Any correlation?

[ashirley]

This is the first year that I have string algae . Its in our stream. Its also the clearest my water has been in a long time. We do run a uv light on the pond. Could the string algae in the stream be causing the clearing in the pond. We ran the uv last summer also.

 

[HARO]

Could be. Certain types of algae will produce toxins to kill off the competition. I did a brief study on the subject two years ago, and it SEEMS that a certain algae (which looked like a hair-net) would clear cloudy water within half a day. Where's Waterbug when you need him?
John
P.s. Type "allelopathy" into the "search" box, and you'll get any number of threads that discuss this phenomenon.

 

[Lisak1]

Whenever I pull out the clumps of algae that love to grow on my waterfall, I release lots of dirt. So if nothing else, it will clear your pond by filtering out the floating particles to some degree.

 

[teeemkay]

I had a lot of string algae in the pond about a month ago as the weather started warming up to 50-60 degrees. I pulled out a lot of it by hand or by using an old long snowbrush to scrape it off the rocks and pull it up, and then two doses of TetraPond algae remover finished off anything that was left.

I think Lisak1 is right in that when the algae is removed by hand, it stirs up the sediment/etc. on the rocks and on the bottom of the pond, and that sediment gets filtered out.

 

[addy1]

I leave the string that grows in my small ponds the little critters love it

 

[MitchM]

Could be. Certain types of algae will produce toxins to kill off the competition. I did a brief study on the subject two years ago, and it SEEMS that a certain algae (which looked like a hair-net) would clear cloudy water within half a day. Where's Waterbug when you need him?
John
P.s. Type "allelopathy" into the "search" box, and you'll get any number of threads that discuss this phenomenon.

Alleopathy (chemical warfare) has been documented in corals, terrestial plants (in their roots) and algae. It's pretty cool.
Algae will also be one of the first to take up excess nutrients.
Cyanobacteria and diatoms will outcompete algae for nutrients before that. (that Nualgi stuff encourages diatom growth.)

.

 

[tbendl]

I now have both clear water and string algae in the bog and waterfall and they both showed up about the same time. I'm not going to mess it up by getting rid of even if it's not the case.

 

[CometKeith]

I usually get string algae when there are more nutrients in my pond than can be eliminated in other ways. I once bought a potted lilly that had a lot of fertilizer and my pond crashed with string algae the next day.