New Goldfish Pond - Algae Issues

[JediCoconut]

This is our first garden pond. The pond is a "circle" with an island in the middle and a water feature, we have the following:

• The Pond Guy® SimplyClear™ Pressurized Filtration System - SimplyClear
• The Pond Guy® SolidFlo™ G2 Pump - Model 2000
• 4 small goldfish
• 30-50 tadpoles (that is my guess on the number. I guess we just had a frog visit and drop lots of eggs)
• small plants (they are still growing).

We are having issues with Algae even after doing the maintenance (The Pond Guy® DefensePAC® Pond Care Packages). I am attaching pictures in case that helps. After reading some posts here, it looks like I definitely need more plants, but I wanted to see if there was something else that could help with the issue.

 

[cas]

Very cute pond.
Regarding the algae - Plants and patience.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Very attractive & interesting set up. Yes to more plants, but honestly I'm not seeing an algae problem in these pictures.

 

[TheFishGuy]

amazing pond! most of the algae just looks like the natural and healthy coating on the rocks, the only small thing would be some of the string algae, you will just have to go in and remove that by hand, and honestly, you will never be able to completely deplete it.

 

[Lisak1]

Some people think “algae” automatically means “problem”. In fact the opposite is true. A healthy pond will always have algae. An overgrowth of algae simply means something has gotten out of balance and you have too many nutrients in the pond.

I’m not familiar with the maintenance package you mentioned but if it includes algaecide or chemicals of any kind I would ditch it. Killing off algae only leaves a pond with dead algae - which contributes to the excess nutrients and leads to, you guessed it, more algae. Plus those chemicals are dangerous to fish and other creatures that live in your pond.

More plants, increase aeration, and patience. Lots and lots of patience. Allow nature to do what nature does best - create balance.

 

[Lisak1]

Some people think “algae” automatically means “problem”. In fact the opposite is true. A healthy pond will always have algae. An overgrowth of algae simply means something has gotten out of balance and you have too many nutrients in the pond.

I’m not familiar with the maintenance package you mentioned but if it includes algaecide or chemicals of any kind I would ditch it. Killing off algae only leaves a pond with dead algae - which contributes to the excess nutrients and leads to, you guessed it, more algae. Plus those chemicals are dangerous to fish and other creatures that live in your pond.

More plants, increase aeration, and patience. Lots and lots of patience. Allow nature to do what nature does best - create balamce

 

[Mmathis]

Your pond looks nice, and the algae looks good, as well. Your water is nice and clear. You want that algae in your pond — it’s part of thee pond’s ecosystem. As a general rule, we don’t recommend chemicals to solve any problems, but rather to find out what the “problem” is and solve that. Patience and time

I am terribly curious to know how you worked around that tree! That’s interesting!

 

[GBBUDD]

You have from what i see a very healthy algae peach fuzz . Nothing wrong with that what so ever to get any less will be a extremely ballanced and probably starved pond. Get some fish in there and don''t feed them and they will munch on the algae. shubunkins

 

[Lisak1]

Not sure how I managed to post twice up there - I guess that means my answer is double good!

I did mean to add however that, like others have said, from looking at the pictures you definitely don't have an algae issue in your pond.

 

[poconojoe]

Agree with all that has been said. You do not have a problem there. Your water is clear. A coating on the surfaces is actually good. Don't use any chemicals. Have patience and leave it be.

 

[JediCoconut]

Thank you all for the responses. Unfortunately we lost the fish we had. We got additional plants 2 weeks ago, might still need to add more, but we will wait before buying new fish. So far the water already looks clear. We got a water test kit, and I was wondering if there is a table out there of what the recommended levels should be prior to adding fish.

 

[ReneeFLL]

How are you managing to get a palm to grow in the middle of a pond? I like your pond since it looks more tropical.

 

[JediCoconut]

Your pond looks nice, and the algae looks good, as well. Your water is nice and clear. You want that algae in your pond — it’s part of thee pond’s ecosystem. As a general rule, we don’t recommend chemicals to solve any problems, but rather to find out what the “problem” is and solve that. Patience and time

I am terribly curious to know how you worked around that tree! That’s interesting!

We cut a giant liner (line from one side to the center of the liner) and basically wrapped it around the island. We then seamed the liner with this kit: https://www.halfoffponds.com/25-Pond-Professional-Seam-Kit-p/4326.htm

The picture attached was mid way through the digging, but we did add some dirt to cover some of the roots and we also have an underlayment to make sure the roots do not break through the liner.

 

[ReneeFLL]

We cut a giant liner (line from one side to the center of the liner) and basically wrapped it around the island. We then seamed the liner with this kit: https://www.halfoffponds.com/25-Pond-Professional-Seam-Kit-p/4326.htm

The picture attached was mid way through the digging, but we did add some dirt to cover some of the roots and we also have an underlayment to make sure the roots do not break through the liner.

That's a great idea. Sure looks like it's growing in the water.

 

[JediCoconut]

How are you managing to get a palm to grow in the middle of a pond? I like your pond since it looks more tropical.

The palm was already there and we looked up the required space for the type of palm and ensured we left that amount of space for it. We left space to be able to pull up the "fake" grass to feed it every 3 months.