I need help with controlling the algae buildup in my pond. I have approximately a seven hundred gallon pond that blooms into algae over night. I have lost all my koi that I had in there. I am using "Algae Fix" from the pet store and am cleaning the filters two to three times a week. Can anyone tell me how to get this problem under control. I am about ready to pull out the pond.
Have you read over my pond algae page at
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/algae2.htmThere has to be something major wrong with the pond for the fish to all die and for AlgaeFix to not kill the algae for you. How clean is it? Is there debris on the bottom? Have you tested the pH, ammonia, nitrite, and oxygen levels recently?
I had terrible algae until I used the barley straw. Living in Arizona, one of the sunshine states, gives so much light to the algae bloom that the ponds are usually dark green and most people opt for the blue dye. I used a liquid barley straw to start that I bought at PetSmart, then added a bag of the pellets near the base of my waterfall. In Tucson, traditionally this month, July, is pea soup month from the information that the pond club members have given me, but I can see the bottom of my pond. There is a slight tint, but all my plants are in pots and I can see all the pots and the golden snails as they crisscross the bottom of the pond. Check out the links to Barley Staw, all the information is here. Good Luck!
Im new to ponding... Ive only had mine for about 2 months. I got into a real serious algae bloom that would not go away. I was using AlgaeFix too... and it never seemed to work - UNTIL I possibly overdosed my pond.
Im not sure if I really overdosed or undercalculated the water volume. The pond installation guy said the pond was about 450 gallons, so I was using 1/4 cup of algaefix, but the algae was still there. Then one day, I used a glass measuring cup and I looked at the lines incorrectly and used 1/2 a cup instead!!
I used 1/2 a cup on Monday, then on tuesday I added some sort of bacteria with barley in it to remove sludge, then on wednesday I added another 1/2 cup of algaefix, (thats when I noticed I was using 1/2 cup and not 1/4), and finally followed that up with more of that bacteria with barley.
Amazingly, all my fish and plants are fine and I can see every rock on the bottom of my pond!! My fish look happier too!
So - maybe you are miscalculating the water volume of your pond - or - maybe you should change the ammount or frequency that you use the algaefix??