Inherited pond. First year with bad algae problem

[poconojoe]

This was slightly touched on....
You might have reached what we call a tipping point.
You may be getting more algae compared to past years because your fish have grown and also multiplied. Meaning there may be more waste (nutrients) in the water and your filter and plants are now having a hard time keeping up.

 

[Beaglebutts]

This past weekend I went to our local pond place and got some plants. I wasn’t able to get any of the plants talked about. I already had creeping Jenny and water mint. I first cleaned out the string algae as best that I could and then used sodium percarbonate to clean the rest. So far so good with the plants added. I don’t see any new algae forming. Last time I used the sodium percarbonate, I saw it within a couple days. Still looking for more plants to add. I will get some pictures later.

 

[YShahar]

Can anyone help? Three level pond. Fish only in lower pond. Having issues with string algae in top and middle pond. Middle pond is more like a stream and the whole bottom is covered in rocks…not fun. We’ve lived here for 5 years and this is the worse I’ve seen it. It sits in the sun all day. Not a lot of shade except for the lower pond. I’ve used sodium percarbonate before and that seemed to do the trick but I didn’t have this much. For 4000 gallons would I just throw in 4 lbs? Also, do I need more plants in the top pond? The middle pond is a stream, what would I put in there?

Wow! That's one beautiful pond!

As others have said, you definitely need more plants. You've got enough rock and gravel in there that nitrifying bacteria won't be a problem, so now you just need something to outcompete the algae in eating up the resulting nitrates. If you can't find plants at a water gardening store, try your local nursery; a lot of common house plants are actually marginals. Think calla lilies, cannas, hostas, peace lilies...the list is endless. You can just tuck their roots into the gravel and let them do their work.

If you really want to get ambitious, you could turn the upper pond into a bog filter, probably fairly easily. In fact, it may already be set up with that in mind (hard to tell from the photos). Looks like a professionally built pond, one way or other!

 

[Beaglebutts]

Came back to say I bought Graceful Cattail, Thalia, Mares Tail and water lettuce. They were out of a lot of plants I was looking for. I probably am going to be doing more next year. I want to see how these do but I have a lot of reading to do first. I’m shocked right now that the string algae seems to be gone. All are in pots. I’m so grateful for suggesting that I needed more plants.