I know this isn't strictly a gardening issue, but the group FAQ didn't
have any pointers, so I thought I'd give it a go here and see what
transpired.

I have a largish pond in the new garden, about 11' radius and approx
2' deep, apart from a ledge about 1' deep and wide round the
circumference. By my calculations this gives me an approximate volume
of 4,300 gals or 19,600 ltrs.

Like the rest of the garden, this pond has obviously been neglected
for at least 5 yrs before we got here, and although there are a number
of goldfish (around 35 we think) and a small number of larger fish
(possibly koi - I'm no expert), they're difficult to see because the
water is a particularlt turgid green colour. I suspect there's a fair
amount of debris on the bottom of the pond which won't be helping.
There's enough plant life round the edges to keep the toads and frogs
happy, and a few waterlilies which bloom quiute spectacularly in the
summer.

Last year we tried Algo-rem from Tetra, and whilst we observed a
small improvement over the summer, the pond *really* cleared up during
the winter, but once the sun and any form of heat came back in spring
this year, we're back to the same green murk once again. I also have
some barley straw bundles which I was also told would help, but as yet
(2 months on) they're not looking very efficient.

Has anyone tried any of the pond vaccuums which you see advertised? I
REALLY want to get this sorted, and am willing to go to the trouble of
draining the pond if neccessary, but would rather not, so am looking
for other alternatives first.

Cheers, and thanks for listening. If there's another group that might
be more appropriate, I apologise, but I couldn't find anything from a
cursory trawl of Google.

Thanks again

Tim

In article , Tim Nicholson
wrote:

I know this isn't strictly a gardening issue, but the group FAQ didn't
have any pointers, so I thought I'd give it a go here and see what
transpired.

I have a largish pond in the new garden, about 11' radius and approx
2' deep, apart from a ledge about 1' deep and wide round the
circumference. By my calculations this gives me an approximate volume
of 4,300 gals or 19,600 ltrs.

Like the rest of the garden, this pond has obviously been neglected
for at least 5 yrs before we got here, and although there are a number
of goldfish (around 35 we think) and a small number of larger fish
(possibly koi - I'm no expert), they're difficult to see because the
water is a particularlt turgid green colour. I suspect there's a fair
amount of debris on the bottom of the pond which won't be helping.
There's enough plant life round the edges to keep the toads and frogs
happy, and a few waterlilies which bloom quiute spectacularly in the
summer.

I think your best bet would be to install a filtration system -
solids-handling pump + mechanical/biological filter + UV clarifier
....or plant some shrubs - sunlight is the main promoter of algae and
you can dramatically improve the quality of your water just by
increasing the amount of shade.

Stan

Stan The Man writes:

[snip]

I think your best bet would be to install a filtration system -
solids-handling pump + mechanical/biological filter + UV clarifier
...or plant some shrubs - sunlight is the main promoter of algae and
you can dramatically improve the quality of your water just by
increasing the amount of shade.

To reduce the sunlight, he's probably better off using floating plants
rather than shrubs. There are quite a lot to choose from at
http://www.bromfieldaquatics.co.uk/ who I've heard good reports about.

Stan

Alan

--
Alan Williams, Room IT301, Department of Computer Science,
University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, U.K.
Tel: +44 161 275 6270 Fax: +44 161 275 6280

In article , Tim Nicholson
writes
Last year we tried Algo-rem from Tetra, and whilst we observed a
small improvement over the summer, the pond *really* cleared up during
the winter, but once the sun and any form of heat came back in spring
this year, we're back to the same green murk once again. I also have
some barley straw bundles which I was also told would help, but as yet
(2 months on) they're not looking very efficient.

Has anyone tried any of the pond vaccuums which you see advertised? I
REALLY want to get this sorted, and am willing to go to the trouble of
draining the pond if neccessary, but would rather not, so am looking
for other alternatives first.

Have you tried planting plants with floating leaves to keep sunshine way
from the pond? Usual recommendation is to have half to two thirds of
the pond covered.

Your descriptions suggests you have a well balanced pond and it would be
a great shame to disturb it.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

On Wed, 5 May 2004 18:29:53 +0100, Kay Easton
wrote:


Have you tried planting plants with floating leaves to keep sunshine way
from the pond? Usual recommendation is to have half to two thirds of
the pond covered.

Your descriptions suggests you have a well balanced pond and it would be
a great shame to disturb it.

Yes we have - as well as the plants that are growing already, we
bought another couple of lilies a couple of weeks ago, and are waiting
until we see signs of life before submerging them completely (at the
mo' they're just below the surface on the shallow edge rim) but I
expect to get anything like 40% or so coverage I'll probably need a
few more.

Thanks for the advice - keep it coming!

Tim

Tim Nicholson wrote:

snips...
this year, we're back to the same green murk once again. I also have
some barley straw bundles which I was also told would help, but as yet
(2 months on) they're not looking very efficient.

snips ...

We have quite good success with barley straw. You do need a reasonable
quantity and I find that it works best if put in early - begining of
February. I guess this allows the bacteria to plenty of time to get to
work and it starts acting before the algae have a chance to build up.

--
Larry Stoter

Tim Nicholson wrote in message . ..
I know this isn't strictly a gardening issue, but the group FAQ didn't
have any pointers, so I thought I'd give it a go here and see what
transpired.

I have a largish pond in the new garden, about 11' radius and approx
2' deep, apart from a ledge about 1' deep and wide round the
circumference. By my calculations this gives me an approximate volume
of 4,300 gals or 19,600 ltrs.

Like the rest of the garden, this pond has obviously been neglected
for at least 5 yrs before we got here, and although there are a number
of goldfish (around 35 we think) and a small number of larger fish
(possibly koi - I'm no expert), they're difficult to see because the
water is a particularlt turgid green colour. I suspect there's a fair
amount of debris on the bottom of the pond which won't be helping.
There's enough plant life round the edges to keep the toads and frogs
happy, and a few waterlilies which bloom quiute spectacularly in the
summer.

Last year we tried Algo-rem from Tetra, and whilst we observed a
small improvement over the summer, the pond *really* cleared up during
the winter, but once the sun and any form of heat came back in spring
this year, we're back to the same green murk once again. I also have
some barley straw bundles which I was also told would help, but as yet
(2 months on) they're not looking very efficient.

Has anyone tried any of the pond vaccuums which you see advertised? I
REALLY want to get this sorted, and am willing to go to the trouble of
draining the pond if neccessary, but would rather not, so am looking
for other alternatives first.

Cheers, and thanks for listening. If there's another group that might
be more appropriate, I apologise, but I couldn't find anything from a
cursory trawl of Google.

Thanks again

Tim

Draining your pond might be counterproductive as adding fresh water
would add fresh fertilizers to your pond. Much better to add plants
such as water lily or water hawthorn which will reduce the amount of
sunlight entering the pond by covering the surface. You should aim to
cover at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the surface. Barley straw is excellent
but you need a lot of it. My pond is about 16' diameter and shelves to
2'6" deep, and I use two ex seed potato nets which each held 3kg of
spuds. I weight the nets with a large stone and position them under
the outfall from a filter. i.e the return from a 20 gallon filter box.
Hope this helps
Tony Bull
www.caterpillarfountain.co.uk

"Tim Nicholson" wrote in message
...

I know this isn't strictly a gardening issue, but the group FAQ didn't
have any pointers, so I thought I'd give it a go here and see what
transpired.

I have a largish pond in the new garden, about 11' radius and approx
2' deep, apart from a ledge about 1' deep and wide round the
circumference. By my calculations this gives me an approximate volume
of 4,300 gals or 19,600 ltrs.

Like the rest of the garden, this pond has obviously been neglected
for at least 5 yrs before we got here, and although there are a number
of goldfish (around 35 we think) and a small number of larger fish
(possibly koi - I'm no expert), they're difficult to see because the
water is a particularlt turgid green colour. I suspect there's a fair
amount of debris on the bottom of the pond which won't be helping.
There's enough plant life round the edges to keep the toads and frogs
happy, and a few waterlilies which bloom quiute spectacularly in the
summer.

Last year we tried Algo-rem from Tetra, and whilst we observed a
small improvement over the summer, the pond *really* cleared up during
the winter, but once the sun and any form of heat came back in spring
this year, we're back to the same green murk once again. I also have
some barley straw bundles which I was also told would help, but as yet
(2 months on) they're not looking very efficient.

Has anyone tried any of the pond vaccuums which you see advertised? I
REALLY want to get this sorted, and am willing to go to the trouble of
draining the pond if neccessary, but would rather not, so am looking
for other alternatives first.

Cheers, and thanks for listening. If there's another group that might
be more appropriate, I apologise, but I couldn't find anything from a
cursory trawl of Google.

Thanks again

Tim


Draining wont do it it will just reoccur. As already posted there are
several routes to clear(er) water, the one that worked for me was a filter
with a UV light, plus lilies (though it was the UV light that really did it,
the lilies just help to keep it clearer. IME chemicals to clear the water
dont work well and do harm the plants.

I have copied this to free.uk.nature.ponds.

--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks for email address

In article , Tim Nicholson
wrote:

Hi, I'm not really even a lurker here - just dropped in tracking someone
else's x-posts but while I'm in the area...

I have a largish pond in the new garden, about 11' radius and approx
2' deep, apart from a ledge about 1' deep and wide round the
circumference. By my calculations this gives me an approximate volume
of 4,300 gals or 19,600 ltrs.

Like the rest of the garden, this pond has obviously been neglected
for at least 5 yrs before we got here, and although there are a number
of goldfish (around 35 we think) and a small number of larger fish
(possibly koi - I'm no expert), they're difficult to see because the
water is a particularlt turgid green colour. I suspect there's a fair
amount of debris on the bottom of the pond which won't be helping.
There's enough plant life round the edges to keep the toads and frogs
happy, and a few waterlilies which bloom quiute spectacularly in the
summer.

Sounds like a fairly healthy water but suffering from the usual small-pond
problem of insufficient large predators. Remove about threequarters of your
fish and you'll probably see a pretty rapid response.

Sunlight supports algal growth, various invertebrates eat the algae, the
fish eat the invertebrates. Cut the fish numbers and you leave enough
inverts to keep the algae down. A few straw bundles, tangled weed refuges
and maybe an inoculation of daphnia will all help.

The fish will rapidly grow/breed to utilise the resource btw, you'll have to
take more out from time to time.

Hth, Cheerio,

--

"Derek.Moody" wrote in message
...
In article , Tim Nicholson
wrote:

Hi, I'm not really even a lurker here - just dropped in tracking someone
else's x-posts but while I'm in the area...

I have a largish pond in the new garden, about 11' radius and approx
2' deep, apart from a ledge about 1' deep and wide round the
circumference. By my calculations this gives me an approximate volume
of 4,300 gals or 19,600 ltrs.

Like the rest of the garden, this pond has obviously been neglected
for at least 5 yrs before we got here, and although there are a number
of goldfish (around 35 we think) and a small number of larger fish
(possibly koi - I'm no expert), they're difficult to see because the
water is a particularlt turgid green colour. I suspect there's a fair
amount of debris on the bottom of the pond which won't be helping.
There's enough plant life round the edges to keep the toads and frogs
happy, and a few waterlilies which bloom quiute spectacularly in the
summer.

Yes I have a pond vacuum, and it does a great job of removing the sludge
from the bottom of the pond but it is no good for blanket weed. I only
remove excess sludge as I believe that the animal life in the sludge is
helpful in filtering the water. I have a UV filter which keeps the water
clear without the need for large filter boxes etc. My pond is 6 meters x 4
x 1deep so large enough. hope this answers your question.
Diane

SNIP

Cheers, and thanks for listening. If there's another group that might
be more appropriate, I apologise, but I couldn't find anything from a
cursory trawl of Google.

Thanks again

Tim

Google list rec.ponds and great group with plenty of advice. BTW fish don't
mind green water and herons can't see them either.

Paul

"Tumbleweed" wrote in message
. ..
"Tim Nicholson" wrote in message
...

snipped
water is a particularly turgid green colour...
Last year we tried Algo-rem from Tetra, and whilst we observed a
small improvement over the summer, the pond *really* cleared up during
the winter, but once the sun and any form of heat came back in spring
this year, we're back to the same green murk once again. I also have
some barley straw bundles which I was also told would help, but as yet
(2 months on) they're not looking very efficient.

Draining wont do it it will just reoccur. As already posted there are
several routes to clear(er) water, the one that worked for me was a filter
with a UV light, plus lilies (though it was the UV light that really did
it,
the lilies just help to keep it clearer. IME chemicals to clear the water
dont work well and do harm the plants.

I agree with Tumbleweed - chemicals don't seem to make much difference and I
am wary of their effect on the fish. I can't confirm whether barley straw
bundles work, though I did leave one in the pond last summer (the water
always clears in winter as algae, etc. dies). I also have a shade which
offers some protection from the sun during the summer, reducing algae
growth. If your pond has been badly neglected it might be necessary to drain
it and clear away all the rotting debris, and a vacuum pump might be the
answer, but you should only need to do that once. Nothing beats a good
filter system (left on permanently) and regular maintenance - removing
unwanted leaves, algae, etc.
HTH
Gilbert