How much algae is too much algae?
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- A quick video where I waffle on about algae in a pond. In the video I mentioned some other videos that should be helpful for anyone trying to maintain a pond without spending a lot of money.
The role of bacteria in a pond and maintain clear water- • The ONLY thing you NEE...
Creating a bog filter to clear green water- • Cheap bog filter in a ...
The role of plants in water filtration- • What's the best plants...
For helpful products and articles visit ozponds.com
Great update Kev. It's so difficult to know just how much a single bog filter is capable of filtering. So many factors weigh in, that if they're a first time pond builder, it would benefit them by thumbing through these videos, and finding your patio pond bog setups, and work their way up. Once they understand exactly how these delicate systems work, I think starting with a small pond, and working their way up, would be the best option.
I agree. 👍
very much like your channel
I very much like yours 👍
Thanks Kev for great video, puts one's mind at ease 😊
Love your channel,as always great information.
As always love your videos 👊🏽
🍻👍
Summers started here in the uk, and my ponds had an algae flare up for the last couple of weeks. It's gone now though, I think the bacteria just needed time to reproduce enough to eat the fish waste, since I started feeding them again. The filter managed to remove what was left of the green colour.
It happens 👍
I live in the Netherlands, and one of our problems in our region of the world is the amount of rain that we get in the UK and here the Netherlands. Because rainwater is relative "soft" water, and here in the Netherlands we also have a high amount of nitrogen pollution. Rainwater and snow lowers the water hardness level. And when the water hardness is too low you can get a big sudden PH change that is way too high. (alkaline)
But I find personally very difficult to keep the water hardness at level, because the mineral additives to change the water hardness can be very aggressive, and when applied wrong, for example too much at once, or at the same time with other additives, or too soon after applying another additive, it can shock all the plants and the micro organisms and then the plants stop growing and the micro organisms stop doing their thing. And most of the time it results in some sort of algae issue, most likely string algae.
Now I am using clay powder additives, and those are much milder. They usually have a balanced amount of macro nutrients that your pond plants need. And also the minerals to keep your water hardness at level. And they come with clear instructions how to use it. And instead of reacting to an issue I give my pond a regular small dose of clay minerals every other week or so. It depends a little on the indicators that I get from the pond plants.
But again, there are different types of clay additives, and it is best practice to use them in small quantities. And not to apply different additives at the same time and to follow the instructions on the package. And there has to be at least a week between the different applications of different minerals, regardless what mineral additives you apply.
And indeed you need to be patient. It can take weeks or even months before you see any positive change. It is best practice to keep all the important water quality values at level throughout the entire year by giving the pond small quantities of minerals throughout the entire year. Then you do not have to make big sudden corrections with a large amount of additives.
However, if you have string algae it helps to keep removing it manually as much as you can. And It also helps if you only aerate the pond at the hours that it is dark outside, given the fact that you have enough oxygen plants in your pond or filter and that the water temperatures are normal, so not extremely high. When the temperatures are high you can aerate the water during the day. If you have oxygen plants in your pond aeration during the night is very important. But when you also aerate during the day when the water temperatures are normal it can be too much aeration, and that can cause a rise in PH, and that will results in string algae. Right now my timer for the aeration is set to go on at 10 in the evening, and it shuts off at 5 in the morning.
My new half barrel pond was growing hair algae like crazy. Investigation showed the two potted plants I bought from the pond store were not potted in rocks but rather soil! I washed all the soil away and replanted in pea gravel. I predict this will solve my hair algae problem.
Maybe. Hair algae is slower to resolve. I believe it’s more to do with phosphates and whatever “cycle” happens to process phosphates takes longer to establish.
Accepting algae as part of the life in the pond was a difficult lesson for me to learn. Well, I did have one massive outbreak because my improperly filtered pump was murdering tadpoles, but once I solved that I think I have achieved an algae balance. I had to rethink algae entirely, because I always associated it with the water being dirty, but even if it is a bit dirty, dirt is good.
You’re so right, we need to accept natural things. Dirt, germs, algae,bacteria some are good, some are bad, some help us evolve and become stronger.
I had a recent problem with string algae. I think that I have it under control now. Now I also see more activity from the fish. I think that I had a PH issue which gave the string algae the opportunity to grow, and I did several things to get it under control. And indeed it always seems to happen around spring and at the end of the fall. In my region of the world the temperatures are all over the place around those times of the year. But we also had an exceptional amount of rain, and at my location we also have a lot of nitrogen pollution. So I am battling several negative factors at once. But what I did is that I added some peat in bags to the pond. They just float around. And I also sprinkled some peat powder that I rasped from a block of dry peat with a wood rasp. It floats for a while, but eventually it will sink. The peat slowly releases humic acids, which will slowly lower the PH and the micro organisms and the plants seem to like the humic acids as well, but not too much at once. I also removed as much string algae as I could by hand, which is important, because too much algae can cause a PH crash during the night.
And probably most importantly I changed the hours that I was aerating the pond, which seems to be a huge factor from what I was reading about aeration. Too much air during the day can cause the PH to rise because too much oxygen molecules want to bond with other molecules and then those other molecules become an unavailable nutrient for the plants, or something like that, I am not a scientist so forgive me my poor explanation. But it is a chemical thing, and eventually it can cause a significant PH rise. And when the PH goes up all the ornamental plants are having trouble with consuming the nutrients. Or they can even stop growing entirely. Which gives the string algae an excellent opportunity to thrive with all those nutrients that are not consumed by the other plants, because string algae doesn't care much about a higher PH value, and some how they can still consume those nutrients that are in the water, while the other plants can't.
If it is really hot and when you have no or a very little amount of oxygen producing plants it makes sense to aerate during the day. But when you have enough oxygen plants in your pond, with moderate temperatures, it is best practice to put the aeration on a timer and to let it only run during the hours that there is no daylight. This will help to keep the PH under control, and therefore it also reduces the chances for developing string algae in your pond.
Not aerating at all during the night can cause a significant PH crash, where the water can become way too acidic over a single night, and it can kill all the fish in your pond in a single night. Especially when you have a lot of oxygen plants in your pond. But the bigger the pond the bigger the buffer it has for all these issues. Smaller ponds will have more issues with this when the temperatures get real high or real cold or when there is a lot of air pollution.
Personally I had a lot of trouble figuring all this out. And when I started to understand it all a little more I was trying to get things corrected as fast as possible, which was also wrong. I also stopped measuring the PH because those tests are not cheap, you have to do it three times a day otherwise it makes no sense. With a digital tester you need to clean the probe and to calibrate it regularly. It was too much hassle. Instead I try to fix the root of the problem by doing small modifications to the system to help nature find a better balance.
For example even the flow rate can be an issue. Either too much, or too low flow rate.
As always a great video, your channel is much under rated 👍
Thanks for sharing your experiences, hopefully it helps others 👍
@@Ozponds There are so many factors, sometimes it is mind boggling. I am still learning. And I also do not have the conditions working for me, to say the least. Small space, small body of water, urban area with all kinds of pollution and possible herbicides and pesticides from neighbors, high latitude, big temperature fluctuations, high amount of nitrogen pollution due to excessive farming, and this past month we had more then twice the amount of rain compared to what we have on average around this time of the year. Much more clouds, and relative cold night temperatures at more sunny days. We are going to 4C at night while it is practical summer. Very cold for the time of the year.
But like you said, when you observe your pond or any other aquatic system for that matter you learn to recognize the indicators. I have seen what different plants in my pond do when something is not right with the PH, some get yellow leaves, some plants get brown and just slowly die. And first I thought that it was a nutrient deficiency, and indirectly it was, but it was caused by a the PH that was too high, so adding nutrients did not help because the plants were simply unable to take up the nutrients due to the PH that was too high. So instead of adding nutrients I had to fix the cause from the rise in PH.
And the behavior from the fish is also different. When everything is fine they are far more active and exploring every corner from the pond. When something is wrong with the PH they school together and stay in one corner from the pond as deep as possible.
I also made big mistakes trying to fix issues. In the beginning I applied too much, too fast, and I made any other thinkable mistake that you can make with pond additives. Which made matters only worse.
I still use mineral additives, but in much less quantities, and much less often, with much more time between the different mineral additives. One big lesson that I learned is that most of the time you do not get an instant result and you need to be patient.
I am going to stop here because I think that I am boring you far too much. Thanks for your sharing your knowledge. I know that it is reliable and very useful for any pond caretaker, because I have experienced most of the issues first hand. 👍
@@insAneTunA it’s never boring learning other peoples experiences 👍
@@Ozponds I had to come back on the subject. Just to be sure I just measured the water hardness values from my own pond water, GH and KH, and as I suspected the results were really far too low because of the big amount of rain that we had last month, more than twice the average amount of rain for that time of the year. And on top of that the plants are growing and therefore they are also depleting the natural salts that make up the total water hardness. I also did some extra reading to get a better understanding myself.
I can't repeat it all because it is a very long story. But good water hardness in the pond ensures that biological processes can take place properly. This keeps the pond clear. Water hardness ensures the growth of oxygen plants and bacteria in the pond and the pond filter.
A pond with too low water hardness will have problems with plant growth and become sensitive to filamentous algae and floating algae. I can recommend people to research a bit more about this subject.
More important is the cure to prevent these issues. There are quick working minerals available, such as KH extra or GH extra, but the cure does not last very long, in fact one rain shower can make the application total useless, and to my experience those fast working minerals are very aggressive and easy to apply wrong which stuns the plants completely, and I would not recommend to use those type of additives unless you know exactly what you are doing, and you must NOT as in NEVER use those type of quick working minerals at the same time or in too large quantities. You can only raise the values with 1 point at a time. And even that can be too much. Tricky stuff to do it right.
And there are also slow working and slow releasing mineral clay additives which also have a longer lasting effect, up to several months.
It is also important to note that those minerals are very important to prevent sudden big PH changes in the water. .
I have tried all the additives, and I prefer the clay mineral additives because they are much less aggressive and the chances that your plants are getting stunned is much less. And the way that it needs to be used is that you have to add those minerals in small quantities every week or so mixed with some water from your pond, evenly spread out over the water, or spread it as much as you can.
To fix my own issue with the water hardness values I use much less clay mineral additives as prescribed, the prescribed amount is based on the total amount of water that you have in your pond or system. Because I want to be absolutely sure that I do not stun the plants, and it is a slow working additive so it is best practice to take it slow. You can always add more, not the other way around. If you have a water hardness issue you will also have plants that are not doing that great. And when the additives work you will see the plants slowly but surely doing better. Bigger healthier looking leaves. And new growth. If you applied too much at once, or too many different types of clay additives at once, plants are going to do worse.
Especially when you live in country with a lot of rain and snow, and when you have a reasonable amount of oxygen plants, and when there is no natural source for those minerals, so for example when you have a pond with a pond liner, or a small plastic pond, it is recommended to add clay additives regularly. It applies to you when you have either one of those conditions, it does not necessarily have to be a combination from all of those conditions. This prevents algae, and it prevents that you have to do very large corrections when you notice that something is wrong with your plant growth or when you have a severe case of algae on your hands, because those large corrections will always ruin your pond for a long period of time.
For people in moderate to colder climates it is also recommended to put the aeration on a timer so that it only aerates during the hours that there is no sunlight. That also helps a lot to prevent algae from growing. And it helps to prevent big sudden PH changes as well.
This was a more educated version. I hope that it makes sense. 👍
Awesome video! I am confused whether your statement "...avoid the urge to dose your pond with every quick algae fix under the sun or USE A POND DYE" meant to avoid using pond dye or that I should use it instead of algae dosing.
My bog filter is new this year and I am so anxious to see results. Thanks for the encouragement to "be patient"!
It was a dig at myself. I hated it when I turned my pond blue. It took months and months to look natural again.
Thanks for the tips I just started a pond a couple months ago, just a 6x7 4 ft in depth. I let it sit with no pump for a couple months with just plants and in the 2nd month I added the fish hoping to get some bacteria started before adding the pump. I haven't seen any algea whatsoever. Maybe I should add some algea balls not sure my main concern is the plants. I want the plants to thrive.
Not all algae is easily visible. If everything is doing well don’t over manage it.
Kev,
Thanks again for the enjoyment. Are some of these old clips? Did you replace your fish? I'm cool with string algae. I don't like suspended single cell algae. I like clear water.
I tickled the thumbs up 👍 button to feed the algorithm monsters.
Yes old clips with fish. I won’t replace fish until spring. The cormorant will visit me all winter.
at 0:48, that bright green algae on the right of screen - "jelly" like algae that sticks to rocks - is that considered to be string algae too? it looks and feels very different and is very hard to scoop out cos it's so slimy
Probably not. If it breaks apart it’s not string or hair algae. But don’t ask me what it is…there’s too many species 😉
like button tickled!
Legend!
Do you necessarily have to run a filter system every day or just occasionally?
It’ll depend on the pond. Example a koi pond, you’ll need to run 24/7. A wildlife pond could be set up in a way that requires no circulation or external filtration. I’ve got videos showing no filter ponds, solar ponds and filtered ponds.
👌
how many Goldfish would you put in a 1000l pond with a 180l bog filter?
Maybe 7
Helle kev the bog filter is really good butwhen i use it my fish kept getting stuck to the pump and die what should I do
Watch my videos on how I position the pump 😉
Wow 2 years! I thought you were going to say 6 months!
Every pond is different.