Hey Everyone.

Well the pond has been up and running for awhile. The fish are doing awsome. Plants are growing nicely. Only problem now is, since it has started to get really hot out, my water is turning green. Ive had this happen in my tank before, and can be a pain to get rid of. I would love to get a UV sterilizer, but their kinda expensive, and with the move and everything, I cant afford it right now. I was looking the other day at the petshop and saw algeafix. I know chemicals are bad, but has anyone every tried this stuff? It says you can use it with live fish and live plants, and it wont hurt them at all..... Anyone use it? Not like it? Should I not even bother with it?

Also, for the algea on the sides, would snails be ok in there? and ive heard of people putting plecos in there during the summer, and then bringing them in when it gets cold.... should I not bother? Anyone else do this?

Thanks in advnace!!!

Algaefix is a chemical, thus it is a quick fix. I've used it for the quick fix and found that it is just that (two years ago, not since). You are better off to buy something that is all natural that will actually promote good bacteria growth in your pond and bio filter rather that destroy it. Microbe Lift is one of those products, that is what I use. There are others, these products do help keep your pond clear while building a healthy environment for your fish. Alagaefix does clear YES but that is the end of it.

Scott

Where can I get some Microb Lift? Ive never heard of it, or seen it... Should a local pond shop carry it?

Thanks for the reply scott.

Local pond shop, AZponds on the internet isn't bad priced. I don't remember how big your pond is? But if it's not huge you should be able to get by with the smaller size bottle which is a whole lot cheaper than the gallon. It should last all season as well. As I stated though there are other products that do the same thing, they might be cheaper as well you just need to do a web search for them.

Scott

The pond is over 650 gallons. I'll look on the web to see what i can find, and go check out a few of the local pond shops. Thanks so much for the advice!

Dr Foster & Smith carry it.

I second the no to use of algae fish since it also drops the o2 level in pond. I've seen too many fishkill from it.

Pea soup can be annoying, the other algae, one just has to to do some cleaning as some of that is beneficial to the pond echo system. Get a toilet brush for hair algae and use that to snag it with, curl & hurl........

I agree with Scott. The Algea Fix is nothing but a quick fix and if you have a lot of algea you could actually kill the fish because the dying algea sucks up a lot of oxygen (from what our pond guy told us). I've only used it with no fish or snails in the pond.

dying algae creates ammonia...... Even with a uv, you'll get a dose of higher ammonia for a bit killing it off. A little algae isn't a bad thing, its when it gets out of control it can create problems, o2 levels drop at night, it uses gh & kh just like the fish & filters do. A little algae helps with nitrates and also supply's food for fry. So its a good/bad thing!