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Joined: Oct 2013
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This is what I used to spread the granules around the edge of the pond. Worked pretty decent. Just pointed the direction of spread out towards the middle of the pond as I walked. Had wife drive along with 4 wheeler to refill me so did not have to walk back and forth to supply.

hand fertilizer spreader

For the liquid I just used a 2 gallon hand pump up garden sprayer and diluted at 9-1 like the jug suggested for that method. Then sprayed the mats with the mixture. Drove the Polaris along side the pond while spraying out over the algae. Went pretty quick.

I sprayed the whole perimeter at once, but as a total amount compared to the total pond area it was only a fraction of the whole pond at one time. Hope it was not too much at once. I have aeration so that should help if the DO does try to drop.

Last edited by snrub; 04/19/15 09:37 PM.

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I like the idea of getting some crawfish and am looking into sources for them in SE Michigan. I have some questions:

What is the down side of native crawfish - nonburrowing kinds?

What if you want to get rid of them at some point and don't have fish? How do you eliminate them? (I am a bit worried about introducing something that is not already there).

Off the topic of crawfish but still algae control - what is the effectiveness of mechanical removal of FA? I made an algae rake and have pulled most of the mats off the pond tonight. I am wondering if this is worth the labor?

Am I better off trying some of the algaecides before going to crawfish?

Appreciate all your inputs and suggestions.

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Disadvantage to crayfish is if there are too many it will denude the pond of about all plant species and feeding activity will reduce the pond secchi disk clarity to 12". Without fish about the only way to eliminate over abundant crayfish is to use rotenone a fish toxicant. Trapping, seining and harvest can remove high numbers of crayfish, but definitely not all the brood stock. Best and easiest way to control them is to add bass. A strong population of panfish including YP will heavily reduce crayfish numbers especially young ones and after several years comparatively few crayfish will be present. Check your PM.

Manually removing FA is beneficial in that it removes all the nutrients that the algae absorbed for its growth. The more FA removed the more nutrients that are removed from the pond system thus reducing amount of FA that generally grows in the future. However, removing FA may not be enough nutrient removal to keep pace with the annual nutrient accumulation. It all depends. FA removal is worth the labor if you are concerned with chemical contamination of your pond - depending on the composition of the algaecide. Some algaecides are more environmentally friendly than others. Algaecides kill the algae (symptom) and decomposing algae recycle the bound nutrients (causative agent) back into the pond for more plant growth.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/21/15 08:52 PM.

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In searching algae I find many comments about nutrients that feed the algae and that it is important to control and limit the nutrients. I am not sure what is meant by nutrients and where they come from.

To me it sounds like it would be fertilizer run off or something like that but I do not have that and I have plenty of FA.

My pond is old an in bad health which I am trying to fix. It has been overgrown for years so there is a lot leaf material and muck, which I think is the decaying by product of years of leaves falling in the pond. Is this a source of the nutrients that feed FA?

I also think the pond is probably anaerobic which from what I have read may be because of the leaves and muck - is this right?

I had been thinking about getting some crawfish but I don't want to introduce a species not already there so I am thinking the following:

1) Mechanical removal of the FA mats on the surface.
2) Treat with some Cutrine
3) Introduce aeration
4) Rent a trash pump and suck out some of the leaves and muck
5) Introduce some bacteria
6) Rinse and repeat... :-)

What do you think?

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I don't like to use chemicals for control of algae. Two different ways I have controlled it over the years. A smaller amount of vegitation and using KOI and israeli carp as in the picture's Below.



When a winter fish kill killed these fish I use more vegetation using Lilly pads, cattails and lots of submerged aquatic plants and in both types of algae control I used grass carp for some control of plants. 18 in the first two pictures and 7 in the second pictures. Most don't like this much vegetation but for me it draws in the wildlife. But the point is the nutrients are used up by the plants and or the right fish and so I don't have algae problems.




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JWF you are on the right track
-pond dye controls sunlight to shallow waters, keeps shallow weeds in control (but not right at the edge which you can mechanically remove)
-crayfish may work, but that should not be relied on. I would reserve crayfish for situations where you want lots of them to be a source of forage, and, only if you have enough predators to help control the numbers of young crayfish (bass/perch/panfish)
-chemicals do not sound attractive, but there are times where the growth of weeds is so beyond what can be managed by any other means that you either have to use chemicals or you have to use intense pond dye to block the energy source for the plants.

for muck - jury is out on healthy enzymes and bacteria. Lots of forums on this topick, pros, cons, cold water vs warm water, bacteria vs enzymes etc. I think mechanical removal of leaves and weeds, and mechanical stirring of the bottom with aeration will be more reliable.

aeration - depends on depth, access to power etc but can never go wrong, even in a shallow lake like mine where the temperature separation probably doesn't amount to much, aeration at least provides water flow/circulation.

Consider powered agitation of the bottom, rent a trash pump and use it like a power washer to agitate and break up the bottom, or use an outboard motor prop wash, jet ski output etc to mechanically stir up the bottom. This with aeration after will help.

I still struggle with ways to keep the leaves out of the pond but others have posted on this forum with ponds in the woods with heavy layer of leaves and no manual removal and have not had issues.

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Nutrients and fertilizer.

It all depends on what you consider to be fertilizer. If you consider anything decaying to be fertilizer, then your pond is being fertilized continually.

Think of it as a large compost pile. Everything that falls into the pond is decomposed over time, and accumulates on the bottom.

The only way to remove nutrients is to remove them. That may sound funny, but it's true. Tilapia eat a lot of algae in a pond. When they die in the fall when the water cools down, many scavengers eat them, "removing" them from the pond. Raccoons, etc. Raking out the algae and weeds is another way to remove nutrients from the pond. BUT, they have to be put far enough away from the pond so that they don't decompose and leach back into the pond. Harvesting fish to eat is another way to remove nutrients. But, don't throw the fish carcass back into the pond - your goal in nutrient rich ponds is to remove nutrients, not add them back.

Phosphorous is a large part of the nutrient cycle, but for plants and algae to grow, they need nitrogen too. If there's enough nitrogen in the pond, and conditions are right, one pound of Phosphorous can grow up to 500 pounds of algae. Goose and duck poop are rich in nutrients. A single goose can poop one pound per day.

So, yes, you are on the right track of removing as many nutrients as possible, making sure that there is enough O2 at the pond bottom for bacteria to do it's thing, and reducing sunlight penetration into the water.

Some plants growing in a pond is a good thing - they use nutrients that would be feeding algae. Many plants are not - they reduce the useable area of the pond.


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Originally Posted By: esshup
Nutrients and fertilizer.

It all depends on what you consider to be fertilizer. If you consider anything decaying to be fertilizer, then your pond is being fertilized continually.


I guess one has to choose words and thoughts carefully. Another way of looking at it would be man made vs. nature made.


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I would choose not to straight out remove the nutrients but tie them up with a tight bond. I expect all this alga is a good thing to a point where it is part of nature and has its place. To much of a good thing can be bad too.

Small life anywhere needs nutrients that are very fine and soluble. What greater place than water and warm water at that.

The alga is really tying up the nutrients in its cells of growth. In doing so it needs the building block of life Calcium, carbon, few amino acids to build the cell. The cell needs to go through a chemical break down like composting to break the chemical bond. Depending on the total composition and temperature what is left or released is different, but the nutrients end up back in the pond starting the cycle again. This is why the general and majority consensus is to prevent the nutrients from getting into the pond and manually pulling out the nutrients.

Sodium carbonate peroxyhydrate perfect in that it is aggressive in breaking the cell (hydrogen peroxide) but as well leaves soda ash behind to bond with the phosphates and nitrogen's. In basic terms sodium phosphate and sodium nitrate. I am sure there is some other impurity's but expect them all to be alkali in nature. Potassium phosphate, potassium nitrate, calcium phosphate, you get the point. This product is very aggressive and I expect can kill most anything if it is small enough in the concentration.

It is important to know that these bonds now are tight bonds. A PH swing or more aggressive nutrient needs to be in contact to break the bond making the one of the two elements soluble or free again. A plant will make its own chemical in its fine roots to break these bonds and absorb these nutrients. Small basic life needs soluble nutrients but more complex life not so much.

I have used calcium hydroxide in our pond for FA and pond dye to control it. Crayfish I expect are helping too. My point is that if you can tie up the soluble nutrients where a plant would have to create a chemical reaction to break the bond the FA will not be overly abundant. Taking out the light needed for FA will pull another leg out from under it.

Just with everything you don't want to over do it but bring the balance back. Taking out the FA manually is very labor intensive and allot of work. When it floats to the top I just sprinkle some calcium hydroxide on it and its gone in hours. The chemistry thoughts are that what free soluble nutrients the FA grew on I have added equal amounts of elements that will tie it up when it breaks down in the body of water somewhere.

This is just a petrol-chemical chemist talking and what seems to be working for me.

Cheers Don.


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