outdoor pond

[JPKeenan]

Well guy at work has a huge pond in his back yard, they live on a farm. It's big enough to do laps in a jet ski and take out a row-boat.

He's got a plant/algae problem. He is getting some of the grass eating carp. His family swims in the pond so chemicals are out as an option. Does anyone have any good suggestions?

I have snails in my aquarium, I have population booms of them so am gonna ask him if he would want some. I am not sure if they will survive the transition but at the same time might help him out and help me out by getting rid of some of them.

I told him I would look into his algae problem for him.

 

[mfdrookie516]

i had the same problem in my grandfathers 1 acre farm pond. we kept it stocked with catfish, bass, bluegill, crappie, and some of the hybrid grass carp. it started getting algea really bad and at one point got to the point where it had this moss looking stuff growing everywhere. I bought some stuff for it at a local farm supply store... cant remember the name, i think it had copper in it though. It turned the water blue. Very pretty blue at that. About a month later, i had no algea and the prettiest blue pond around. I also used roundup to kill the cattails as very small amounts in the water has no affect on fish... I also had several people suggest an aerater or a fountain... that would be a very big help as well...

 

[JPKeenan]

same deal with the farm pond. I will suggest a fountain as well. Wanting to shy away from the chemicals.

I might give him some snails from my tank, but then he will curse me when he has a plague of snails

 

[mfdrookie516]

well the blue stuff isnt exactly a chemical... its more of a dye that filters out the sunlight and stops the algae from growing... and it makes the water look more like a pool than the brownish green pond tint...

 

[JPKeenan]

cool, and you said it is mostly copper.

I will have to try to look into it some more. Sounds like it filters out some of the UV light.

 

[mfdrookie516]

yeah, it may be copper, it may not be... i had so many instances of trial and error on it, the blue stuff really worked... not sure what its called, im going up to the farm tomorrow, if i can find an empty jug of it, ill write down the name

 

[JPKeenan]

I misunderstood him, it was grasses and such he has a problem with not algae.

 

[mfdrookie516]

oh in that case, roundup will work... im sure somebody will say that its not safe or something like that, but ive sprayed it directly in the water on these big huge "pods" of grassy looking stuff in the pond and it killed it... ive also heard of using salt and vinegar to kill stuff like that...

 

[JPKeenan]

way cool, will ask him if that is the root he wants to go.

Told him I had snails for his algae and he looked at me like I was from Mars. Hopefully the grass eating cat fish he will get will do the trick for him.

 

[mfdrookie516]

tell him to get some grass carp... we had one die after about 15 years and it was about 4 feet long, it was HUGE!!! up until then, we never had any algea or grass problems, after that, we had to start using roundup until the 4 new ones we put in got big enough to eat it

 

[JPKeenan]

That is what he is getting. I forget how many.

I never heard of them. And like I said I misunderstood him. *lol* If I gave him snails teh way mine breed he would have a plague of biblical proportions.

 

[mfdrookie516]

how big is the pond? snails imo would do absolutely nothing at all if the pond is of any size at all... maybe a few plecos in the 12-15" range or so, but that wouldnt really do much considering the stuff doesnt really grow in the pond like it does on a tank wall lol

 

[JPKeenan]

I've only seen pics of it. But looks huge when he brought it up on google maps.

About the only experience I have with ponds is swimming in them.

 

[mfdrookie516]

ive been fishing in farm ponds since i was old enought to know what a fish was

 

[Sicklid]

FWIW, I know you can battle algae in a pond like you can a planted tank... You need to get plants that use the nutrients before the algae, and also get surface plants such as lily-pads in there that cover up the surface and prevent the sunlight from getting to the algae... I will try to find the article I read by a guy who turned his pond around completely with natural remedies like that and link it here.