I have just set up my first "pond". I have had it up and going for about three weeks. I have seven water lilies, some parrots feathers and floating hearts. How long does it take to get rid of all the algae? The top of it looks like green buttermilk. I also have about 30 comet goldfish. Is there something else I am suppose to do? I feel like I am doing alittle something right, I took this picture yesterday morning of my Wally World special. Thanks Melanie
Melaine...there are ALOT of variables involved...I would suggest that you do a web search
green pond water
watergarden maintenance
etc
and then ask any particular questions that you have and I'm sure someone can help :)
WOW.... is that pond as big as it looks? Is that pond liner I see all around the sides? Two things come to mind from what I see. According to the "experts" I have talked to... more plants will make the algae problem more managable. The second is the exposed pond liner, if thats what I see in the pic. Sunlight is supposed to break down the liner over time and it is recommended to cover any exposed liner with something.
Back to the algae problem. It is a rather complex formula. Some of the variables are... age of the pond, plants and animals(large and microscopic animals), mineral content of the water, available sunlight and kinds of pond filtration. As complex as it may be, they can be simple to work out as many are interdependent. Searching the site here will provide you with some good info. Checking out the library or some books from your pond store might be worthwhile.
The one thing I can suggest to help a young pond get balanced is go to a creek or lake and harvest some microscopic critters for your pond. Daphnia is one that comes to mind. There is a good thread here some place about microscopic pond critters. I got some for our pond and it seems to be helping with the string algae. I'll do some looking and edit this post with the link to that thread. Good luck... Tom
OK... here it is... http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/492729/
Especially check out the links posted on the thread around Apr 20, very interesting stuff... Tom
This message was edited Jul 6, 2005 7:21 AM
Thanks for the information!! My pond is a wanna-be. My husband had a accident and so funds are very tight. What you see is an actual swimming pool. We cut the sides down by half. Lined it with three layers of black plastic, 4.5 mil. We are actually using the pool filter, with out the cartridge. It measures 18ft.x18ft.x24inches. Maybe I have bit off more than I can chew!! But loving every minute of it!! Thanks again!!
How many gallons does that translate to? Wow!
If the pond(pool) is circular, that should translate to 2900 gallons at 2 feet deep.
As far as what else you can do, it seems like you could use a form of biological filtration. Using the pool filter without the cartridge sounds like not much filtration is actually taking place. If you have a way to attach some 2" PVC to the filter/pump inlet, there is an inexpensive way to make a decent filter. Get some PVC, 2" or larger, maybe 3 feet long or longer. Get some polyester batting to wrap around the PVC pipe, if you have a pond supply place near by, they may have some filter material that would work better. The kind we have looks something like you would see in an AC filter. Before you wrap the PVC pipe, drill many 1/4 inch holes in it... make it look like a collander. Put several layers of batting around the pipe. Cap off one end of the pipe. Attach this pipe (filter) to the inlet of the pool filter/pump. The pic is our filter... it is green with algae, and thats what you want. Our pond is only about 180 gallons so our filter is only about 12 inches long. The pipe is 2" diameter so it has a little more than an inch of batting wrapped around it. The algae growing on the filter medium aids the filtration process. Rinse the bulk of the algae off the filter about once a month. It makes good fertilizer... so rinse it over the flower bed. By the way, all new ponds go thru a pea soup phase, so you are not doing anything wrong. I think the addition of a proper filter will help the process.
The idea of adding more plants reduces the amount of sunlight going into the water. This in turn slows the growth of the algae. Basically... more sunlight = faster growing algae + need for more filtration. The addition of aquatic critters will also help keep the algae in check as many of them feed on the algae. Hope this helps... Tom
It's good to take some pond water in a bucket and rinse your filter medium out in that; some tap water can kill the good biological filter you have going, so pondwater is a good bet. I usually dip two buckets out, so I have a spare when one of our filter sponges is really nasty. Then, I just pour some of that nice soupy pond water onto various plants that could use a treat. ;)
This message was edited Jul 6, 2005 4:56 PM
I did a double check last night on my plants, I have two pickrell, eight waterlilies two water hyacinths, a bunch of (what I was told) floating hearts, parrots feathers. I have an upper pond (one of those hard shell forms) that was cracked and turned it into a water fall. The return hose from my "pump" goes into it and that is where I have all of my bog plants. It is loaded with them. My daughter told me to put pea gravel and lava rocks into that, and that would help. I also have a lotus, sitting outside of the pond , to heavy to put on the inside. I did notice one thing yesterday, in the morning all the algae is on the bottom, by lunch time you can actuall watch the algae come to the top. Do you think that I could use dacron ( used in upholstery) around my return hose?
It sounds like you might have enough plants, it will just take time for them to grow and cover more surface area of the pond.
As for the dacron, I think that might work, but put it on the inflow side of the pump, not the return side. If you can find some that is rather coarse and stiff it would work better, you don't want it to bunch up around the pipe when the algae starts to grow on it. The bog you described IS a biological filtration system. Its good that you have that, we have a small bog area also. Many ponders will tell you that you can never have too much filtration. So you might go ahead and add the filter to the inlet side of the pump. The size of the pipe to use for this filter and how much dacron to wrap it with depends on how much flow your pump will push. I have no clue what the ratio is, but I know bigger pumps need bigger filters.
We had a problem with the rising and sinking algae also. At first we just used a pool skimming net to remove much of the algae when it was on the top. It is much less of a problem now that the pond has matured more. I think the microscopic critters from the creek help with this problem. It seems like you are on the right track. Keep posting specific questions as you think of them.... Tom
Thanks so much for all the information!!! I went outside this morning and the was a duck in my "pond." Oh well there goes the goldfish!! I really think I have new pond itis. Thanks again so very much!!
I'm still new to ponding, but I do know that suspended algea is a plant just like other plants. So it's competing for nutrients with your other plants, and it's opportunistic, so if you have too many nutrients in the pond water (i.e., waste products from fish poo, rotting leaves, etc.) then you will get an algea bloom. Generally if you change the balance of the water by either increasing the plant load or decreasing the waste load, or both, your algea bloom will clear up because there won't be enough 'food' for it, so it will die. You can do this by reducing your fish load, or by putting in more plants, or by increasing your biological and mechanical filtration. Adding gravel or lava rock to your 'bog' area full of plants is a good idea because your beneficial bacteria will have lots of surface area to grow on. These break down your waste products that are both toxic to your fish and create conditions for algea bloom. In addition to the gravel, I would suggest you add some really fast growing plants in the gravel area, such as cattails or rushes. Because they grow so fast, they compete with algea for the waste products (i.e. fertilizer) in the water. In a well balanced pond ecosystem, the plants and beneficial bacteria out-compete the algae for resources, i.e. fertilizer, i.e. waste products in your water.
You also want to make sure that your water is well oxygenated, and this is harder in hot weather. Making sure the water is well oxygenated will help the beneficial bacteria and ensure that you don't develop anaerobic conditions. If you have a waterfall, you're probably fine, but does your water circulate all around the pond? Your underwater plants like the parrot's feather will also help oxygenate your pond. If you only have a little bit of the parrot's feather, you can break it into pieces and plant the pieces and they will root and grow up to the surface. Then you'll have a lot and the fish will love it!
New ponds will usually experience an algae bloom at first, as the ecosystem is not in balance yet. But as the beneficial bacteria begin to colonize and the plants grow, the algae will use up the available resources in the water and die off. If they don't die off then something is out of whack.
Hope I didn't overload you with info, but it sounds like you are going to have a very cool pond when all is said and done. That's a lot of fish you have in that pond, though. I don't know how big they are, but they're only going to get bigger, so I'd say you will definitely need to increase your filtration.
Hope your DH recovers from his accident so he can enjoy the pond with you!
Pixy
Thanks so much for all the information!! I spent yesterday moving plants around my "pond." I have planted bee-balm, garden phlox and hostas. 18 ft. around, WHEW! that was alot of plants!! I really feel good about it now, even though it started out as a swimming pool, especially when three people stopped by and told me how good it's looks. So maybe I'm not so crazy after all. I'm just going to have to deal with the green water, I guess, until my plants get bigger. But that duck has gotta GO!! Has anyone got any ideas?
Meag... one thing I thought I should mention. The 3 layers of black plastic may not hold up very long, especially if you don't get all the exposed surfaces covered. It should last several years, maybe more, but its just a guess. I know when I have had that stuff sitting around for a few years, it gets hard and brittle. Even with 3 layers, you have less than 15 mils, most pond folks prefer 45 mils. Its just something to think about... maybe start a slush fund for a replacement if/when it does break down.
As far as the duck, the only dealings I have had with ducks involved a 12 gage shotgun.... in season of course. Maybe someone will have some better ideas. Any idea what kind of duck it is? maybe it is just after the algae? Might try to identify it and figger out why it is there in the first place. Good luck... Tom
I love water lettuce to keep the algie at bay. It spreads very quickly....in fact, you will be throwing it away once it gets going but it really helps keep that ugly green to a minimum.
Deb
Water lettuce is the one plant I haven't gotten yet this year. I have anachris (anchored at bottom), a water lily, parrot's feather (floating) and a pickerel weed (potted). Someone on Freecycle is giving me floating hearts, more parrot feather and more anachris. Mom has some more water hyacinth for me. Hope that licks our algae problem, too! :)
Guess what!!! No rising and sinking algae today!!! Maybe I will someday have clear water!!
I keep trying to grow water lilies but my fish keep eating the leaves as snacks....expensive snacks!! LOL
Deb
Like I said, I'm new to all of this, but my waterlilies are doing great!! I guess my fish aren't big enough to do any damage yet.
It might be the variety of fish that makes the difference. Koi are known for "expensive appetites" where goldfish have the Micky D's appetite!!!
The Freecycle member gave me some lizard's tail with the other plants today. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/627/
She had a tip for the frogbit. If you have fish that gobble it up, grow it in its own container, then put a handful or two in your pond every so often. Gee, it would last longer that way, LOL!
Silverfluter, I have taken your advice about the liner.I have gotten rubber roofing. It is used on roofs. It is black and it is vacumned on top of houses. It seems to be thicker than pond liner that you buy. Still have green water but it seems to be getting better. I hope that clear water comes in time. Thanks
Is that roofing stuff fish safe?
yea basicly the same as, well it is EDPM 45MM liner:) firestone makes most of it
And being sold for roofing, I imagine it's a much nicer price than at a pond supply place, huh?
It's called having a friend that installs it. He has had a pond lined with it for a few years. No harm to fish or plants and no show of breakdown, it appears the same as the day he install it.
WOW ... how cool is *that*???
I think the roofing stuff is fine if its washed good. Not having a "friend" with access to it....it was as expensive here are pond EPDM so I just went with the pond stuff.
My mother always taught me don't look a gift horse in the mouth. His gift was more than welcome especially after Silverflute brought it to my attention. I would have been heart broken if I got a leak!!
Thanks so very much!!!
Badseed used rubber roofing material as a pond liner, too. Maybe she can chime in on this thread.
Hope so, the price thing is what would interest me the most!!!!
I actually used the pond liner. :) I buy a lot at a local fish hatchery/pond supply store so they cut me a nice deal on a large piece of the pond liner. I have heard both good and bad on the roofing rubber but I don't know of anyone that actually used it themselves and had a devastating set back.
New ponds do take a while to settle in. You may get green water and algae several times before it all balances out. You may even get it again every spring. LOL It's worth the battle.
I have good filtration and aeration via a pump and waterfall, and the pond is shaded by plants surrounding it. There are lots of pond plants in and on the water, covering a little more than half the surface -- anachris, parrot feather, frogbit, floating hearts, water hyacinths and a water lily. Still, the green algae water. The hair algae is well under control, but the other...Murky city.
Gardenwife.... is your pond mature? There are two possible causes for continued algae problems that I can think of. One would be nutrients in the water. Something is out of balance causing the nutrients to be available for the algae. I have read some posts in the forum that talk about the relationship of nutrients to algae bloom. The second issue is fish!! If you have large or many fish it could be that their swimming around just keeps sediment stirred up, there may not be an actual algae bloom problem. TxMel seemed to have some of that going on. She has a mature pond, with plenty of plant cover, but plenty of larger fish that seem to keep the bottom murky. The pond looks great, but it is just not crystal clear like some folks talk about. Something to consider anyways.... Tom
We've had it since 2001, I think. We do have four goldfish, the largest of which is probably 6" long not including his tail. It very well could be sediment, you're right. I'm thinking about using my aquarium siphon and cleaning the bottom a little, doing a partial water change. Would that help?
