|
| Pond Plants - Control of Algaes
Well, it's a hot topic and it begs all sorts of questions.
The Cause of String / Green Algae (Back to top) The cause of string algae is the presence of nitrates, phosphates and sulfates in sufficient quantity and in the presence of SUFFICIENT LIGHT to cause the bloom of algae. Often, in ponds with adequate plant material, the microflora NEVER outgrow the nutrient supply and the plants control the algae, but during certain environmental transition periods, like Spring and Fall, there's a breakdown of significant nutrients which exceeds the ability of plants to keep up - and algae growth is the result. Algae is caused by nutrient loads in the environment which are EXCESSIVE to what the natural plant load can carry. Or, the appearance of algaes is common in ponds WITHOUT plant material to compete with it. Without algae or plants, all those nutrients such as nitrate, phosphate and sulfates accumulate in the environment as a background pollution, which causes stress to the fish. Methods of Chemical Control (Back to top) You can control algae a variety of ways with chemicals. Believe it or not, Barley Straw is chemical control except it's a very gentle, slow acting chemical control. For best results, Barley Straw would be applied BEFORE algae appears. Applied afterwards it has a hard time working. One of the reasons is that the Barley Straw must decay in order to work. It makes a "tea" of tannins and humic acid which are all contradictory to the living requirements of algae. So the algae doesn't proliferate. When the Barley has fully decayed, (you will still see something in the mesh bag) then it no longer produces the various natural acids which prohibit algae growth and then you see a failure in the control. I'd give Barely Straw a B+ for algae control. Other forms of chemical control have been less effective, for several reasons. When they used to use Copper as a form of algae control, it was sometimes toxic to fish, if the alkalinity of the pond or pool was low. Additionally, copper containing herbicides are INDISCRIMINANT about what plants die. THEY ALL DO and so you don't get ANY plants in such treated ponds. Then they came out with various plant safe algaecides - and in the process of taming the compounds NOT to kill prized lotus plants and lilies - they tamed the "guts' out of the algae killing properties. So we see hit and miss success with things like Algae Control™, Algae Destroyer™ and such. I tested AlgaeFix (™API) in KoiLab and found it did not work in my applications. However, when I had an online store, I sold a good bit of this and the consumers reported success in most cases. In some instances, Algae control products may KILL enough algae to create a biological hazard - in terms of the decay of massive amounts of algae material - which consumes oxygen in the decay process. Care! There's another problem with the wholesale application of chemicals to the pond which might interfere with TOTAL plant metabolism - WITHOUT PLANTs - what will reduce the background pollution of nitrates, sulfates and phosphates? NOTHING. So I am not a big fan of "chemicals" for algae control. Mechanical Control of Algaes (Back to top)
Another form of mechanical control is the ubiquitous "sand filter" which pumps water through a bed of sand. In chlorinated low-burden pools and spas it works GREAT because, essentially, nothing gets through a bed of sand - so the water is majorly polished of a "little bit" of algae pollution. Except, in Koi ponds, the sand filter gets a LOT of algae ALL DAY LONG and a quick SKIN of algae gets on the top of the sand and stops the water flow. So you backwash the sand and it works for another half-day before you have to backwash it again. Sand filters are GREAT - but the polishing is TOO FINE and so they back up, ALOT. UltraViolet Light (Back to top) Click image at left (or here) for schematic of how it works. Imagine if there was a lightbulb that emitted rays of ultraviolet light (like a tanning bed but 100X stronger) which would penetrate the water AROUND the bulb and kill small fragments of life-giving DNA in the sleeve around the bulb. Ostensibly when the little algae went through the sleeve around the bulb, the DNA would be hit by the radiation and the organism (plants, bacteria, and viruses) would die. And so it is, with the Ultraviolet Clarifier. You could call it a UV Sterilizer if the water coming from it were STERILE but it's not. The reason is that the water floods through them so fast, that they kill ALOT of what's in the water, but not 100% Fish are unharmed by UV Clarifiers. It emits NO toxins, metabolites, or electrons that could hurt fish. They're safe for your plants because THE ORGANISMS YOU WANT TO DIE must pass through the UV Clarifier sleeve around the bulb to get "hurt" and the fish don't fit, neither do your rooted and floating plants. Just microorganisms! But UV Clarifiers may fail if the water flows TOO fast. Some manufacturers care more about getting the UV into your pond, and across your financial ledger than they do about whether it actually works. So they may overstate the capabilities of the UV - for example, an 8.5 Watt UV being sold to clarify ponds up to 3,000 gallons! Ridiculous. Reputable UV companies include GCTek Zap Pure UVs which is both a good product and a good company, Emperor Aquatics makes a good UV however it's distribution is limited by the fact that there is one company (azponds.com or smthn) that sells it at or slightly below wholesale to the public and so it's distribution geographically has been badly threatened. A stainless steel UV, Bob Bongiorno in New York has ElectraPure I think, based on improved technology including a heat proof stainless steel lug on the sleeve head, I could recommend that. I like (and have liked) the WAVE UV's as a product but the company has inspired considerable ire with the dealers by selling to the public around the established distribution - so you'll see less and less of this UV as time passes making it's specs mute. So the flow through the UV should be slow enough to permit a kill, and pass all the pond's water through the UV once per hour ideally. Algae grows so fast, that slower passage might permit the algae to procreate faster than it dies. The Simplest Way To Control GreenWater and String Algae (Back to top) Is to compete with it. By using plants material in and around the pond, you introduce competition to the algae for the utilization of nitrates, phosphates and sulfates which would otherwise:
Plant material, especially which is grown on the surface of the pond, can also provide shade, which reduces the growth of algae in the water and on the pond bottom. I especially like certain species of Canna for nitrate uptake (fast!) and shade production. People complain that their fish eat their plants, and I would comment that "Yes and No" this is true. First, if you use a little plant material where the Koi can get to it, they MIGHT pick it apart. One of the reasons is that they explore orally. So if EVERY Koi checks out your new plant a couple times, that's alot of tugging! Second, if Koi don't have anything else to play with orally (like some gravel scattered on the pond bottom in a thin layer) they will play with whatever they can find. Also, if you use ENOUGH plant material, the Koi cannot pick ONE plant to assault. So when hobbyists tell me they're unhappy with plants in the pond I wonder (and suspect) if they really need to make a bigger commitment and put in some more plants. Protect the roots of the younger plants with a heap of bigger gravel - and if the plants are potted, wedge the pots in to keep the Koi from knocking them over. It's probably better to have depressions in the liner that you can put a little Egg rock in to root your plants. Try not to use dirt, or finer gravel as this can really be a pain to service. Finally, don't UNDERSTIMATE how much plant material you can get in the pond WITHOUT putting the plants in the Koi's way! For example, a complete waterfall system could be utilized which has basins for plant material. Get creative about WHERE IN YOUR POND there's water that a PLANT could be in! Control of String Algae in Warm Ponds (Back to top) In warm water, with String algae, you're in luck. You can simply use a plecostomus.
So, ask for a large, 'trade in' Plecostomus.
Secondly, Plecostomus will die when the water temperature drops to fifty five DF. Not 56 DF. Like a light switch, in the Fall of each year, they all die when the water reaches down to fifty five. So you should anticipate this and pull the Plecostomus out and put him in a plastic garbage pail with a little sponge filter for the winter. Feed him a disc of Zucchini every couple days and he'll "hang in" 'til Spring for re-deployment in the pond. Control of Greenwater in Warm Ponds (Back to top) In warm ponds, say, over 65 to 70 o Fahrenheit, be glad that you can use plants that are fast growing, and tropical. I like Canna, Rushes, some Cattails, Celery, Mint, and anything that grows fast and resists occasional pecks from Koi. If you use Hyacinths, great - they're the fastest nitrate reducer there is, and they float to create shade. However, if the Koi get hungry enough, or if the Hyacinths are new or rare - you may find the roots get picked off, weakening the plant and contributing to a choked pump if the roots get in there. Rooted plants: Protect the roots of the younger plants with a heap of bigger gravel - and if the plants are potted, wedge the pots in to keep the Koi from knocking them over. It's probably better to have depressions in the liner that you can put a little Egg rock in to root your plants. Try not to use dirt, or finer gravel as this can really be a pain to service. Finally, don't UNDERSTIMATE how much plant material you can get in the pond WITHOUT putting the plants in the Koi's way! For example, a complete waterfall system could be utilized which has basins for plant material. Control of String Algae in Cold Ponds (Back to top) String algae grows in cold ponds, but no where near as fast as it does in ponds which would otherwise support tropical or just warm water nitrate reducers. If you're having cooler water and still have String algae, use the notes which I present next. Control of Greenwater in Cold Ponds (Back to top) Greenwater in colder ponds is equally uncommon as String algae in cold water because again, the metabolism of the fish (their food intake and waste output) is diminished and the algae therefore have less to burn for fuel, coupled with their slower metabolism in cold water. So, usually, String algae and green water are not such a problem in cooler water where the fish aren't eating as much and the algae are growing slower. HOWEVER - it does happen. And, when it does, it's nice to know there's a plant that does WELL in cooler water and is a FAST nitrogen reducer.
Represent plants (and similar submerged coolwater plants) which can be prolific if not weedy and which will purify water and reduce nitrogen almost as well as the tropical Hyacinth, and the warm season Cannas and celeries. So if you have string or greenwater algae problems in cool water, either due to season or Zone geography like Canada simply deploy these coldwater plants in the pond in a protected area from the Koi. I've got photos of a pond at Neal Lucht's house where the Anachris is growing in surplus to what the Koi could ever effect by munching. And it appears that they leave it entirely alone, but again that's probably because his pond is interesting to the Koi in other ways, and the Anachris is abundant, overwhelming the thought of eating much or any significant amount of it. The Southeastern Flip Flop (Back to top) So, in the South like so much of the world, the pond is warm in the summer and cold in the Fall and winter. When my plants die back in the Fall, what's going to produce the agglutinins and sustain my Philodina colonies???? Well, it's the Southeastern Flip Flop - in which I simply prune back my summer plants, getting them ready for Fall, and then I deploy bunches (literally how they're sold) of Anachris or Elodea, whichever I find easiest to get. The Anachris will do well all winter until Spring when it warms up too much (Anachris really is a cool water plant) and the Anachris starts to die out, I will net it up and let the summer plants function as my agglutinin producers and Philodina media, as well as nitrogen reduction center. Here's a list of the people who were on site and built my pond. Ed Beaulieu, Jacob Carter & Tommy Hill (Bobcat), Mark Willoughby, Tony Watkins, "Cutie-John" Stehmeier, Joe "Nice Nips" Butler, Richard Panten, Mark Carter, Jeremy Anders, Lee Vought, Robby Mitchell, John Cenicola, Ryan Singleton, Joe Higginbotham, Dale "Whoa" Vnuk (Backhoe), Eric PondDigger Triplett, Jo Carter, Dan Bitcom (Videographer), Randy Young, Sam Brawner, BJ Linger, Chris "Shu" Tallerico, Mike Heron, David Panten, Andy "Super Scalp" Gundrum, Mike Reagor, Dave Blocksom, Brian Dahle, Ed and Tara Gallagher
More soon,
|
Of course to remove String algae you can use a brush to scrub off or twist up clods of Algae and mechanically clean your pond. I actually tried a thing called an "AlgenHexe" and it worked fine - but the real question is how repeatedly would you have to do this? Like I said, I put the thing to the test but not repeatedly. 
Plecostomus is curative for string algae. The plecostomus is a south american catfish which is ugly as sin but very hardy. You should only need one fish in one thousand gallons and it will eat all the string algae, that's its favorite food. When you go to the pet shop, you need the largest Plecostomus they have. These should be pretty cheap. Here's why: When the averaqge tank hobbyist buys a "Pleco" it's five inches long or less. Within the year, it's pushing ten inches. So they trade it back to the pet shop for "next to nothing" - then the pet shop has to 'unload them' if possible. When you come in asking for a large Plecostomus, you get hooked because they will raise the price sensing that you need such a thing, which to anyone else would be an oversized nuisance.
Two notes of caution: At night, in very small ponds, Plecostomus will rasp on (suck on) the flanks of slow moving fish. If the pond is REALLY small and the algae is all gone, they'll suck on anything they can find, and damage some fish. I would not deploy a Plecostomus in a smaller pond (under 800 gallons). If I did, you should know that the larger Plecostomuses are less likely to rasp on other fish than the smaller more agile Plecostomi. If you have a Goldfish, which by some internal pathology is forced to live on the bottom, it will be eaten by the Plecostomus because it cannot get away. Koi never have this problem where the pond is of any size.
|
Our Sponsor(s):
|
