pond cycle?

[springknee]

stats
1000 gal pond
2200gph pump
homemade 100 gal filter
10 - 7" comets

Filled pond july 1 2013. Battled green water rest of summer. I took hose off of filter and let pump run in pond all winter.During the winter the water looked good until spring and it suddenly turned green. ( the algae is to small to see but water looks like pea soup) So I decided to hook up the filter and falls.
1. So question is will the pond have to cycle again and if so how do you know when it has?

 

[Chinjuspond]

I get spring bloom. I think everyone does. Barley straw or barley pellet in a bag helps. Start it now, it tends to get ahead of it. I also use ecofix. The line has algae fix also. You can find it at petco, petsmart.

 

[springknee]

thanks for the advice

 

[addy1]

I filter with a bog i.e. pea gravel with plants, never have a spring bloom, or green water all summer. My filter is big with tons of plants

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I seed my pond filter in the spring with media from my fish tanks.

 

[jmajid]

so i will ask the controversial question - as i am fighting the bloom too...
thought we had it under control after adding some of the barley concentrate - but its back i think.
Should i start my UV light?
Will it indiscriminately kill my good bacteria too? <- controversial....

 

[bettasngoldfish]

1. So question is will the pond have to cycle again and if so how do you know when it has?

Sorry, I forgot to add that yes the pond will have to cycle again and you will only know for sure by testing your water.

 

[shakaho]

A UV kills whatever microbes flow through it. If the green water persists after the pond has been warm for a while, try turning on the UV until it clears and then turn it off again to see if you can establish a stable non-green ecosystem.

 

[jmajid]

shakaho - thanks for the reply - water is def warm... its been getting into the upper 70s and mid 80s for the past several days - so water temp has been going up too...
fishing out the algae scum that floats - but still have this suspended type algae too - that seems to be there when the sun is out and its warm.
have to add water - might have a leak - then will try the UV

 

[springknee]

I filter with a bog i.e. pea gravel with plants, never have a spring bloom, or green water all summer. My filter is big with tons of plants

Hey thanks for your response. I've been seriously thinking of doing away with the water fall and go to a bog.

 

[addy1]

Or make your bog area in the area of your waterfall and have it be your waterfall, if possible. Mine waterfalls into my pond.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I use powerful large sedge for photosynthesis filtration. My favorite sedge is my very large yellow flag water iris. It is not potted in anything, but it naturally floats in my middle pond as the roots are buoyant. If you can get a clump from a large sedge to grow, like a iris, cattail, grass, (any water plant with a spear shaped leaf) then your pond will stay much cleaner!

Also under water floating horn wort grows in very cold temperatures and will greatly help clean the pond as well. I have not had pea green water in 22 years and I never use a UV light either. I think the reason for my success is that the water flows all winter and I have hardy pond plants that come back very early in the spring, to help combat spring algae. Remove the algae every day with a net or twine it on a stick if possible. Also get those pumps going fast to simulate a natural spring runoff. that will help keep the algae down too. Invest in additional pump and big underwater pre-pump filter. They pick up lots of the loose algae good too. I have most of my pumps at full speed now, except my little spitters, will get them going on a hot day.

Check out my horn wort, it lays at the bottom of the pond for winter and now look at it!

 

[crsublette]

Hey thanks for your response. I've been seriously thinking of doing away with the water fall and go to a bog.

I would not do away with the waterfall since the algae that grows on the waterfall also helps to reduce the occurrence of other algae and it serves as a good biological filter; however, the catch22 here is that some string algae also inhibits the growth of particular aquatic and terrestrial plants and vice versa. So, it really depends on what else in happening in the pond.

 

[crsublette]

stats
1000 gal pond
2200gph pump
homemade 100 gal filter
10 - 7" comets

Filled pond july 1 2013. Battled green water rest of summer. I took hose off of filter and let pump run in pond all winter.During the winter the water looked good until spring and it suddenly turned green. ( the algae is to small to see but water looks like pea soup) So I decided to hook up the filter and falls.
1. So question is will the pond have to cycle again and if so how do you know when it has?

Short Answer... Yes, pond will cycle again and you might even know when it has.


Long Answer....

Ponds are always "cycling". There is no "static end" to the balance, or "cycling", of a pond. There will always be a constant "shifting" in the balance as long as there are microorganisms depleting nutrients and other life forms impacting your water's chemistry and impact of significant weather changes such as season changes. Also, particular biological filters have to be washed down or even sterilized after a period of use.

There is an assumption that your pond has "cycled" once nitrates so up, but this is not the same to say your pond is "done".

As I have mentioned in post#11 in the thread Salving the algae mystery

"Balance" does not assume there is an "end state" and actually it is quite the opposite when the term is applied in the context of biology.

In the context of biological balance, there is a "dynamic equilibrium existing between members of any relatively stable natural community and being the resultant of all the effects of the constituent organisms on one another." In otherwords, "balance" achieved except the mechanisms are constantly changing so to maintain this "balance". I do not see how the change in the mechanisms would indicate there is not a "balance". "Balance" simply describes there is a final steady state of the system, which does not mean the steady state is a static "end state".

So, you always have to pay attention to your pond. Although, after some time, practice, experience, and increasing your knowledge base, then, much like how a small pebble can turn into a huge boulder, you will have attained good habits that equates to "paying attention" to be as effortless as stepping outdoors. However, also, this is how bad habits can be made as well. So, just don't get cocky in thinking you've got it "figured".

 

[springknee]

Short Answer... Yes, pond will cycle again and you might even know when it has.


Long Answer....

Ponds are always "cycling". There is no "static end" to the balance, or "cycling", of a pond. There will always be a constant "shifting" in the balance as long as there are microorganisms depleting nutrients and other life forms impacting your water's chemistry and impact of significant weather changes such as season changes. Also, particular biological filters have to be washed down or even sterilized after a period of use.

There is an assumption that your pond has "cycled" once nitrates so up, but this is not the same to say your pond is "done".

As I have mentioned in post#11 in the thread Salving the algae mystery




So, you always have to pay attention to your pond. Although, after some time, practice, experience, and increasing your knowledge base, then, much like how a small pebble can turn into a huge boulder, you will have attained good habits that equates to "paying attention" to be as effortless as stepping outdoors. However, also, this is how bad habits can be made as well. So, just don't get cocky in thinking you've got it "figured".

Thanks for your advice on this.