Is Green Clean Right For My Pond?

Question

My pond is about 6,000 gallons (10' x 30' x avg. 3' deep = 900 x 7.5 g/sf = 6,750 gallons). I have bad algae see attached photo. I put in about 40% of the 2.5 pound Green Clean Saturday - just tossed it in in a few batches, draining the pond is not an option. I saw no effect so Monday, I threw in the rest of the bottle in a couple batches. I saw white on the surface but now it looks like it did before I started.

I ordered some more Green Clean but don't want to overwhelm my turtle and the goldfish that have been there for 12 years (if they are still there - haven't been able to see due to algae yuk). I was going to follow up with Pond Keeper barley straw extract bu have read that I need to get the algae cleared up first? Do you think I need to keep adding Green Clean? Can the animals tolerate a lot of it? Do you have any advice for me?

I can drain out a lot of the water with a syphon, maybe half of the 3-4 feet, skim out as much algae as possible, then treat the smaller amount of water with Barley straw extract so it;s more concentrated? Then add more water once it clears up or is adding the more water going to help make it clear up? Are you saying I shouldn't waste the Green Clean? Should I add the barley straw extract now? And I need Pondkeeper bacteria in addition to the barley straw extract?

I've never done anything to the pond in 15 years since my dad died (he used copper sulfate but I have fish, frogs, and a turtle now). I will add netting or a tarp or something. Is there a specific pone netting product?

I will also do the winterizing. Is there something I should do in the spring to prevent the algae? Green clean once it gets up to like 50 degrees (it's in Massachusetts).  Please send me info on the pump/filter system. I would prefer solar as I don't have a close electrical source, but if we have to go electric, we will.

We used to have lilly pads but they took over so my dad cleaned them out. I liked the idea of the hyacinths as they supposedly don't spread and they move around which is cool! Just bought a pool skimmer, headed out to skim algae!

Thanks so much again!

 

Answer 1

Oh my you have quite a lot of algae! Is that photo the entire pond?

The creatures can handle the products no problem but you have such a growth of filamentous algae that it needs to be taken care of.

It looks like the pond is basically formed right on the bedrock and the stone will gather a lot of heat from the sun and this is the perfect condition for algae to grow.

Do you have any sort of filter or pump in the pond or just the solar floating fountain I see?

Over time organic materials build up in any pond; leaves and material in the wind and fish poop will all build up and this acts like a food for algae to grow. In hot weather the algae goes on a growing festival and takes over.

What I would do is swamp out as much of the green algae as possible and run a garden hose to be adding some fresh water slowly to the pond. Not a huge amount but maybe keep the hose in the pond and let it slowly add a gallon per minute or so…just to let the water flow in and flush out the old water a bit. You don’t have to do a full water change but even a bit will help.

Keep the Green Clean you have now and save it for once this issue gets taken care of or you will be adding Green Clean until the cows come home.

A great product to use is the Pondkeeper Liquid Bacteria: http://www.thepondreport.com/store/pond-bacteria/liquid-beneficial-bacteria-pond-keeper

This works on the nutrients that are in the pond. The Green Clean will help kill algae as will the Barley Extract but you also need to work on the excess nutrients in the water so the liquid bacteria is a great way to do that.

The solar fountain is probably not doing much for the water quality. You should consider adding a small electric pump in the pond to create a better circulation and provide some filtration. It is getting late in the season for this but next Spring let me know if you want suggestions for a good pump/filter system. It’s a homemade solution that I use in my pond and works good and not expensive like the store bought filters.

What do you do for the winterizing of the pond do you put a net over the pond to catch debris from falling in? If not, it is a good idea as it stops organic material from settling into the pond which will grow algae the next season. Another good product for winter is this Winterizing Bacteria: http://www.thepondreport.com/store/winter-prep-bacteria-microbelift

Also I see some water Hyacinths in the pond and they are good at filtering and providing shade so if you can get more of those in the pond it will help. My own pond is covered about 50% with Hyacinths and lilly pads and this help filter the pond and give shade to the fish.