Best Product to kill/desolve string algae.

[Big Lou]

I've been running my pump and filter for about four days straight now and my pond has much less algae.

 

[Waterbug]

There are many species of algae. Their life cycle is rarely static for very long. They expand and then collapse, other species come and go.

If a keeper does anything when a species of algae happens to be in decline that thing will always get the credit. For example, a new pond normally turns green. If you lock the garden gate and wait 6-8 weeks the pond will clear. This will work in about 30% off all ponds. Does a locked garden gate really kill algae? 30% of pond owners who try it will say "Yes".

 

[koiguy1969]

i dont know if i agree with the garden gate analogy, but.. a bio filters end product is nitrate. nitrates are plant food. algeas are plants. supplying plant food to a plant is not likely to kill it.

 

[brandonsdad02]

This is what I used last year..

And this is what I got..

A pond full of heathly fish and plants growing like crazy. One dose should kill off the string algae in a few days.

 

[Waterbug]

I once told my mother that bees buried their hives in the ground at night and dug them back out in the morning and she believed me. Years later she would defend the position that bees did in fact bury their hives at night even when I told her that I was the person who told her that and that I'd made it up. That she refused to believe, that I was the one who told her this "fact".

I've always been impressed by what people will convince themselves is true. Even to the point of defending the concept to any end.

Here is a now classic case which is also entertaining. I think this woman sounds pretty intelligent (graded on the curve of course) but for some reason a faulty idea got stuck in her head and didn't trigger cognitive reasoning until much later than many people would have. To me, Donna shows normal human thought. Most people might make fun of her but I assume my brain could also do just as "well". Very entertaining too imo.

There's a follow up audio of Donna being a very good sport and she did later realize her mistake.

 

[koiguy1969]

Yeah ...i have already seen that video...in fact i posted here on this forum a while back. its definately funny!... shes a blonde no doubt! lol

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I have been looking into Weather Loaches and it appears they're also big algae eaters like plecos except the loach is more cold hardy than plecos.

I have to say, I'm not sure I agree with this assessment. They may nibble at the algae, but I have never seen any of my loaches really go after algae when there is fish food available.

If you have a good bio-filter, you will never have algae problems.

I have a good bio-filter... a pair of 55-gal barrels for approximately 1400 gallons of pond. In the Winter I have string algae everywhere there is fast-moving water, and I have floating clumps of algae in the calm areas. A biofilter can't really help during the Winter because the bacteria is mostly dead, but the algae is more cold-tolerant and will survive the lower temperatures.

I put a large bag of kitty litter in each of my filters last month to see if it makes any difference. So far the results are not impressive, but the string algae hanging off the waterfall does appear to have dissipated quite a bit, although there is still a lot of it in the rest of the pond. Still, if it helps increase the mineral content of the water (which is beneficial for the fish), I have no problems leaving the litter in there year-round. Maybe by next Winter I will actually see a difference.

 

[crsublette]

I have to say, I'm not sure I agree with this assessment. They may nibble at the algae, but I have never seen any of my loaches really go after algae when there is fish food available.I have a good bio-filter... a pair of 55-gal barrels for approximately 1400 gallons of pond. In the Winter I have string algae everywhere there is fast-moving water, and I have floating clumps of algae in the calm areas. A biofilter can't really help during the Winter because the bacteria is mostly dead, but the algae is more cold-tolerant and will survive the lower temperatures.

Yep, I think algae is extremely adaptable. Even though our test kits will register zero ammonia and nitrates, there is likely still enough presence of nutrients to feed algae growth. There's no such thing as too much bio-filtration.

I put a large bag of kitty litter in each of my filters last month to see if it makes any difference. So far the results are not impressive, but the string algae hanging off the waterfall does appear to have dissipated quite a bit, although there is still a lot of it in the rest of the pond. Still, if it helps increase the mineral content of the water (which is beneficial for the fish), I have no problems leaving the litter in there year-round. Maybe by next Winter I will actually see a difference.

If anything to be learned from Dr. Novak's anoxic filtration system. then it is that trace minerals help bacteria to grow and to become much more efficient at consuming the nutrients.

I don't know how much trace minerals are in kitty litter. I think kitty litter is basically an inert baked clay, but Laterite and other calcium carbonate sources are a bit different due to they were once living organisms and contain a higher volume of trace minterals.

Shdwdrgn, try a mixture of Laterite and a calcium carbonate (such as crushed coral or Lithaqua) mixed in a bag and put into your filters.

 

[ponderpaul]

South/central Oklahoma; 1000 (+ or -) gal pond, 1 - 3200 gph pump into 55 gal sand/gravel filter into 55 gal bio filter into plant bog with about ½ surface area of pond. 1 – 1200 gph pump into 20 gal sand/gravel filter into 10’ x 2’ gravel bed stream with plants. Ten fish from 12” to 24”. Pond under 30% shade clothe. Pulling about ½ gal string algea a day out of the pond and pump filters. Have used bentonite clay with limited success. Will give the peroxide a try

 

[ponderpaul]

crsublette; Back in the 90's we spent a few years up the road from you in Clayton, NM. I had a very small pond there for three or four years, very little filtration, a few small goldie and no algea problem. Perhaps what works wonders in one area just doesn't do it in another??

 

[sissy]

I just use a good ole toilet brush and fish if you don't feed them alot will eat everything in sight .I feed my fish in the summer only 2 or 3 times a week .They have not suffered from it and pond has been here 9 years and same fish were a couple inches long and koi now are over 2 ft long .Grasses like colleen says it up tons of nutrients that algae seems to use to grow ,even string algae .i use plants in my filters and have not cleaned my filters for 2 years .When I changed the one tote out for a bigger one i just put the old stuff in the new tote .This year I am changing out the plantainer for a bigger 60 gallon oval tank so i can put more plants in it .Garlic in there food for spring and fall and they get that once a week .We do not get that cold here and my pond is in full sun and you can see the crushed oyster shells on the bottom the aggie and bert my 2 biggest koi got into .Bad fishies

 

[crsublette]

crsublette; Back in the 90's we spent a few years up the road from you in Clayton, NM. I had a very small pond there for three or four years, very little filtration, a few small goldie and no algea problem. Perhaps what works wonders in one area just doesn't do it in another??

Perhaps... Perhaps many things. :neutral:

Algae happens and goes away for good reasons. Perhaps It happens or goes away magically by the algae fairies.

I think folk like to believe their situation is unique or different since this gives an excuse to blame the product for not working rather than blaming them self for using the wrong products.

As far as oxidizer products like peroxides and microbicide products such as algaecides like Algaefix, these products do not care about the uniqueness of your pond. These products are non-discriminate killers of their target. The oxidizers will continue to zap the organics. The microbicides will continue to zap the microbials.

With herbicides, there is only selective or non-selective herbicides. The non-selected herbicidies will kill pretty much any plant. The selective herbicides will only kill a plant if it has a broad or narrow leaf. There's no such thing as a "dandelion only herbicide".

The selective herbicides for algae are the various microbicide chemicals. Microbicides such as the algaecide products like Tetra Algae control and Algaefix will kill all the microbes, including your bio-filtration, that view these chemicals as toxic and some microbicides will affect particular algal species while leaving other algaes unharmed. Also, there are often other stuff mixed in these products that you are unaware of. However, I have read of some avid koi pond serviceman have great success with products such as Tera's and Algaefix.

The non-selective herbicide for algae are oxidizers. Oxidizers are much stronger than microbicides so it is much easier to overdose with them, but you will get a definite kill on all algal species plus anything else in the pond that can potentially be harmful to the fish. This stuff will oxidize your fish as well so this is why low doses are used and there is always the warning of "only use when there is an algae presence".

Microbicides and oxidizers will harm your bio-filtration if it is a young pond, but, once established, then these products have very little ill affect on the bio-filtration. However, regardless of what both of these products say, I would still bypass the bio-filtration for at least 3 hours after either of the products are used.


I bet ya there is a combination of variables as to why some folk have an algae problem and others do not have. Low or high fish stock density, plant presence, feeding regiment, organic toxin buildup, proper nutrients to create an algal environment, yes even presence of appropriate spores, and likely other variables.

 

[sissy]

lets put it this way does it really work or are we just think it is working so the companies can get more money .There are no fixes to it as i see .Fish eat produce waste and that adds to all kinds of things that grow just like in your garden ,fertilizer and nutrients make things grow .Look at a lot of the new ways they are growing plants in water and several of the places use fish ponds to fertilize there plants and then return the water to the pond and there ponds if you look on you tube are very clear with nothing growing in them and water is clear and fish are healthy .The aerate the roots of the plants as the water is flowing through but do nothing to the pond but feed the fish .They don't even aerate the pond at all times just once in awhile and that is when the weather is hot and water is warm .I watched several you tube video's of this .One guy said it right on one of the video's you don't feed the fish you don't grow anything . :goldfish:

 

[crsublette]

lets put it this way does it really work or are we just think it is working so the companies can get more money .There are no fixes to it as i see .Fish eat produce waste and that adds to all kinds of things that grow just like in your garden ,fertilizer and nutrients make things grow .Look at a lot of the new ways they are growing plants in water and several of the places use fish ponds to fertilize there plants and then return the water to the pond and there ponds if you look on you tube are very clear with nothing growing in them and water is clear and fish are healthy .The aerate the roots of the plants as the water is flowing through but do nothing to the pond but feed the fish .They don't even aerate the pond at all times just once in awhile and that is when the weather is hot and water is warm .I watched several you tube video's of this .One guy said it right on one of the video's you don't feed the fish you don't grow anything . :goldfish:

Yep, very true, but there is always "behind the scenes" stuff going on that you are not going to be told about due to it potentially affecting their marketing, even with stuff you watch on youtube.

In those systems or at least in most of them, they also keep the water quite acidic and this slows algae growth since more alkaline water has more bound carbon dioxide in the water and bound calcium available for algae to thrive.

 

[sissy]

I guess it all comes down to finding what works for each pond and once you find it stay with it .People still laugh because i use lava rock in my filters and it works so I stay with it and other people that have started ponds because I GIFTED THEM FISH are happy and I help them with there ponds .A little sneaky I know .I have not bought any of that so called miracle stuff in over 6 years now with the help of this sight i never will .I like ponding but i don't spend every minute checking it any more and seemed to have found my niche .So happy me happy pond .Every ones weather is different and every ones water is different and fish and fish loads too .