Pondkeeper's How to...

Water Gardens Gazette number 314

Contents
1. What happens in summer as water warms up
2. The dreaded blanketweed or string algae
3. Quick Tips
4. Admin Section

1. It's summertime and water warms up

Most pond fish and this certainly applies to goldfish and koi love warm water. You will have noticed that the fish swim a lot more, eat a lot more and generally seem happy. Your pond plants will be blooming and also growing rapidly.

You will probably have noticed that algae growth has speeded up as well. You will be cleaning the pump strainer more often, and pulling your hair out about the persistent green water if you do not have an UV sterilizer installed in your fish pond. If you suffer from the curse of string algae it will be growing at an incredible rate. remember algae are all types are plants ... yes just like a water lily is a plant.

Later in this Gazette I will once again discuss blanketweed or string algae and what you can do to lessen the problem.

Why do these things all happen in summer ... well the common denominator is higher temperature. Virtually everything around us speeds up as temperature increases. Even rusting of steel gets worse quicker. Metabolism in fish increases and that is why they eat more to sustain their body mass as activity increases and they use up more calories. Plants grow faster because of higher sunlight hours as well as increased temperatures since they depend upon sunlight for photosynthetic conversion.

On still summer days in overstocked ponds and especially if you have a green pond oxygen depletion within the pond can take place with lethal results. Under the same conditions ammonia poisoning can occur with equally disastrous results. The reasons for these potential calamities has been explained on more than one occasion. To avoid these problems you have the dire need to do the following if you have not already done so:

Install a biofilter even a simple home made one.

Make sure your pump runs 24 hrs per day ... do have at least a fountain sprinkling and maybe a waterfall too in order to increase oxygen levels in the pond water. If you have an air blower use it to its full advantage. Blow air into the water inside the filer as well as in the pond or in the waterfall system. You cannot overdo this.

Install an UV light system to prevent green pea soup water and prevent high pH problems which in turn cause ammonia problems

In this regard read this from a reader in Florida .....

I wanted to touch base and let you know that it has been 8 days since I have installed the Ultra Violet light and my pond is crystal clear. I have never in the 6 years of having my fish pond seen clear water except for when a complete water change has been done and then that only lasted a few days before turning completely green again. I am so glad that I found your book on the Internet.

There should be more people out there like you that are not trying to make a killing off of people. In the past 6 years I have spoken to numerous "pond experts" and they have sold me every chemical on the market to clear up the water. Needless to say I still had green water and I have spent hundreds of dollars buying these products because I did not know any different. The day before I found your book on the Internet I was out of state and passed by a nursery and stopped. They had many ponds on their grounds. I spent an hour talking to the owner about my green water problem and at the end of the conversation he sold me 2 products to put in my pond that guaranteed clear water within 3 days of treatment. Needless to say 3 days later my water was still green.

Thank you so much more the information that really helps. It cost me $99 for an 8 watt UV light and I won't have to spend any other money.

ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR THE HELPFUL INFORMATION YOU HAVE SUPPLIED TO ME.

DEBBIE FROM FLORIDA

It is for reasons like this that I put effort into helping people to get the best from their ponds.

NEW .... Summaries all book chapters click the link to go to this page and see 250 word summaries of each chapter in my book

Affiliate Advertisement
Did you know a recent UK government survey projected 1 in every 7 gardens will fall victim to some type of garden crime in the next 12 months

NEW eBook “How to Secure Your Garden & Equipment Against Thieves Vandals & Crime”

No endorsement of ANY ad is implied unless expressly stated by Tony Roocroft

I have just created a web site for the UK and will over time start to add specific information for UK readers. Here is the link

http://www.pondsandpumps.co.uk

2. The dreaded blanketweed .. see picture

No I unfortunately do not have a simple definite solution for you. I am not going to suggest you add anything to your pond although it is probable that some concoctions do work some of the time. I used to sell a natural UK product called Bioclear some time ago. It did work some of the time. However regular addition was necessary.

Let me explain what influences the growth of blanketweed (also called string algae) so that you can go some way to helping yourself hopefully overcome the problem or decrease the voracity of it. It is called string algae because if you look under a microscope you will see that the strands are actually algae cells all joined together in a straight line, and the string gets longer and longer.

Before giving you some food for thought let me mention that most people who have blanketweed have crystal clear ponds because other algae types just cannot compete with the string algae for nutrients in the water.

Main nutrients required for string algae and other plant life are ....

Phosphates dissolved in water

Nitrates dissolved in water

In simple language these are fertilizers. If there was none of these in the water there would be no blanketweed.

However this is wishful thinking since many water supplies over recent years have become "rich" in nitrates and phosphates as a direct result of run-off from farmlands and the farmlands had been fertilized over the years with nitrates and phosphates.

This means every time you fill up the pond you are adding these nutrients. Some geographical areas would be far worse than others. You should be able to get information on your water supply analysis from your local municipal office.

Detergents are also rich in phosphates so the growth in dish washing machines and the like have also contributed to the real problem of waterways contamination.

Apparently this contamination is happening in a massive way in the Everglades region of the USA resulting from intensive sugar cane cultivation.

Other main sources of these nutrients which satisfy all algae and all other plants is fish food and fish waste .... remember the final products of the biofiltration process are soluble nitrates.

It follows that if you do NOT feed your fish then you will have less nitrates and phosphates in your pond water. Fish in most ponds can survive very happily with far less human intervention when it comes to supplying food.

Here then is the first part of minimising the problem .... REDUCE or even ELIMINATE feeding AND use high quality fish food (go and read my article on koi food again ...

http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/koifood.htm

The second partial solution is to plant your pond with aquatic plants which will compete with the blanketweed for the (hopefully) diminishing nitrate and phosphates.

The third partial solution is not to use pond fertilizers unless you feel you really really must ... they probably all contain phosphates. If you have blanketweed you definitely do not need more nutrients.

Over time the problem of string algae may go away ..... take note may go away is what I said. If not at least enjoy the clear water and decide you are bound to live with it. Keep fishing it out with a pole (attach a sturdy piece of "curly" steel to one end to help the removal). Put the stuff on the compost heap.

Quick Tips

Tip1 Edging a liner pond.
Take care that the liner edge is turned up after laying the edging on top of it. In this way "leaks" due to siphoning effect can be eliminated. Do not leave the last part of the liner flat underneath the edge.

Tip 2 Filling a preformed pond for the first time
Backfill the hole around the pond with soil at the same rate that the water fills up in the pond.... this way you will get a good positioning of the pond against a firm backfill. Tamp the backfill to the best of your ability as the water fills the pond.

Tip 3 Deciding on a liner pond shape
Take a hose pipe and create various shapes until you feel happy. Simple shapes are best and more pleasing to the eye when finished. Irregular shapes with narrows and sharp edges are not good designs.