Tagawa Gardens
www.houseplants@tagawagardens.com
By Dee Anne Beckman
Tired of green cloudy water looking like pea soup? Would you like to relax by the cool clear shimmering water and be able to see the fish swimming by? Are you sick and tired of using chemicals all the time? Believe it or not it is very easy to naturally have clean-clear water. All you need is patience. Did you know that is takes about 2years for a pond to become eco-logically stable? If you have that kind of patience and are willing to let the pond do it’s own thing, you will have a clean–clear pond in about 2years.
First we need to distinguish between the two types of
algae. 1) Cloudy single celled algae we call pea soup or new pond syndrome.
This alga is undesirable but is the easiest to get rid of. 2) Moss-like algae that spreads like string
throughout the sides of the pond. This is actually desirable and scavengers,
such as snails and fish that feed it to control excess growth.
To control the pea soup we need to use these ingredients:
patience, plants, scavengers and a filter system (optional). Most likely the reason you have this problem
is your pond is new or was just cleaned (drained). DO NOT DRAIN THE POND.
It takes ten days to two weeks for these single celled algae to start to grow
and cause the pond to look cloudy. The pond must age naturally to allow
micro-organisms to multiply and plant populations to establish themselves. An
algaecide can be used during this period but remember an algaecide only act on
existing algae and treatment will not keep the pond clear indefinitely. It is a
temporary control and will not change conditions in the pond causing algae.
Algaecides can hurt water plants so read the directions.
Plants are nature’s filters and are the secret to
clearing up a pond and keeping it clean. Plants shade the pond and starve the
algae by absorbing the nutrients (mineral salts and nitrogen) and carbon
dioxide essential for algae to grow. Grasses (Cattails) are especially
effective in controlling algae. Water lilies are useful because their pads
shade out a good bit of sunlight. Oxygenators don’t just oxygenate but remove
masses amount of nitrogen from the water.
Scavengers (tadpoles and snails), in addition to grazing
on algae they eat leftover fish food. This is important because fish will not
eat leftover food. Feed fish only what they will eat in 5-10 minutes. Leftover
fish food will rot and foul the water.
Selection of natural materials
mentions above can lead to a clear pond in time. A filter system is a great
time-saver in clearing a pond and keeping it clean instantly. Filters remove
the pea-soup algae with the help of clarifiers (AQUA-REM by TETRA or
MICROBE-LIFT), fish waist and any particulate matter that cloud the pond.
Revised 09-29-06