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[A398]Algae Control In Ponds
by Maury Klein, Mau
Reverse Osmosis

On the top of my personal list for controlling algae and water quality is the use of RO water, or preferably RO/DI water. City drinking water is full of nutrients, some which include chlorine, phosphates and even nitrates. ALL of which we do not want in our home aquarium. These will only feed the cyno bacteria and green hair algae or diatom blooms. Invest in a RO/DI unit they will save you many headaches and trips to you LFS in the long run.

Filter and Media Reactors

Second is the good ole phosban reactor. There are many of these on the market which are very affordable. My personal favorite is the Next Reef MR1 Media reactor, they are very affordable compared to lower quality reactors and come in at only $69.99. Reactors are very easy to set up and keep running, simply run something like rowaphos and change it monthly to keep your phosphates at nearly undetectable levels.

Don't Overfeed

We all love to feed our fish, yes it's a past time..but don't make it a habit to feed to often unless you are using a heavy duty protein skimmer such as a bubble king. Phosphates and nitrates will rise quickly due to excess uneaten food and detritus. Another great way to reduce nutrient build up when feeding is to only feed the fish what they eat, remove any uneaten foods.

These 3 things will help you significantly in the long run of controlling nasty algae outbreaks. Saltwater aquariums are very rewarding when done right, don't get frustrated to easy as everyone makes mistakes and learns from them. Talk to other hobbiest's and join clubs as they are some of the most valuable FREE resources out there.

However if the green persists, it tells us there is an imbalance in the pond ecology. The solution to that is to fix the imbalance. While some pond keepers would have you chuck in some chemicals, the reality is these are merely band-aids and won't “solve” the problem, they'll only mask it. If you want to solve the problem consider the sources of the problem.

Many ponds have too many fish in them. At one inch of fish per one square foot of pond surface, you can either have three big ones at 10-inch length or 30 little ones at one-inch length. (note that 3 ten-inch fish will likely give you 100 one-inch fish every year) If you have a greatere fish population than this, understand two things are happening. The first is the pool ecology is being upset because of too high a level of fish excreted waste and high fish populations are likely eating the oxygenating plants that deal with this excretion waste material. The real solution is to lower the fish population. I note if you have fish and are feeding them, the other recommendation is to stop feeding or to drastically reduce your feeding. Excess food creates excess waste which in turn creates green pond water.

The second solution is to increase the oxygenating plant level. A rule of thumb for doing this is to add one bunch (10 stems or so) of a floating oxygenator plant such anacharis for every 3 square feet of pond surface. Reducing the fish population and adding the oxygenators will clean up the algae in few days. If you add oxygenators without reducing the fish population, the fish will likely eat the plants and the green pond water will not go away.

Understand there is not magic bullet here. You have to get that ecology in balance and the way to do that is to follow a few simple rules to control fish and plant populations. The two thumb rules above will solve most algae problems.

Article Source : Pg. 53

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Both Maury Klein & Doug Green are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Maury Klein has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, Religion and Malware. The author of this article knows all about aquarium maintenance. When it comes to buying protein skimmers, he recommends as they are of very high. Maury Klein's top article generates over 1830000 views. to your Favourites.

Doug Green has sinced written about articles on various topics from Gardening, Home Management and Gardening. . Doug Green's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.
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