Algae in pond!

[p.albert]

hi guys, i have a pond for 15 kois. we have been trying to fight the algae growth problem but nothing seems to work. every 2 or 3 weeks we would be able to scoop up 2 huge balls of algae, human head size.
what plants do ur think, can help combat the problem?
would frogbits help?

[dna9179]

Human head size is really big and bad.
i guess you need to provide more information and detail of your pond 1st.

Without that it's hard to determine the cause.

Your pond access to the sun during daytime or indoor?

[p.albert]

pond is outdoor. the main body is approximately 4 ft wide and 10 ft long. pretty deep. the water is pumped up and than flows down a water fall kinda slide, into a holding area like a 2nd tank. this one is about 5 to 6ft long 1.5 by 1.5ft. alot of sun light through out the day. house about 6 jumbo kois. each longer than 2ft already, the other 7 are leather backs, chagol. smaller ones. thats alot of shit. and 2 big plecos. the filter's the chamber kind.
currently all sides of both "tanks" are covered in thick algae, if its a moss wall for a tank it would be beeautiful. algae is grwoing everywhere, on the waterfall slide and all.
we tried adding some plants to it, those in pots, to the smaller tank. help to take in what ever the algae is using, compete with it. doesn't really work too. floating plants in the main tank gets eaten by the kois over time. so yup.

[barmby]

Add dark shade over the pond. To lower the temperature.

Add Pandan (P. amaryllifolius) anchored with floating platform. Their roots will suck up the nutrients. Provided the koi don't "makan" the plants.

[p.albert]

thats the main problem. we had erm, i think water lettuce of something. some floating plant that looks like amazonian frogbits, but there are bulbs around it to float it. the kois just whacked them over time.

[barmby]

Don't give up. Just give other plants a try. Try Echinodorus species as well. Same thing. Submerse. Anchor them to a floating platform

[limz_777]

there are floating plant fish barrier , basic design of a floating fixture with nets to prevent kois from eating the floating plants

[Shadow]

how about UV sterilizer?

[barmby]

Rightfully said Shadow. How could I forget UV sterilizer. It is a must have for all pond

[p.albert]

yeah there's UV in one of the filter chambers. hmmm i think though, because they have anchored themselves to the walls and all already, not all the spores go into the chambers. the funny thing is, the floor of the deeper pond doesn't have much algae.
hmm ya, maybe i could try that net thing. sounds good.

[limz_777]

what sort of algae ? hair algae?

[p.albert]

oki, i cant identify that one. let me do a search on the net and i'll. its basically long long strands of greenish ones, a tinge of brown on it. its really dirty looking.

[limz_777]

uv sterilizer i find its only useful for treat green water only , doesnt really work for hair string algae bloom , maybe you might want to try natural algae cleaners like fei feng or Cae , do clean up our filteration system and reduce feeding

[barmby]

yeah there's UV in one of the filter chambers. hmmm i think though, because they have anchored themselves to the walls and all already, not all the spores go into the chambers. the funny thing is, the floor of the deeper pond doesn't have much algae.
hmm ya, maybe i could try that net thing. sounds good.

This is a clue Look at the Temperature and Light

[p.albert]

light would be, exposed fully to sunlight at all times of the day.
temperture, hmmm, got to run a check.
erm whats Cae

[TyroneGenade]

You want to add a bail of barley straw. It has anti-algae properties. Floating plants, as suggested, are a good idea. You can buy some plastic mesh and make a small cage for the plants where they can't be eaten.

tt4n

[Kim Yong]

where can i get barley straw or barley extract. i read that they can inhibit the growth of string or blanket algae.

I am running a outdoor water feature with goldfishs. I had setup a UV system to get rid of green water and it has been working wonders for the last 1+ month since setup.

however, there are still blanket algae on the waterfall walls, which is not in the pool and i cannot use any algae eater against them.

does C328 sells them?

[Blue Whale]

Hi Guys,

Those with ponds thingy. Now really it cannot be compared to a "indoor tank", so what you need is advice from some "outdoor experts".

Two options. QianHu who have losta outdoor ponds; or the Koi Farm (at least 120++ ponds) which is just beside (hopefully still around), see if you can walk around and talk to the staffs who are upkeeping the ponds. I am sure what you face, they face it before. Qianhu got equip. shop there. If going over is not an option for you, call them.
http://www.qianhu.com/default.asp?id=5&mnu=5

What you want to do is to gather information then compile them in your head. You will get conflicting testimonies on the upkeeping, so you still need to decipher which information is correct end of the day.

[Kim Yong]

thanks for the advice. cant find much outdoor expert in this forum, probably i have not been searching hard enough.

manage to search through the post and found that petmart got sell barley straw extract. grab a bag over the weekend, removed all algae through scraping. Now started the algae preventive treatment using barley straw. Lets see how it goes. Also grab a bag of coral chips and flourish Excel to help plant growth.

The only problem with my outdoor feature is the lack of proper filtration system. I am only using a pump with a spoonge at the suckion end. Yes i know this is a poor setup, but due to limited space and poor planning in my planter box. Original idea is to just have water feature with chlorine water, but loke to add some life to it, thus the fish and plants come in. Been trying to read up more on how to get rid of ammonia and nitrates. Is water changing the only option? Added coral chips and cremeric rings to prompte bacterial growth as well (added in some dose of super 8000 bacterial)

Got time i try to post some pics of my setup.

Really glad i ended up in this forum. been read for almost 2 weeks before i decided its time i should sign up.

cheers

[Blue Whale]

I should say not exactly irrelevant. Some of the viva guys here are trying outdoor setup indoors. Some of the stuffs that they use are also reusable for ponds.

You talk about water cycling, water filteration, plants, etc. Rock ornaments, outdoor setups. Might still come in handy when you are looking at your pond. Even casting a net on poles above the pond might be necessary, so don't be surprise. =) Some inspiration could even be drawn just browsing through the photo gallery. I think you can pick up some ideas there along the way as well.

Your immediate task is actually to find out more on ponds based on ponds rearers. So fish farms are definitely a choice. Another is to read more up, books to be exact. From BioTope to C328 to Serangoon to Yishun Aqua Star Trading, they sell books topical based. Hence you just need to find the right book. Perhaps some on ponds, some on fish and some on plants.