Answers to the infamous question...
How Do I Get Rid of the Algae in
My Pond?
First of all, there's primarily 2 types of algae that plagues most
people's ornamental ponds; string algae and the notorious plankton algae that makes your
pond water green like a "lovely" bowl of split pea soup (yuck). Both
types of algae grow by somewhat different methods, so I will explain each one of them to
you individually.
String algae is pretty simple. It usually grows along
the bottom or edges of your pond where there isn't a lot of water
circulation. It looks like a bunch of green hair and looks pretty
awful, too. To kill the string algae in your
pond you need to
remove the water from your pond or waterfall (ideal time to do that
is during spring cleaning) and liberally sprinkle
Kosher Salt on it ( it must be Kosher Salt or
non-iodized salt and NOT table salt). Let it sit for at least 3 days
and then brush off and rinse and clean the pond thoroughly. There
CANNOT be any fish in the pond during this time, so the
choice is yours and if you are set up to remove your fish and if it's worth
the hassle. You can also use our Green Clean to kill the
string algae without emptying the pond. You can find out about it
here.
Plankton, our lovely "pea soup" algae is probably the most
common type of algae in ponds and lakes. It's the stuff that makes the water look
green and causes you not to be able to see your wonderful fish. The best way to
explain how to get rid of planktonic algae is
to first understand what causes it to grow.
Plankton requires primarily 2 things to
grow: sunlight and nutrition. The sunlight
obviously comes from the sun and the nutrition comes from bi-products from fish
waste, dead and decaying leaves, decomposed fish food (make sure you don't over feed your
fish) decaying aquatic plants and weeds, and nearby
chemicals and fertilizers that filter into the pond (particularly if your
pond sits in a lower part of your yard). Most ponds I've seen have at least some, if not all of the above
nutrients in their pond (and green water, too!). The way to get rid of or
reduce the amount of algae in your pond is by reducing the amount of sunlight and
nutrients available to the algae. Sunlight can be reduced by providing shade to your pond
either above or by adding
aquatic plants such as water
lilies or other floating plants including water hyacinths. The leaves of
these plants help to cover the surface area of your pond and also make the pond look
pretty. You can also use an aquatic "sun blocker" such as
Aqua
Shade for a variety of backyard ponds
including koi ponds, fish ponds, all types of water gardens and lakes.
Nutrients on the other hand,
can be reduced in a couple of different ways.
To reduce the nutrients in your pond
which is causing your algae to thrive,
you first need to clean your pond. Get rid of any dead and decaying leaves on the
bottom or along the sides of the pond. Once you have that done, get a skimmer so you
can have leaves and debris that may blow into your pond, sucked up before they ever settle
and start to decompose. If you don't want to get a skimmer, get a net (you also can keep out predators
such as raccoons, blue herons, cats, etc. with a net) or make it a practice to clean the
debris off the pond every day or so. If you need help at getting the leaves out of
the bottom of your pond, get a
pond
vacuum that will help remove them.
The next way to get rid of the nutrients in your pond is by
adding beneficial bacteria to your pond. You see, there are 2 types of
bacteria; the "bad" kind of bacteria and the good kind!
Bad types of bacteria can cause a lot of problems to your fish's health and
can be pretty involved to explain.
To keep it simple, these bad
types of bacteria can eat away at their skin, their gills, and cause them to be sick
and die. Needless to say, you don't want the "bad" type of bacteria.
The good, or "beneficial" bacteria is a type of bacteria that is required to not
only break down toxic ammonia from fish wastes into harmless nitrates (referred to as the
Nitrogen Cycle - which is something you want in your pond) but they also consume the same nutrients as algae does!
So, when
you add more beneficial bacteria, you starve out the algae, thus resulting in a clearer
pond! Beneficial bacteria also breaks down sludge build up,
"muck" on the bottom of koi ponds
and fish ponds and much more. It is absolutely vital to
having any
healthy pond. So what do you need to do to establish some beneficial bacteria in
your pond? Provide them a place to grow such as a biological filter, rocks, plants, and filter
media. Establishing a nice colony of beneficial bacteria can take 3-8 weeks but you
can actually get a "jump start" on things by adding some beneficial bacteria to
you pond. The best product we've used is an all-natural product called Microbe Lift.
It works great (we use it on our own small ponds
and water gardens) and it can be used throughout the
season as a good maintenance plan to keep your pond clear. You can find out more
about it here.
We also recommend our
PlanktoniX ™
beneficial for large fish ponds
over 50' x 50' in size all the way up to lakes several
acres in size!
Beneficial bacteria's effectiveness is enhanced by the use of an aerator.
Proper aeration also adds to the overall health of the pond and can get rid of the
"bad" types of bacteria growing in deep waters where there is little or no
oxygen and where sludge build up is great. After all, the beneficial bacteria need a
good source of oxygen supply in addition to the fish and aquatic plants in your pond.
As your pond or water garden continues to age, fish population and aquatic plant
& weed population
increases and sludge builds up quickly. A good aeration system is absolutely vital to keeping
aquatic life in your pond alive and well. We have a large assortment of aeration
systems for very small tanks, small backyard ponds
and water gardens all the way up to aeration
systems for large fish ponds and lakes many acres in size. You can
find our aerators here.
I do have to mention some other products that are out on the market (and
yes, even on our website) that will "destroy" algae, but these products will
only work for a short time. They are a temporary solution. How they are
supposed to work is by killing the algae and then the dead algae is supposed to be
filtered through your filter. What essentially happens is that the dead algae builds
up on the bottom of the pond and creates an organic "compost pile".
This provides tons of nutrients within the
pond and causes more algae to bloom in a couple of weeks. People who
continually use these products are actually making the algae situation
worse. You're continually providing more and more food
the very algae that you're trying to get rid of! It creates a vicious cycle and you need to stop the cycle. By
continually adding these chemicals & algaecides to your
pond, you're changing the pond's chemistry and ecological
system. You need to add beneficial bacteria to the pond to reduce the nutrients
available to the algae. This will eventually starve
out the algae and stop the cycle and result in a clearer, healthier
pond.
Now, since I have your attention :o), I'd like to address Spring Care (can
be applied for Fall Care too) for your pond and all the many wonderful questions we answer
about Spring Cleaning...
Spring Cleaning....oh how wonderful it is! We, who hibernate during
the winter are all anxious to start cleaning out our pond once the weather turns warm and
we're disgusted when the water is so darn green that you can't see your fish or anything
else. Sometimes there's a "fishy" or nasty smell, too. Well, put on
your gloves and let's get to work!
The first thing you can do to clean your pond is get out the nasty debris
that fell in it during the fall and winter. All the mucky leaves and things you
don't even recognize! :o( Naturally if you had a skimmer or a net, you wouldn't have
all this debris in there, but you can't say I didn't tell you so! :o)
It's best to empty the pond and clean it good with plain o'l tap water. (
You can put your fish in a container with a small aerator while cleaning.) Be sure
to get out the leaves and muck that seemed to have it's way to your pond. If you
can't clean it out all the way (the more you clean it out the better off the pond will be)
do at least a 50% water change. This gets rid of some of the nutrients and any
other junk that's in your pond. Stir things up a
bit while you're emptying it to get
out as much debris as you can. Be sure that your pump will handle the muck and
debris and check often for the pump getting clogged up. If you decide to do
the partial water change you won't necessarily need to take your fish out to do this, but
if you can, that would be great so you can see how your fish have survived and if they
have any wounds or anchor worm or anything else that need to be treated. If you
really need to, you can do another partial water change in another week. Be sure to
run the tap water through some Super Activated
Filter Carbon which neutralizes the toxic chlorine and chloramine out of the tap
water. You can also add Ammo Lock 2
instead which will neutralize the chlorine and chloramine
in the tap water. If you have a bad case of string algae, you can clean the entire pond as I
described above and then "start over" with filling your pond.
One thing I want to mention is that EVERY pond in the Spring has a big
algae bloom. This is only natural and I know that it is so discouraging and
disgusting to most of you. After a long Winter we're so eager to see our fish and we
can't because the water is like pea soup! Part of this is due to the change in
temperature outside. This happens because the beneficial bacteria hasn't
started to grow yet and the pond is FULL of nutrients from dead, decaying leaves and
debris from the winter. Now the algae has the upper hand and is continuing to
thrive. What you need to do is add some of the Microbe Lift/Autumn Prep
(for small backyard ponds, water gardens, koi ponds and any pond less than
50' x 50' in size) and be PATIENT. Add your
aerator, turn your pump and waterfall on or whatever water feature you have
and after 2-3 days add the Microbe Lift.
Remember, what you're doing is creating an
'ecological system' and this
isn't a
'quick fix'. Whatever you do, don't get discouraged and periodically empty part of
your pond. What you're doing each time you add tap water to your pond is KILLING THE
BENEFICIAL BACTERIA. That is why you just have to leave it alone. Get your
pump and filter going. Have you aerator on and be
patient. Time and Microbe Lift
(for small backyard ponds, koi ponds and water
gardens) will take care of it. You will definitely see improvements within 2-3 weeks and
continue to see improvements thereafter. Use the Microbe Lift
too, as a maintenance to reduce the algae and keep your pond clearer.
(Use the PlanktoniX for large fish ponds and lakes over 50' x 50' in size.)
One other thing that I would like to mention (since we are frequently
asked this) is "what can I do about the algae in shallow areas of my
pond?". Well, that one is a toughy and nothing is really going to help it much
besides trying to increase the circulation to those areas. You see, the water in the
shallow areas (around 6" or so) gets really warm and since there is less circulation
because it is so shallow, well, that only causes more algae to grow. This is a
different kind of algae and is going to pretty much cling to the rocks or anything else
you have there. I guess the best thing to "fix" this is to create your
pond so it doesn't have a real shallow edge in order to avoid this. If it's not
avoidable, then trying to increase the circulation is the next best thing.
Speaking of circulation, I will remind you that in order to have proper
circulation in your pond, you want your pump to pump at least 1/2 the total volume of your
pond every hour and have a filter that will filter the total volume of your pond at least
every 3-4 hours. If you have your pond in full sun, then opt for a larger
filter. The filtration system for your pond is probably the most important part of
your pond. Always go with a larger filter than what is
'recommended'.
A huge portion of people new to ponds and water gardens over-populate their
pond with too many fish which put more demands on the filtration system and then have
all kinds of problems with green water, etc. Be smart and put your money and thought
into the filtration system and you'll be glad you did.
Well, there you have it; some suggestions at maintaining a healthy,
clearer and more enjoyable pond. I hope this information helps you! Don't
forget we have a Ponds
Online Course that explains how to create a pond, how to determine your pump and
filter sizes and much more. Take a look at it. We also have free information
throughout out site about fish care, a safe amount of fish you can have in
your pond and how to properly transfer
fish to your pond. I'm sure you will find this information invaluable.
For those of you who have very large ponds and lakes, please check out our
information for
controlling algae and pond weeds in lakes (the way to
treat ponds and lakes over 50' x 50' in size is different than the treatment
for small backyard ponds and water gardens since obviously the volume of
water and size of area are substantially different.)
We at PondSolutions.com are happy
to help you. Let us know how we can be of service
to you.
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