Does anyone use barley bales or wheat straw to clear up algae? I live in zone 8B, South Georgia and my pond is in full sun. The water is terribly green, I use black-out to shade out the suns rays, but I would really like for the water to be clear. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks, Sharon
Barley bales or wheat straw?
In my experience both of those don't work that well. Invest in a UV light and green water algae is history! My pond is in full sun and my 11 Watt light keeps it crystal clear.
Kgb4013,
I have used barley bales and wheat straw to clear up algae, it did not work at all. I live in zone 8B too, we are practically neighbors,,lol
I have been trying to figure out the same thing. How big is your pond? I have been looking at uv lights for days now and there are so many different wattages, sizes and filters I am lost. When I finally get one I will be sure to let you know!!
Evesta,,
how big is your pond? How do you figure out the right one to buy??
Oops, I am in 8a,, I just google mapped your town,, We drive right by you everytime we go to the beach in Jekyll Island!
Can you post pic of your pond?
My pond is approxiamtely 18000, - 21000 gallons. I have pictures posted on Robin Rudy's web site. I will try to post some here. Sharon
KGB: That pond is so big I don't know if they make UV for that size-I sure wish I had your problem . . .
Below I have listed a website of a pond installer/dealer that seem very knowlegable. While they may not be in your area they may be able to advise you on some products that would work on your pond.
http://sacramentokoi.com/index.php
If they make one large enough I probably couldn't afford it anyway. Thanks for the link, I'll give it a look over anyway. I was hoping the barley worked. Sharon
I have a 2000 gallon pond and an 11 watt UV has done the job. I thought it would be too small but it works great! The trick is to not have the pump go to fast. There should be a recommended gph for best results.
I have used barley straw for 10 years and have great results. in the Spring and soon as the water is above 50 degrees I use one treatment of AlgaeFix and then for the rest of the year bundles of barley straw, the algaefix kick starts the killing of the algae and the barley straw atakes care of it for the rest of the time.
I use the ratio of 1 square foot of barley straw to 1000 gallons, put the straw in a draw-string bag and suspend it under the waterfall , so it is half submerged and the water runs through it. Change the bag every two months, I leave the old bag in for two weeks after I have put the new bag in, so it can activate. Some times the straw can take a while to activate, but my pond is 1500 gallons and 12 years old.
I used the barley and after about 4 months I saw more algae almost overnight and only after reading about how the product works did I realize it's effectiveness wore off. I dug through my filtration and found the barley bags empty-it all disenegrated. So I would say they do work.
Please do me a favor, don't try to use "Wheat" straw, it lacks the chemical that barley straw contains to stop the algae, all you will have is a soggy clump of straw.
I had our local pet store to order some for me, I even ordered 2 planters. We will see in a while if they work or not. I really like how the planters look in the pond, I have ordered 2 more. Sharon
Had a guy that has a KOI farm tell me this past week end that you can also use ground corn meal from the feed store. Have not tried it but he should know. He has several ponds one of which has 2,780 dollers worth of KOI. Use it in abag the same way as the bales.
I, too, am suffering from the "green water" problem in my pond. This is my first full year of having it (first time coming out of winter) so I don't know if I didn't do something I should have, or if I did something wrong. It's about 200 gallons, and we have a 2600 gph pump feeding water to a rock stream that pours down into it from a mound about 3 feet above the pond. We added two barley sacks about 2-3 weeks ago, and haven't really seen any improvement to speak of, as well as trying some liquid pond water clarifier (though I hate to use chemicals in terms of potential risk to the fish and frogs living in there). We also have a second filter box (in addition to the one that houses the large pump) that has a pump to feed a couple of spitting fish and frogs. The pond is in the full sun, but it wasn't this bad at the end of last summer being in the full sun all day. There are a couple of pond plants in there (lily pads, black magic elephant ears and iris).
Any help/suggestions would be most appreciated!
An ultra-violet light will clear a small pond very quickly. Sharon
Thanks Sharon. I've just started reading up on these. My current set-up comprises two filter boxes (for each pump) in the bottom of the pond. They have the balls and filter pads in them (I think these are referred to as biological filters, but I'm not 100% sure of that). How would I add a UV light to such a set-up? It seems to me in looking at UV systems they would replace what I currently have? Or would they be in addition to my existing filter boxes/pumps?
When I had a smaller pond I used my UV light in addition to my filters. My current pond is so large that I cannot afford a UV light at this time. My water is terribly green now. I also use blackout to block some of the sunlight, but this does not allow you to view the colors appropiately of the koi. I have added barley bales to my homemade filter but they haven't had time to clear the water yet. The UV light will work quickly in your pond if you calculate the flow correctly.
I have amazing success with barley. Maybe it works better in cooler zones - but I call it the miracle treatment. Every spring I drop a few bales in my filters and within 24 hours the difference is quite noticeable. Within 3-4 days, the difference is absolutely amazing! I've never used UV in my 4000 gallon pond and the water is crystal clear all summer. I do get a little string algae, but never the green water.
I didn't think to put the barley sacks in the filters directly. I may try that with the ones I have. We've had them in there a little over 3 weeks now, and haven't seen any improvement to speak of.
Patience is the key to using barley straw, it will take any where from two weeks to a month and a half, but it works. I put mine in as soon as the ice melts, and again in two months I add amother bag , while leaving the origional one in for two weeks, (this gives the new one time to start working). hasn't failed to do it's majic for 12 years.
yep, Algae is tougher in hotter climates, n it means your pond is soup, n healthy, but not what u want. there r liquad barley treatments when u cant buy the bales.