Pond Algea Control

[Kaush]

I have a natural pond which is about 250 litres in volume. At the moment it has two lemon goldfish, five small golden orfe and one small ghost carp. I have a water lilly in which has been in the pond for about three weeks and it has four leaves that come out if the water, two bunches of elodea and one water hyacinth. The sides of the pond get covered in what look like hair algea, and if i scrub it of one day, it will have grown back the next day. Is there anyway to get rid of this algea? I have a floating straw bundle in there at the moment and I am going to try and get a small pump which will act as a small water fountain to get some water movement, will this do anything to help the water clarity? I have heard that the hyacinths do a good job of clearing the water but the day after I put the hyacinth in it had a massive chunk missing from the bottom of it and i thought this might have been the ghost carp so I suspended it in some of that staw looking stuff you use to pot aquatic plants in and the carp couldn't get to the bottom of it, but somehow some of the top of the hyacinth has been eaten. Now I am not expert but I am pretty sure that the ghost carp couldn't have eaten the top of the hyacinth. The only other things I have around the pond are some common frogs and the general bird lifwe such as magpies, crows, robins and blackbirds. I have not had any sucess with water hyacinths in the past and I don't know why. Can anyone help me with these issues please?

 

[saph.st24]

hi

my koi ate my hyacinth too and i had to remove my lillies from the koi pond to the goldie pond as they tried to eat them check you havent got a snail on the plant
as for the algea well sounds like blanket weed you really need a pump filter and uv.
the uv will help kill off the algea, the pump and filter will clear the dead algea and help with the clarity of your pond
but you need to get a filter big enough for the size of your pond and be able to cope with fish waste and algea so work out the size of you pond water volume and then double it for the size of filter needed,

 

[Kaush]

Thanks for the advise. I have been looking into getting a filter but getting electricity outside is going to be a bit of a problem. Are there any ways to get rid of the blanket algea without needing electricity? If not I may be able to get a small pump which would act as a water feature pumping water up which would create some water movement, would this be enough to get rid of the blanket weed?

 

[saltynay]

I use a machete and carve out all of it each day for a week, this gives my plants time to establish themselves and normally that is sufficient to keep it at bay for most of the year.

 

[simonas]

I have blanket weed now in my pond and I wish a filter got rid of it!!!This was my first sping as a pond keeper and it has stopped mmy plants growing, gotsome hay in there now see if that works, if not I'll have to try some chemical

as far as algae is concerned a uv filter works wonders!! just changed bulb on mine nd diference is amazing

you may have too many fish also for 250 litres

 

[Venus911]

Stop feeding your fish and they will start eating the algae; which is extremely nutritious. Algae feeds off nitrates which is often a big problem in cycled ponds and tanks. Algae is actually a sign of a very healthy ecosystem. Typically, where you see plants, you won't find algae and vice versa because of the competition for nitrates.

Lillies don't do well in water where the surface has a lot of action, so adding a fountain or a pump may cause them to die out, but it would be beneficial for the fish.

If I were you I'd encourage the algae. If the algae is growing and attached to the wall of your pond; it's substrate algae; which doesn't decrease oxygen levels. Blanket or string algae covers the surface of the water decreasing oxygen levels. Substrate algae is good stuff.

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[Kaush]

Thanks for the info, your site is really good, very informative.

Before I read your reply I went to the pond shop and bought three marginals in order to try and starve the algea of its nutriens. I bought a Papyrus, Lavendar Musk and some form of Iris Hybrid. I placed them all in the pond at the top level, so they are covered with about an inch of water, is this ok? Only the lavendar musk is in a pot with holes in it, the others are in solid containers, will they still be able to absorb the nutrients? I didnt feed the fish for the last three days and I fed them today and they looked really hungry and were feeding very energetically. I havnt been feeding them in an attempt to get them to stop hiding. The thing is that whenever I walk near the pond all the fish hide at the bottom by the elodea and will only come up to feed when I walk away. Is there anyway to get them to come up and feed, almost hand feed like koi do? I was contemplating introducing a few 1inch koi to try and get the other fish to come out. Any ideas?

 

[saph.st24]

my koi eat some of the algea but they just cant keep up with the growth rate of the blanket weed thankfully it dying off
the barley straw will take months to break down and start working in the meantime you could use barley straw extract
if you cant get a uv and filter (which you really should get )you could also try putting shade over the pond with say a gazebo or something this will help reduce the algea growth staving it of the sunlight it needs

 

[saltynay]

The fish need to grow with confidence, If you feed them then linger over the water they will come out and eat with you there then gradually you just have to keep tempting them. Mine were very skittish but now they eat off my fingers however any sudden movements and the dart away again.

 

[three-fingers]

Just to reiterate what simonas has said, you have way to many fish for that size of pond, especially considering it's "natural" with no filter.

Unless you have or will be building a much bigger pond within around the next year, sell all the fish except the goldfish.

Koi get huge and orfe get too big too but are even more active surface dwelling fish.

Your going to end up with stunted unhealthy fish, or they will just all die one winter when the pond freezes over.

 

[Kaush]

I am aware that there are too many fish for such a pond, and I am in the process of creating a bigger pond, but I just wanted to see if I could do it without a filter. I am building a pond which will be a few thousand litres in volume, but I am pretty sure I will need a filter for it.

Is there anyway for me to create a filter without electricty, because the current pond is small compared to the filters that are made?

 

[saph.st24]

i dont think there anyway without electric

why dont you invest in a pump and make your own filter

 

[saltynay]

Ammolock and zeolite will remove ammonia these are difficult to regulate though to get stable water quality. Plants are best used nature still is still beating man on the non-electrical front. Also heard you can get solar ones but most are a large investment.

 

[three-fingers]

I've seen the solar ones for sale at Dobbies, they aren't incredibly expensive, but they are to get the equivalent performance (they are very simple low turnover pumps). I remember them being £30-£60.

 

[saltynay]

I've seen the solar ones for sale at Dobbies, they aren't incredibly expensive, but they are to get the equivalent performance (they are very simple low turnover pumps). I remember them being £30-£60.

Thats what I meant to get a filter of equal performance you have to go pretty much full out with large solar panels.