
and clean it all out after most of my fish decided to try and swim the
gauntlet ( swim through the pump)
So its just been running now for a few weeks and I am ready to go get
some more fish now.

Ragards,
Chris

Dude wrote:
My water is very clear but I can see String alge forming on the liner
all over.
Is there anything I can do?
My pond gets a lot of sun because I have a east west facing house and
the pond is in the back yard so from about 11am on its in the sun a
good part of the day. I have some shade for it but it really only
helps
in the morning hours. I have anacharis in the pond and its doing fine
and now some new lily's comming to the top.
Whats the cure for string alge?

Thanks,
Chris

In a perfect pond or water garden there would be no algae. Your
filtration system and your aquatic plants would absorb the nitrates
that algae feed from.

Algae outbreaks are a sign that you may have too many fish, you are
overfeeding your fish, or you don't have enough pond plants to consume
it.

The resultant waste that cannot be handled is turned into ammonia, then
converted to Nitrites and finally Nitrates. You seriously need to think
that your pump and filter is overwhelmed and you need to get a bigger
pump to push more water through your biofilter, and also consider
adding another biofilter maybe in the form of an additional waterfall.

Here is a good simple chart to insure you are armed with the knowledge
to tackle your problems.

http://www.pondkoi.com/nitrogen.htm

Algae recommendation, R E L A X!

If it is true string algae it will form a mat at the surface, at which time
it is called "blanket weed". That is when it should be lifted out, imo. The
stuff that is under the surface should be left alone, the more of it there
is the more nutrients it will use up and one day, it just slows down and
disappears. Algae types have their season, usually short lived if you don't
get carried away raking it out or killing it with chemicals. Any string
algae type is better than SUSPENDED (pea soup) ALGAE. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:

If it is true string algae it will form a mat at the surface, at which time
it is called "blanket weed". That is when it should be lifted out, imo.

I lift out the blanket weed until it gets full of snails. Then, I think
it is better to not loose the snails and let them dispose of the blanket
weed. It works for me.
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
18,000 gallon (17'x 47'x 2-4') lily pond garden in Zone 6
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA