I have no clue about ponds, but my grandmother has one and has an abundance of algae growing constantly. she put in a UV steralizer but there is still alot of algae that keeps clogging up her filters and covering her pond. But is there a type of fish that would live in the pond to keep down algae? I didnt know if something like a pleco could live outdoors year round. I also thought about going to a river and catching a catfish or a carp and putting it in there. Any suggestions. Thanx in advance.

She may not have the right kind of UV for her pond? It may not be large enough? You may want to check that. I had a UV in my pond a few years ago and it was in a box, it did not work because the water has to surround the UV as it's going through. From what I understand the UV lights that are in the center of the pipe work the best.

You may want to try Barley Straw, I've heard that works to cut down on the algae. If she has string algae problem use Koi Clay (Calcium Bentonite) you'll probably have to pull it out (string algae) to help the Koi Clay out because it's not going to kick in right at first. That stuff is good for the plants in the pond as well, plus it is supposed to help the fish digestive system. So it has a lot of possitives and isn't that expensive. There is nothing else that will kill the string algae that I know of. Another thing you can use is Microbe lift pl, it isn't a chemical and has good bacteria in it that will help get rid of algae plus this bacteria gets rid of nitrites and ammonia. If course her pond is already seasoned? I guess I should have asked that question but the UV obviously isn't doing it's job.

Another possibility is the pump may be pushing the water through to fast for the UV to work?

I hope I've helped some, maybe someone else might have some ideas as well.


Scott

Another thing that could help is to cover 70-75% of the pond's water surface with plants, lilies, floating plants, things like that that will cover pond. This keeps the sun from getting to the water and won't allow the algae to survive. In my pond this year it took me a while to get the plants into it and by the time I did the water was already green, but after I got the new plants in and established the water cleared right up.