So should I keep algae on the sides of the tub all year long? I get a lot because the pond is on my balcony and gets quite a bit of sun. I thought I was supposed to be scrubbing it all off. So even comets and other fancy goldfish will eat the algae?
Spring Clean up
- Thread starter AnthonyRibis
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Meyer Jordan
Tadpole
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Leave the algae growth on the sides of your tub. It is of three-fold benefit...it provides a natural food source for the fish; it will do as much, if not more, in the removal of pollutants as the best biofilter available; and it oxygenates the water.
callingcolleen1
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I never ever take the ponds apart to clean it. I only net the bottom out where necessary and clean the filters often in early spring as that will remove a lot of the loose algae that I only seem to get in early spring when nothing else is growing. Water is always crystal clear, never ever used a UV light in my life cause I never had pea green water for the last 24 years. Back in 1991 when I first set up my very first pond I did get pea green water that year, and I got rid of it in a month or so using beneficial bacteria and liquid pond peat. Never had pea green water since, and over the years as I expanded the ponds I always used the existing water to connect the new connecting ponds so I never lost the pond balance. I also run my main pumps and underwater filters all winter long since 1991.
I swear liquid pond peat is really the very best!
I swear liquid pond peat is really the very best!
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I have not had green water either, do get the string in the small ponds, a touch in the big pond, but it does not last.
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I get string algae which is easy to pull out. The only time the big pond was pea soup green was the year it was setup. I think the plants help alot too. I started with a preform that would turn green quite often but I didn't have any plants in the pond. One spring I laid a 2 inch thick willow branch in the pond so the frogs could get out and it rooted and branched out. That was thie first year it didn't turn green.