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    Thread: We are Declaring War On Planktonic Algae!!!

    1. #1
      stephen's Avatar
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      Angry We are Declaring War On Planktonic Algae!!!

      We built the varsity mud pond in 2008 https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showt...ond&highlight=

      For the last 12 years the water has always been a very nice green tint (see pics) with none of that surface plankton scum. Well this year it has decided to attack us! I will post current pictures later but rest assured it does not look like that anymore.

      This is not a simple fix like pouring a bottle of algae fix into these million gallons and it magically disappears. Obviously we can not use copper sulfide/sulfate or we will kill the koi along with the algae.

      We have to be careful with dyes and other chemicals because killing the algae would also result in an oxygen depletion that could also be deadly to the fish.

      This will be a very difficult task and will take some time, especially with the water temps rising and the sun shining longer.

      Wish us luck and I will take you along in our battle.

      Stay Tuned!
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    2. #2
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      You go Stephen!

      I can still get by with a change in UV's and some H2O2

    3. #3
      stephen's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by montwila View Post
      You go Stephen!

      I can still get by with a change in UV's and some H2O2
      Thanks Monte! There is no silver bullet to this particular situation. This is going to be an extremely difficult challenge. But we will implementing as many weapons in our attack as possible. Hopefully combined we can defeat it.

      Cons -

      * Pretty much Full Sun
      * Very Warm Weather Ahead
      * 12 years of fish poop, food, other nasties accumulated on the bottom

      When I designed the pond, I took that into consideration and even made a pumping station and access. The idea then was to pump the pond down, work the bottom, lime it, etc. Now that the time has come, I have become older and am no longer the "Energizer Bunny" I guess I didn't realize that I would get old

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      Yes, but hopefully we are wiser now even if our batteries are "dated".

    5. #5
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      Hi Steve, we had long ago a medium 4K mud pond. Green algae is like the weather, sometime light green some time thick as mud. I believe the green scum & string algae are airborn spores that blooms on random year. The only chemical free and effective method was draining the pond, sun dry for 2 wks and refill. That is one nice pond that you have, have fun with the battle.

    6. #6
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      Quote Originally Posted by Nuspeed007 View Post
      Hi Steve, we had long ago a medium 4K mud pond. Green algae is like the weather, sometime light green some time thick as mud. I believe the green scum & string algae are airborn spores that blooms on random year. The only chemical free and effective method was draining the pond, sun dry for 2 wks and refill. That is one nice pond that you have, have fun with the battle.
      Thanks Nuspeed - I agree that draining and drying is the best approach but unfortunately I really don't have any place to put all the big fish. I don't know how many are in there now but it is a lot. Also 1,000,000 gallons of water is a lot to dispose of at one time.

      We will be trying a lot of different things simultaneously. No one of them alone will be the "silver bullet" but hopefully combined they will make a difference. I hope to have it looking much improved in a month or so but it will be a difficult challenge.

      There is currently 10 tons of Wyoming Bentonite on the bottom (pic 3).

      We already have massive aeration with the long wide streams and falls along with a Great Lakes aeration system (pic 4). We used to have a 2 hp aeration fountain (pic 2) but it conked out a couple of years ago. I will be ordering a replacement very soon. So this should cover the aeration and water circulation pretty well.

      We will also be sucking off the surface scum by using 2-3 trash pumps that should remove in excess of 600 gpm (36,000 gph)between them. We can replace up to 300 gpm (18,000 gph) with our 160 gpm 2" city feed (pic 1) and 4" artesian well combined. The chlorine from the city water may help a little also? So basically pump out the surface scum while refilling with clean water.

      They are constantly spawning and seems like they have been most all year long.

      In the beginning we had a lot of water hyacinth but we removed them some time ago. We may put some in again so that they can compete somewhat with the algae for their share of the nutrients.

      Like I said, it will be a very difficult battle but we will at least put up a good fight.

      In the next day or so I will be building some surface skimmers to hook up to the trash pumps. I am thinking of using 4" pvc to construct them. I will take pic when done. I thought make them 4 ft long, then reduce the 4" to 3" to hook up to the trash pumps.

      Wish us luck!
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      This ain't no back yard pond, it is an aquatic oasis.

    8. #8
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      Good luck Stephen.
      Nancy



      Koiphen 2013 Koi Person of the Year!

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      I agree with putting water hyacinth back in. Continually remove the excess as they populate. Letting them populate and physical removal of mature plants helps to remove high levels of nutrients in the system feeding algae.

      The spraying fountains are senic but much less effective compared to the Great Lakes bottom aerators. The Great Lakes uses air stones that should be cleaned every year to remove internal mineral deposits if you want max efficiency from the air pumps. Bottom to top aeration in the deepest sections works best if bottom muck is accumulating. Fountains are more ornamental and are energy hogs.

      Pond shading with dyes works wonders for situations like this but if discharging overflow into nearby wetland most likely illegal in Fl and subject to fines.

      A non-commercial outdoor pond such as this built in 2008 with minimal surface erosion washing in and excellent aeration should be many years away from draining and bottom maintence. If you do want some bottom maintenance put a 2-3 inch trash pump in a row boat and drag the intake hose on the bottom. Put a suction strainer on intake hose to prevent clogging.
      Last edited by batman; 03-29-2021 at 08:08 AM.
      The real Batman wears polyester! Don't be fooled by the plastic imposter.

    10. #10
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      Quote Originally Posted by batman View Post
      I agree with putting water hyacinth back in. Continually remove the excess as they populate. Letting them populate and physical removal of mature plants helps to remove high levels of nutrients in the system feeding algae.

      The spraying fountains are senic but much less effective compared to the Great Lakes bottom aerators. The Great Lakes uses air stones that should be cleaned every year to remove internal mineral deposits if you want max efficiency from the air pumps. Bottom to top aeration in the deepest sections works best if bottom muck is accumulating. Fountains are more ornamental and are energy hogs.

      Pond shading with dyes works wonders for situations like this but if discharging overflow into nearby wetland most likely illegal in Fl and subject to fines.
      Thanks Batman. It looked a lot better yesterday, almost back to normal. The only thing that we have done so far is to replace about 50,000 gallons per day with chlorinated city water (well water is turned off) the last 2 days. We let it run for 45 minutes (about 7000 gallons), turn it off for 30 minutes (give it time to mix) and then turn it back on again for another 45 minutes, etc, etc. Obviously we don't plan to continue replacing that amount of water with city water on an on-going basis but maybe the major dilution will get it back on track again. Like I mentioned earlier, we didn't have this problem the previous 10 years.

      With the Great Lake system and the long falls and twin streams I think we really have the aeration covered. The streams are rapid and about 40 ft long and the wide falls drop 9-10 ft onto solid concrete. The 2 4 hp speck pumps produce 700-800 gallons per minute flow between them for the falls and usually run 24/7. I showed Mary the attached aerator picture and she gave me that look so I decided on the less effective fountain instead.


      Hopefully we will get lucky?? I will take a picture when the sun comes out. The algae scum was not inches deep like you see on some stagnant ponds. It was just a thin cluster but very unappealing (FUGLY). I wish that I would have taken a picture to show what we were dealing with.

      Thanks Again Batman!
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      I occasionally have the same issue here at the surface usually in August. We also increase the amount of water added from a well and remove more surface water through the overflow. Our other ponds where we only occasionally feed fish have zero surface issues and only an aerator is used.
      The real Batman wears polyester! Don't be fooled by the plastic imposter.

    12. #12
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      I just took these 2 pics. Unfortunately, they don't really show very well what I can see. It is about the same as yesterday but much better than 2-3 days ago.

      Mary just turned on the city water feed.
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      Very interesting...good luck Stephen. I love that pond and landscaping.

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      Quote Originally Posted by stephen View Post
      I just took these 2 pics. Unfortunately, they don't really show very well what I can see. It is about the same as yesterday but much better than 2-3 days ago.

      Mary just turned on the city water feed.
      You can definitely see the difference.

    15. #15
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      I am glad it is better than it was 2 to 3 days ago.
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    16. #16
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      War is Hell!

      The far East area of the pond has been a pretty dead area so yesterday we placed 5-6 air pumps that we had laying around, attached air stones and put them up against the shore. That area now looks super. Basically kicked the can down the road to towards the west where the 4 skimmers are located. That cleaned that particular small area up very well. I will take pics of that Saturday when my homies arrive.

      Today we used some of our existing pvc to make a DIY surface skimmer.(pic below). It is not glued and we will make needed adjustments to it on Saturday. Fine tune it and glue it together. It is composed of 2 20" sections of 4" pvc attached to a quad (we didn't have a 4" T). We then capped the unneeded end. We cut a 2 1/4" wide slit that will skim the surface water & scum. We then inserted a 4" to 3" adapter that will allow us to hook up to the 3" trash pump.

      The pump we will use is a Honda 270cc with 3" ports that handle 1 1/16 solids and pumps 19,020 GPH. As we do that we will simultaneously be refilling with the 160 gpm chlorinated city feed and our 4" artesian well feed wide open. MAJOR water change and skimming the surface.

      Saturday we will also pressure washing the streams and waterfalls.

      Today we received 25 pounds each of PP and Sodium Percarbonate that we will implement in a safe controlled manner.

      Stay Tuned and wish us luck!
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      Good luck Stephen

      I don’t think any of us like this getting old feeling

    18. #18
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      Good luck Stephen. Hope you post some pics.
      Nancy



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    19. #19
      stephen's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by gray cat View Post
      Good luck Stephen. Hope you post some pics.
      Thanks Nancy. Looking better already! We replaced another approx 50,000 gallons with chlorinated city water today. We also placed the DIY skimmer into the pond and hooked it up to the trash pump and ran it for about 15 minutes for a trial run. Works great!

      Tomorrow - The streams and falls are loaded with crap. We (not me lol) will pressure wash them and get them sparkling clean. We will run the trash pump for about 8 hours which should remove a lot of that crap from the pond along with the algae. This will remove about 150,000 gallons of surface water. We will run both the 160 gpm city feed and the artesian well full blast to replenish with clean water as it is removed.

      We have massive aeration currently running 24 hours a day.

      I will take pics and post tomorrow pm.

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      Quote Originally Posted by stephen View Post
      Thanks Nancy. Looking better already! We replaced another approx 50,000 gallons with chlorinated city water today. We also placed the DIY skimmer into the pond and hooked it up to the trash pump and ran it for about 15 minutes for a trial run. Works great!

      Tomorrow - The streams and falls are loaded with crap. We (not me lol) will pressure wash them and get them sparkling clean. We will run the trash pump for about 8 hours which should remove a lot of that crap from the pond along with the algae. This will remove about 150,000 gallons of surface water. We will run both the 160 gpm city feed and the artesian well full blast to replenish with clean water as it is removed.

      We have massive aeration currently running 24 hours a day.

      I will take pics and post tomorrow pm.


      That’s a lot of water! Is it even possible to consistently not have your water pea green without having some UV lights bright enough to light a small city with the size of your pond!! Let the uv light kill then dose the string algae that will come?

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