My pond is full of algae. I have tried algaecides (or whatever it is
called}. In a pond about 12 x 14 feet and maybe 3 feet deep in the center
I have three waterlilies, 3 arrowheads, two bullrushes, two irises and about
20 anacharis plants. Also a few parrot feathers. Have a biological filter
and a skimmer. Also have a huge (about 12 " in diameter) ball of barley
straw. And still I have algae.

There are 12 goldfish which I rarely feed and the algae was there before
the fish. There are four frogs that I know of.

So what am I doing wrong. The pond does receive full sun all day (when it
isn't cloudy, that is).

Right now I am reluctant to run the waterfall which runs the filter and
skimmer because I have a very few baby fish and don't want to hurt them.
Most of my goldfish are at least five years old and for some reason there
was only one or two little fish that made it to an inedible size in my pond
down by the woods (where I never have algae). Anyway, I need to replenish
my goldfish supply before they start dying of old age.

Incidentally, the two little fantails were transferred from a 10 gallon tank
to the outside pond and are doing fine. No sign of fin rot.

Will appreciate your comments.

It takes light and nutrients to make most types of algae
grow..........remove any of the above and it will retard the growth.
Most times just adding more plants to utilize the excess nutrients is
sufficient. Adding more aeration also helps. .Your going to have to
run a filter if you expect to catch any dead algae. Lock up the
phosporous so the algae can not use it and most of the algae will die
off........Aluminum sulphate will do this quite effectively......I
personally would not worry about any algae unless its the string type,
as it is beneficial to a pond and the fish. Just my take on algae.


On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 08:56:27 -0400, "pixi" wrote:

===My pond is full of algae. I have tried algaecides (or whatever it is
===called}. In a pond about 12 x 14 feet and maybe 3 feet deep in the center
===I have three waterlilies, 3 arrowheads, two bullrushes, two irises and about
===20 anacharis plants. Also a few parrot feathers. Have a biological filter
===and a skimmer. Also have a huge (about 12 " in diameter) ball of barley
===straw. And still I have algae.
===
===There are 12 goldfish which I rarely feed and the algae was there before
===the fish. There are four frogs that I know of.
===
===So what am I doing wrong. The pond does receive full sun all day (when it
===isn't cloudy, that is).
===
===Right now I am reluctant to run the waterfall which runs the filter and
===skimmer because I have a very few baby fish and don't want to hurt them.
===Most of my goldfish are at least five years old and for some reason there
===was only one or two little fish that made it to an inedible size in my pond
===down by the woods (where I never have algae). Anyway, I need to replenish
===my goldfish supply before they start dying of old age.
===
===Incidentally, the two little fantails were transferred from a 10 gallon tank
===to the outside pond and are doing fine. No sign of fin rot.
===
===Will appreciate your comments.
===


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

Pixi,

I would run the filter and waterfall. One of the cures that I have seen is
massive aeration. Another is filtration. The algae thrive on ammonia, in
fact make a pretty good biological filter. Add a little potash, 1
tablespoon per 1000 gallons to help the higher order plants compete with the
algae for the nutrients, and therefore starve the algae. The other
alternative is to get a good UV to kill the floating algae, and hope that it
is replaced by the good fuzzy sweater algae, rather than string algae.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html

"pixi" wrote in message
...
My pond is full of algae. I have tried algaecides (or whatever it is
called}. In a pond about 12 x 14 feet and maybe 3 feet deep in the
center
I have three waterlilies, 3 arrowheads, two bullrushes, two irises and
about
20 anacharis plants. Also a few parrot feathers. Have a biological
filter
and a skimmer. Also have a huge (about 12 " in diameter) ball of barley
straw. And still I have algae.

There are 12 goldfish which I rarely feed and the algae was there before
the fish. There are four frogs that I know of.

So what am I doing wrong. The pond does receive full sun all day (when
it
isn't cloudy, that is).

Right now I am reluctant to run the waterfall which runs the filter and
skimmer because I have a very few baby fish and don't want to hurt them.
Most of my goldfish are at least five years old and for some reason there
was only one or two little fish that made it to an inedible size in my
pond
down by the woods (where I never have algae). Anyway, I need to replenish
my goldfish supply before they start dying of old age.

Incidentally, the two little fantails were transferred from a 10 gallon
tank
to the outside pond and are doing fine. No sign of fin rot.

Will appreciate your comments.

"pixi" wrote in message
...
Right now I am reluctant to run the waterfall which runs the filter and
skimmer because I have a very few baby fish and don't want to hurt them.
==========================
I run my filters 24/7 - from spring until the water temps drop below 50F or
so. If you have some type of safety net over your pump intake the babies
should do ok. I have my pump in 2 plant baskets wired together like
clam-shells. The pump isn't near plants where baby fish hang out. Your
pond needs water circulation. I hope you at lest have a bubbler of some
type running so it doesn't get stagnant and kill all your fish.
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Here is my suggestion. Stop putting chemicals in your pond, and get your bio filtration stystem going. As previously suggested you can modify your filter to protect your baby fish. Here is a link that might make you think differently about what causes, and how to solve the algea problem. I find this authors' observations to be true in my experiences. Happy ponding.

http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/GRENH2O.html

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 08:56:27 -0400, "pixi" wrote:

My pond is full of algae. I have tried algaecides (or whatever it is
called}.

Stop that.

Right now I am reluctant to run the waterfall which runs the filter and
skimmer because I have a very few baby fish and don't want to hurt them.

Start this.

If you're seeing a few, there is quite a few more you're not seeing, more
than you need to survive. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

~ janj JJsPond.us wrote:

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 08:56:27 -0400, "pixi" wrote:

My pond is full of algae. I have tried algaecides (or whatever it is
called}.

Stop that.

Right now I am reluctant to run the waterfall which runs the filter and
skimmer because I have a very few baby fish and don't want to hurt them.

Start this.

If you're seeing a few, there is quite a few more you're not seeing, more
than you need to survive. ~ jan

Also, while I have seen and heard of fish getting caught in filters, it
happens surprisingly rarely. The ones, that I know of, all survived the
experience (thought it's fair to assume that the ones that didn't survive
left no evidence :-( )
--
derek

Here is my suggestion. Stop putting chemicals in your pond, and get your bio filtration stystem going. As previously suggested you can modify your filter to protect your baby fish. Here is a link that might make you think differently about what causes, and how to solve the algea problem. I find this authors' observations to be true in my experiences. Happy ponding.

http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/GRENH2O.html

Also, while I have seen and heard of fish getting caught in filters, it
happens surprisingly rarely. The ones, that I know of, all survived the
experience (thought it's fair to assume that the ones that didn't survive
left no evidence :-( ) Derek

And I always wonder if there wasn't something wrong with those before they
hit the filter anyway, some weakness or other. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 07:51:54 -0700, Courageous
wrote:


Once you have established good biofiltration again, and we, the group,
have determined that your biofilter is big enough for your pond, you
might consider a UV filter. Appropriately sized, this will stop green
water dead in its tracks.

A temporary solution, that you could do right now, would be to toss in
a bunch of calcium bentonite clay, while your system is circulating.
You should be able to find this at any koi supply place. Don't be afraid
to use treble or quadruple what they recommmend. Expect muddy water for
a day or so, nothing wrong, to be expected. Then everything should clear
up, see all the way to the bottom type of stuff.

C//

What does the bentonite clay do???

My pond is full of algae. I have tried algaecides (or whatever it is
called}. In a pond about 12 x 14 feet and maybe 3 feet deep in the center
I have three waterlilies, 3 arrowheads, two bullrushes, two irises and about
20 anacharis plants. Also a few parrot feathers. Have a biological filter
and a skimmer. Also have a huge (about 12 " in diameter) ball of barley
straw. And still I have algae.

Sometimes, you're just gonna have algae. But let's talk about your biofilter
size. Your pond, assuming about a 1.5 foot average depth, is about 2,000 gallons.
Maybe your filter is weak?

Right now I am reluctant to run the waterfall which runs the filter and
skimmer because I have a very few baby fish and don't want to hurt them.

If you're not running the filter, you have a problem. A bio filter
really should be run 24/7. Futher, if a biofilter is stopped, it often
kills all the good bacteria that makes the filter work, requiring a
good week or two to get going again once restarted.

Will appreciate your comments.

Once you have established good biofiltration again, and we, the group,
have determined that your biofilter is big enough for your pond, you
might consider a UV filter. Appropriately sized, this will stop green
water dead in its tracks.

A temporary solution, that you could do right now, would be to toss in
a bunch of calcium bentonite clay, while your system is circulating.
You should be able to find this at any koi supply place. Don't be afraid
to use treble or quadruple what they recommmend. Expect muddy water for
a day or so, nothing wrong, to be expected. Then everything should clear
up, see all the way to the bottom type of stuff.

C//

"Courageous" wrote in message
...
Calcium bentonite is similar to the ingredenients of kitty litter.
It's both absorbant and charged. Suck. Zap. Everything dissolved in
the water, now in the bentonite. As a bonus, it also releases trace
minerals into the water, that the koi like. Google for it.

C//
==========================
I used regular plan old kitty litter from Wally World and it worked. Now
this may be a coincidence, but everything cleared up but one pool of fry
that was greener than green. :-) I guess I'll just toss some more in that
one and see what happens.
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 07:45:35 -0700, Courageous
wrote:

What does the bentonite clay do???

Calcium bentonite is similar to the ingredenients of kitty litter.
It's both absorbant and charged. Suck. Zap. Everything dissolved in
the water, now in the bentonite. As a bonus, it also releases trace
minerals into the water, that the koi like. Google for it.

C//

There's been some more information regarding kitty litter as cheap koi
clay. Unfortunately kitty litter is usually sodium bentionite not the
calcium. I think Roy mentioned something about this a while back. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

I had the same problem.
I took some ridged plastic tubing about 5/8" diameter that I had laying
around and cut 4 pieces to and hot glued them to form a rectangle the
same size as my skimmer opening. Then I hot glued some black plastic
fruit tree netting across. You can go finer with the mesh but then you
will have to clean more often. But it keeps the small fish out of the
skimmer.


pixi wrote:
Right now I am reluctant to run the waterfall which runs the filter and
skimmer because I have a very few baby fish and don't want to hurt them.

I have lost a small fish (1.5") in the skimmer before.
By the time I found him he seems to have died from exhaustion fighting
the flow. This was a fairly new fish at the time. I think the
experience fish know to stay away from the skimmer. I see them poking
around the edges everywhere else.

Derek Broughton wrote:

~ janj JJsPond.us wrote:


If you're seeing a few, there is quite a few more you're not seeing, more
than you need to survive. ~ jan


Also, while I have seen and heard of fish getting caught in filters, it
happens surprisingly rarely. The ones, that I know of, all survived the
experience (thought it's fair to assume that the ones that didn't survive
left no evidence :-( )