Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants New Pond Algae Problems

Two years ago I had an excavator dig a 3/4 acre pond on high ground (it is 8 feet deep with a small cut of 10 feet deep). The reason I wanted it on high ground was to avoid the green, fertile, and often muddy water that my low-ground (6 acre) reservoir pond receives.

The new pond was filling up only from rain water, too slowly for my satisfaction. So, last spring and again this spring I had water pumped uphill from the old pond to the new one. After the first pumping the water looked beautiful. It cleared up in time and was amazingly blue-green in color with very little algae. It wasn't yet at full pool though, so this spring I did more pumping to bring it up to near the top. Probably one-third of the water in the new pond came from pumping water uphill from the old one.

The problem is that this year the surface of the pond is half-covered with a soft, light green algae. Rooted pond weeds are only just starting to emerge, and I'm hoping for more of them. My thinking is that more vascular, rooted plants will take up the nutrients from the algae, but I'm just guessing.

I do have an aerator scheduled to be installed within two weeks, but I have no idea how that may affect anything.

I could use some advice as to whether to treat for algae now, or whether to wait until midsummer to see if it abates. I'm not even sure why I have an algae problem. Is it because some of the water is from the old pond? There is NO runoff at all coming into the new pond. Any advice is very welcome. Thank you!

This photo shows the first pumping of water uphill on June 1, 2012:



This photo shows the new pond on June 10, 2012, after the first pumping:


This photo shows how the pond looks today, May 24, 2013, about two months after the second pumping:

Getting it early will help, but its a never ending battle and with te little vegetation your pond has you will always have algea.. Shading the water might help with pond dye..

Bluegillkiller, I hear ya! Thanks! I fear that if I spray now, too much algae will die and deplete the oxygen. I'm thinking that I'll spray Cutrine Plus right after the aerator is set up and running in two weeks.

I was hoping to receive more comments from my post, though I very much appreciate the one from Bluegillkiller that I did receive. I'm still left to wonder why I have an algae problem. There is NO runoff at all coming into my new pond. Thanks so much to anyone who can weigh in on this!

I'd treat now, but I would also think about using Tilapia to help control the algae. By pumping water from the other pond, you added nutrients. Without sumberged plants in the pond to utilize the nutrients, the FA started growing.

If you leave the FA there, it will continue to grow/die/re-grow. By stocking Tilapia, they will eat the FA, and when they are removed at the end of the year (either by you or by scavengers) some of the nutrients in the pond will be removed.

Doing an alum treatment in the pond will also help by binding up phosporous, which the FA loves. See the "alum kicks clays butt" thread in the muddy water section.

Hitting it with an algacide will work, but you'll probably be on a (roughly) 6 week treatment cycle, depending on the nutrient load in the pond.

The growth cycle of the FA is as follows:

It grows on the pond bottom where sunlight can reach, and occasionally it grows suspended in the water column. Once it grows thick enough, any gasses that are generated in the pond are trapped in the mat. Once enough gasses are trapped, that part of the FA mat breaks free from the bottom and floats to the surface, where it gets more sunlight, and continues to grow/die/re-grow.

Esshup, you're the man! Thanks! You've given me quite a lot to digest but it all makes sense. Now that we're going into late spring, is it too late to stock tilapia? They'll all die during the winter, right? I love the alum treatment idea too. The water is a bit muddy anyway, especially in March-April before there were any submerged plants.

By the way, the Texas Hunter fish feeder you provided me with a couple of months ago is working great. Already the BG are getting noticeably chubby!

Its too late for this option now, but something to consider in the future - should you need to transfer any more water to the upper pond.

Consider constructing a wet well between the two ponds that is gravity-fed from the lower pond through a surface-channel or high-capacity pipe. Place your pump's intake in the wet well, along with several suspended burlap bags ("tea bags") that are filled with aluminum sulfate during the pumping-process.
This isn't tried-n-tested by any means; but it just might help drop the phosphorus levels in the pumped water during and after the transfer process - and avoid the laborious process of treating the entire upper pond with aluminum sulfate after the transfer.

Nope, not too late for Tilapia. Water temps here just hit 70°F, and that was before this cold snap. Thanks for the update on the TH feeder!

Kelly, I think thats a great idea! To add to that suggestion, I would also recommend monitoring the pH of the water going into the pond using that system.

It might not be a drastic enough swing to change anything in the pond, but you'd never know without first checking.

Kelley, the wet well idea is really intriguing! Especially the idea of running it through "tea bags." Since I'm a total ignoramus about engineering and excavating, I'm going to run that by my excavator and another guy more knowledgeable than me. Quite clever, Kelley! Thanks!

Esshup, I know you have a lot of experience with tilapia. It would be easy enough to order them from Jones Hatchery since I can add them on to an order of YP that I have already put in with them.

What would you charge me to come out here and oversee the installation of the well that Kelley thought up? Then you could monitor the pH as you suggested. I'm only half-kidding! LOL! I have zero abilities in any of this stuff.

I know you've got a neighbor that is really, really handy!

You remembered correctly, Esshup! Coincidentally, he's the guy who is assembling and installing the wind-powered aerator. I need to run all this new info by him. Thanks!

Rex (Rainman) has more experience with Tilapia than I do. I think he's the reason why Jones is now selling them - IIRC he opened up the market in Ohio.

It is definitely not too late for Tilapia. I have so far delivered 4800 pounds to northern Ohio/SE Indiana and have 3000 more pounds scheduled.

Rainman, Wow! That's a lot of tilapia! Tell me honestly, do they effectively reduce algae up in these northern climes? Do they cause any problems when they all die off at once in the fall?

MrSandman, stocked properly and at the right rates/sizes, the algae reduction/elimination is nothing short of amazing!!! Plus there are a myriad of other benefits that are achieved from adding tilapia with dramatically improved water quality, improved health, size and numbers of all your other pond fish...Reduced muck...One customer even reported a nesting male flying out of the water to attack and chase off a Blue Heron encroaching on it's nest...lol

LOL, I need some of those attack attack tilapia! Seriously, I'm mighty impressed with the abilities of tilapia, and surprised to learn that they'll do a good job up north. Thanks for your great feedback!

Last year was my first year with tilapia, so I am no expert.

I never noticed a mass winter die-off.

Maybe it's different in Texas where it stays warmer longer,
but eventually when it got cold I assume they all croaked.

There was no mass die-off with bodies laying everywhere,
in fact I only saw two dead tilapia after it started
getting cold and I had stocked over a 100 lbs of tilapia
which I observed were very active throughout the summer
and fall in my 4 acre pond.

Not sure if the the bass/hybrid striped bass/hybrid crappie
gorged on the tilapia as the tilapia metabolism slowed down, or
the tilapia just dropped to the floor of the pond to rot
and get eaten by catfish.

Whatever happened I can tell you it was not an issue for me.

Zep, thanks so much for offering your experience. What you say greatly alleviates my concern over a massive tilapia die off. I'm no longer going to worry about that aspect of tilapia stocking. I really appreciate your observations.

MrSandman,
I've recently taken a job to where I deal with ponds and pond issues. Part of my learning has been to read through this forum and see what is being discussed. This topic made me want to actually log in and not just be a reader. The company I work for has a Learning Center on their website. I was thinking this my be of help to you now, or maybe in the future. It has taught me quite a bit as I continue to learn about all this pond stuff.

http://www.naturalenviro.com/learning-center.php

I hope this helps. Not trying to sell anything, just provide information.

Next Ohio delivery of Blue Tilapia is this Sunday...

There are numerous good testimonies of how blue tilapia keep the algae consumed in northern Ohio ponds. If you have used them with the correct fish density, you are a true believer. Each tilapia can only eat a certain amount of algae, collectively as adults and numerous youngsters they can consume a lot of filamentous algae in a pond. We are finding that the thousands of babies and young blue tilapia are really the algae consuming army. If the pond has a strong bass population then a big percentage of the young tilapia are fish food and not available for eating algae. In these cases the adult numbers need to be higher to make up for the lack of lots of young algae eating tilapia. Only a few adults and few or no youngsters in a pond with thick filamentous algae they cannot eliminate dense or heavy algae growths. Get the right number of tilapia in a heavily algae infested pond and the algae will be dramatically reduced given the proper amount of time based on algae biomass and number of tilapia. It is like many other situations, it has to be done correctly and not haphazardly.

Also, I found out last year that if there is a submerged or emergent weed clump, the Tilapia will not force their way thru the weeds to get at the FA.

Does that mean that they will stay in the weed clump and just eat on that?

No. They'll eat the FA they can from the edges, but stay in the water where they can freely swim.