Green Water

[SeaWitch]

My pond has been set up for aprox. 2 months. The second or third week, I went through a "green water" phase. I partially covered the pond and the green water went away after about a week. Now, it is back again. I know that green water is good for the fish; my params are 0/0/0. However, it makes me nervous as I can't see my fish unless they come up to the top. A few of mine will, but I have three that will not. I can't catch them to inspect them because I can't see them at the bottom and one of them (my SVR) is FAST! LOL! My pond does not get full sunlight all day. It gets maybe 3 hours in the morning, and then it catches the sun again for about an hour in the afternoon. Is there anything I can do to help get rid of some of the green water? I still have it partially covered.

[GlassGoldfish]

Get over your fears...... you dont need to inspect the fish daily. Love that green water.

You should be doing large (80%+)water changes once every 7-10 days, that will make the green a very,very light shade. THen you should be able to see the outline of every fish in the tank, as the green water is so light. Use this time to inspect the fish. This is when green water is at its optimum, because it has room to grow and multiply. When the green water is very dark, its not working so good.

[SeaWitch]

Thanks so much for the reassurance. I do big wcs every 7 days. I know all my fish are good right now, as I did my last wc on Sunday (about 70%) and I could see them then.

[Virginia ranchu]

Put some plants in your pond. Potted Anacharis or Parrot's feather or Foxtail will compete with the algae and help to clear up the water. After a while, you can cut back on the water changes, and "pull weeds" instead. The fast growing plants are a natural nitrogen sink.

Rob

[SeaWitch]

Thank you... I do have some plants in the pond; water hyacinth and water lettuce. I am working on getting some more. I had heard that it is best if at least half your pond is "covered" in plants?

[bigbettadan]

You aren't kidding on that parrots feather. It grows like crazy. I have had twice ranchus get tangled in it. I had to trim........
Dan

[SeaWitch]

You aren't kidding on that parrots feather. It grows like crazy. I have had twice ranchus get tangled in it. I had to trim........
Dan

Okay, no Parrots Feather for me! Just hearing that your fish got tangled in it is enough to scare me!!!

[mikroll]

hi seawitch,
a uv lamp at input of filter will help with green water. You do have a filter on your pond? what type and how does water return to pond (water fall etc). how large is pond and how deep?
ponds can sometimes take quite a while to balance.

[SeaWitch]

hi seawitch,
a uv lamp at input of filter will help with green water. You do have a filter on your pond? what type and how does water return to pond (water fall etc). how large is pond and how deep?
ponds can sometimes take quite a while to balance.

Hi Michael, how are your Germans doing? I remember you from GAB!:)
My pond is a 150g Rubbermaid stock tank. There are five fancies in there, the largest two are between 7 and 8" w/out tails. I have a Pondmaster 1500 filter and it has a two fountain heads (you can use one or the other) that returns the water to the pond. I think the pond is 36" deep and is shaped like an oval with the longest side being over 4 ft. It has more surface area than depth. I clean the pond and change the water once a week, taking about 70-80% of the water out. I do syphon the bottom, but I try to be very careful not to disturb the algae on the bottom and sides.
I clean the filter pads (I have 4 filter pads in my filter...three I got from my Penguin filters to help seed the Pondmaster filter pad, the other, of course is the Pondmaster filter pad) in dechlorinated water. I did not use the carbon filter pad that came with the filter.
The pond is partially covered with a piece of untreated OSB board and I also have a shade-type screen that I lean up against the side to shade it partially from the sun.
I know I need a UV, but they are so expensive that I just can't afford one. Thanks for all your help!

[gavani]

Hi-
You can also try and add some pond salt, or clay. That worked for me...Also, I have shade and floating hyacinths, seems to work really well.

I live in Hawaii so the sun is always out here. This worked for me along with a UV light. Good luck!!!

[SeaWitch]

Hi-
You can also try and add some pond salt, or clay. That worked for me...Also, I have shade and floating hyacinths, seems to work really well.

I live in Hawaii so the sun is always out here. This worked for me along with a UV light. Good luck!!!

Thanks so much! However, I have learned to just roll with it! LOL! I know that the green water is good for my fish, so when it shows up, I just let it be. The only problem is that I do have to clean my pond filter more as it does clog the filter pad up quicker.