I'm having such a battle with string algae that I'm going to add my thusfar aquired knowledge, that said, I'm still not on top of it. String algae, also called hair algae, is an airborne algae- so never do as I did origionally, fish it out of the pond and mulch the nerby plants with it. If you're not familiar with it, it grows in long, stringy strands which attach to plants and surfaces most tenaciously. It can form thick slimy clouds in the water. Great for small fish to breed in but otherwise a royal pain in the proverbial. Like all algae, it requires nutrient, oxygen and sunlight. Phosphorous is the main limiting factor, so you can tet water levels and if you can control Ph levels it's a good idea. String Algae fixes atomospheric nitrogen and then adds it to water, so the N levels are outside of your control. I have spoken to amn who claims that plants in the pond encourage algal growth becxause they add more organic matter through normal growth cycles than they nutrients they take out. I realise that a small, domestic pond is not a representative of the ecosystem of a large watermass or waterway, but this advice doesn't sound quite sound to me. I have tried lysofoss, a bacteria strain that will self sustian if nutrient levels are sufficient, but die off if insufficient- so obviously a fine balance, One which I am still testing and exploring. The chemical traetments were useless, and I was most reluctant to use them. My compromise is this: I have filled the bottom with white sand, and all aquaitc plants are now rooting in that. Things like the vallisnera, water milfoils, nardoo, water poppy etc, are happy so far in living in the water nutrient levels with no media levels. All the organic matter that falls and settles will also fall on the sand and hopefully down onto roots. Most of these aquatic plants don't have a high level of leaf death or drop, so I think they will take more than they give. This in a formal water feature, so handily seedling trays fit really well in the bootom, they are lined with newspaper before I fil will sand. The only water plants with roots in soil are the water lilies, these are evergreen and so will work towards shading the larger part of the water surface, and hopefully be a physical barrier to airborne fungal spores. I used some brickies sand in my sand mix, it is just fine sand that is yellow colour because of the clay content. Clay has a high colloidal exchange capacity that is, it binds onto nutrients. It is interesting to note that most natural streams and river beds have silt in them, and silt has a clay component. Our local stream doesn't have the universally present string algae, maybe because it is moving, maybe the big picture ecosystem, and maybe also because of silt content. So thusfar my integrated approach includes more plants with less nutrient levels, limiting direct surface exposure with more surface covering leaves and marginals, beneficial bacterium, and I am also curious to try barley straw enzymes inlight of recent forum posts. You can also get a copper ionisers. We've elected not to try that now because we heard you can't have plants. Apparently it is a finely tuned technology which can be highly effective but also stuff up fairly readily with small interuptions in powersupply, and htey are expensive. You can find more info on it if you google 'copper ionisers'. Our sheltered pond further down t he block doesn't get it, just the top ones, so if you can limit air movement except in localised areas, you'll also limit the spread of string algae into your pond. There's more but I'm tired and going to bed. Ciaou greenies
HI brombear. I just updated my pond had alot of pea soup type algae and then added a barley bail. No algae but now my water is brown. I can't win for loosing. Do you think if I put some charcoal from my aquarium in the filters it would help? Would it counter effect the barley? My plants are growing too as are yours. but i did not put any floating plants as they would get sucked up into the skimmer.
I have heard that activated charcoal can indeed absorb tannins, so give it a go- it can't hurt- and please let everyone know your results. I haven't yet used the barley straw, but I believe what is making the water brown is probably tannins, present in may plant tissues. Many Australian waterways, both moving and still, have tea coloured water from trees and plants that contains tannins. The water is beautifully clear, just brown. Interestingly enough, I have spoken to many people who've had ponds etc and in this part of the world this algae seems inesxapable, but nearby waterways, which may or may not be tannin-y, never do. Tannins have antimicrobial properties, which generally would not be directly effective on algaes. They are noted more for their highly astringent properties, that is their ability to cross link proteins. They also show activity angainst some enzymes. I have heard that string algae is very highly evolved, and not far from crossing over hte algae to plant border. The more complex and organism, the more metabolic and biounctional pathways are involved, so it is likely that something antiseptic, anti enzymatic and astringent would affect it in some degree or capacity. Tannins in large quantities (such as would turn water brown) are toxic to mammals but luckily are poorly bioavailable in humans, but the same toxicity could possibly be detriemtnal to algal metabolism. I have tried in the past a bacterial water treatment which did indeed turn my water crystal clear, but the downside is it had wasn't self sustianing in this microclimate and you had to keep adding it, which doesn't interest me.I haven't however tried on brown water. I think the charcoal is indeed your best bet.
