String Algae take over?

[rjp44]

Ive been dealing with string algae growing pretty continuously in my pond from August all the way until October. I am located in New England and its not growing now but there is a good layer, perhaps a foot thick that is lining the bottom of the pond. I removed alot of the algae in September and it grew back pretty quickly. I decided to leave it in for the winter as the fish love to hide in it, but I will be removing it all in the spring time again.

Is there anything I can do to prevent or limit the amount of string algae growth in the pond? I already have a UV light installed and that seems to help maintain water clarity; but string algae seems unaffected. Pond is roughly 10k gallons, max depth of 5 ft; with bass, bluegills and small bait fish.

 

[Mmathis]

Are you sure it’s string algae? Do you test your water regularly?

 

[Stephen Noble]

Does your pond have a mud bottom? A couple of things you might try are aeration, tinting the water with pond safe tint, reducing the amount of nutrients entering the pond, say, from runoff, barley straw and using a bunch of floating plants and lily pads to shade the water.
Here is an interesting link that might help:
Barley Straw for Algae Control (psu.edu)

 

[rjp44]

Are you sure it’s string algae? Do you test your water regularly?

Yes positive its string algae. I have not tested in a while. What should I be looking for when testing?


No it is not a mud bottom just firestone liner with some sand/ gravel in spots.

 

[Mmathis]

Ammonia, nitrites

 

[GBBUDD]

SHUT DOWN THE UV...... uv's kill live bacteria and live algae which in turn then becomes food for more algae. Some photos of your set up will help and describe filter and pump etc how many fish what type.
Aeration can possibly help
adding biotopes can help
tinting the pond can help
does the algae grow in fast flowing water or everywhere

 

[JamieB]

If it’s not harmful, why fight it since the fish like it. It’s removing waste product from the water. Try adding more plants to out compete it for nutrients.

 

[bagsmom]

When I have had it, I just remove with my hands or a clean, dedicated (never used for anything but the pond) toilet brush. It is kind of fun!

 

[GBBUDD]

if it's that minor don't worry about it . or just use a plastic rake

 

[Lisak1]

The best way to rid your pond of string algae is to figure out why it's there in the first place - which is a simple answer: excess nutrients in the water. So the string algae is performing a valuable service by consuming those nutrients that would otherwise be harmful to your fish.

As @GBBUDD suggested - UV has no value in reducing string algae and by killing the single cell algae it does add to the nutrient load the the string algae depends on. Plus who knows what else it's killing in the meantime.

The biggest causes of excess algae are too many fish for the size of the pond, over feeding your fish, or excess organic material decaying in the pond. Do any of those sound familiar? Fixing whatever is creating the unbalanced conditions is the single best way to get rid of string algae - it will magically disappear once you remove the food source.

String algae can of course overgrow, and become unsightly. Manually removing it is the single best way to deal with it while you get your pond in balance. Using a product that kills the algae only leads to more excess nutrients which creates more algae overgrowth.

 

[GBBUDD]

The other little known fact about string algae is to not squeeze it pull it out of the water as quick as possible to prevent it from dropping spours back into the water.

 

[addy1]

Is there anything I can do to prevent or limit the amount of string algae growth in the pond?

I filter with a bog, have zero issue with string algae. The bog plants don't leave enough nutrients for the string to grow. I might get a tiny batch on the hornwort, like a handful but that is it.