Green Water

[John & Eleanor O'Connor]

We have a large (2100) gallon garden pond with goldfish, Orf and Shubunkins. The pond is in full sun. We have been trying to deal with dense green water. We have tested the pond and the water quality is good. On the advice of others we have treated the pond with various products which are supposed to clear the water, we have added another pump (we now have 2), we have added more vegetation, we have changed the UV bulbs every six months. Nothing seems to deal with the problem and we can't see our fish. Can anyone help us please?

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our Group! Where do you live? Some use aeration that works, some use uv, sometimes it is how much you feed, i.e. too much, I control mine with my filter which is a large peagravel and plant bog

 

[Dave 54]

We never have your problem and like your pond its in full sun, however there can be many causes for gree water exessive nutrients in the water being just one of them filters that arent man enough to do their job another .
When was the last time you cleaned both the bottom of the pond and your filters please?
How much do you feed your fish each day ?
You could try adding Montmarrilioniteclay which acts as a Flucculant attracting the algae to it then deposting it in your filters Quilt batting often helps too
Hope this helps you cure things


Dave

 

[Lisak1]

I sometimes wonder if it's the treatment "with various products" that extends and prolongs the green water battle. We've never had green water but I'm sure it's frustrating that the desire to clear it up is strong - we only have so many months to enjoy our ponds and fish, after all!

I would try the more natural (or at least non-chemical) approaches - aeration, mechanical filtration (quilt batting, as Dave suggested), cleaning existing filters and doing frequent water changes, etc. How many fish do you have and how often do you feed them? We can sometimes unintentionally add to our own problems with overfeeding or overstocking. And I suppose if you can't see your fish, you may not even know!

Good luck - I'm sure it's frustrating when you just want to see your fish and enjoy your pond!

 

[crsublette]

We have a large (2100) gallon garden pond with goldfish, Orf and Shubunkins. The pond is in full sun. We have been trying to deal with dense green water. We have tested the pond and the water quality is good. On the advice of others we have treated the pond with various products which are supposed to clear the water, we have added another pump (we now have 2), we have added more vegetation, we have changed the UV bulbs every six months. Nothing seems to deal with the problem and we can't see our fish. Can anyone help us please?

Yeah, if the pond products are not helping, then I would definitely stop using them.


If this is the floating variety of algae, then simply having a UV bulb does not resolve this. These UV bulbs must have a proper water flow, which is stated with the UV device. A too fast water flow will negate the results from the UV bulbs. For example, the UV device says it is recommended with a 900gph flow and your pump is 1200gph. If you directly connected the pump to the UV device, then the water would be moving too fast thus preventing the UV bulb from properly functioning; so, to fix this, then a bypass line is created. The UV is connected to the bypass while the main line goes directly to the pond or wherever you desire. Everyone sets these up differently, but, personally, since I want to make sure I know where the water is flowing, I place a valve on the bypass line and the main line. So, if your pump is 1200gph and the UV device recommends a 900gph flow rate, then, since the UV is on the bypass line, open the bypass line by one-third open and close the mainline by one-third closed since 1200gph is approximately 33% higher flow rate than 900gph.

Look into using some quilt batting and possibly building a small bog. These filter to filter out the algae by either directly removing some of the floating algae (with the quilt batting) or by trapping the floating algae inside the gravel so to be consumed by other microorganisms (with the bog).

Look into do slow major water changes, of around 40% or higher, every day or every couple to few days.

Also, the fish might be getting fed too much.

There is the possibility of there being too many fish in the 2100 gal pond resulting in some of the fish needing to be re-homed, but I first try the other recommendations stated above and by others rather than jumping the gun to re-homing the fish; this is only the last resort.


Keep in mind... The significant amount of dense floating algae is present due to a significant amount nutrient production and excessive nutrient residual . So, when this algae is reduced, then you may likely notice an increase in ammonia or nitrates. So, keep an eye on the ammonia or nitrates while you are dealing with removing the floating algae.

 

[sissy]

i found air is better than all that uv stuff and chemicals

 

[Carol Wilson]

If your pond is in full sun, then, algae will grow and the main reason for growing of algae is sunrays. So, protect your pond from sun. you can use Pond dyes that will not only protect your pond from sunrays but also give beautiful colors without effecting the health of the fish... Pond dyes are the best solution.

 

[Dave 54]

If your pond is in full sun, then, algae will grow and the main reason for growing of algae is sunrays. So, protect your pond from sun. you can use Pond dyes that will not only protect your pond from sunrays but also give beautiful colors without effecting the health of the fish... Pond dyes are the best solution.

Ok Carol our own pond is in full sun for much of the spring the whole of summer and much of autumn and not once have we suffered green water its down to your filtration the amount of time spent on maintenance the right feeding regeme and water changes in otherwords you put in what you get out .
Pond dyes in my veiw would be no better than the chemicl you use to treat fish and would be leached out by the filters in next to no time .

Dave

 

[addy1]

I use plants, my pond is sun blasted from sunrise to sunset, no green water issues.

 

[dieselplower]

I don't agree with Carol either.

 

[Lisak1]

Same here - full sun pond, no green water. Just lots of plants and bog filtration. No pond dye, please!

 

[crsublette]

I have not heard it helping with the floating algae (green water) stuff, but aquaponic systems commonly use humic acid to dye their water brown. It does help to an extent with the string algae for them, except also have to take note that their systems are often in just about 100% shade.


Pond dye's are still neat for aesthetics if done right. Here's our boy, Dieselplower, that used the dye to make his pond look like the Caribbean crystal blue water.

 

[Usman]

smiler question of a user , he had success in end u can view discussion till the end page from members here ---> https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/i-need-some-help-please.14113/

heres what i posted there ....
wow congrats to all members success! good team work , i was reading all the posts very good advises , learnt alot , i was also thinking technically its the dimension of pond that can make things difficult to maintain if its too shalow compared to its width it will catch more sun and heat , since in deeper ponds light wil reduce as it goes deeper so maintains good ratio and easy for filters too , accurate amount of Potassium permanganate. a type of salth that can kill all green stuff in one day , u just need to maintain light pink water for 8 hours without leting it become yellow , then it will kill all green stuff without even need to scrub it away after that replace 60% water .... natural cheaper ways ... u cud have added some shelter or trees runners to have some shade , but iv read for fish growth , the green water is energy drink! it has spirulina algae high protein but things get bad when lack of oxygen or it gets too dense , u can also add one thing which helps alot in ponds every one shud have is continues water inlet outlet even if its drop by drop , wil continuesly remove green water or nitrates and bring fresh water full of minerals , fishes love it ! , now im waiting when wil uremove the grill may b can start new forum for its replacements , is it bcz of birds ? if for kids u can have small fence or for birds? may b u can elevate it a bit till eye level and leave some space for viewing fish .

 

[HARO]

John

 

[shakaho]

What do you have for filtration? Under-filtered ponds have a good chance of going green. Also please tell us how many fish you have and how large they are. Overstocking can also contribute to green water.

One procedure that is simple and will have no bad side effects whatsoever is to aerate your biofilter. Green water algae and the nitrifying microbes compete for ammonia. By giving the biobugs some extra oxygen you give them a competitive advantage.