bulrush

Algaelog

Jul 27th, 2019
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Algae log 2019

This is my log of my problems with algae in my small 50 gallon pond and solutions that worked. The original file is here: https://pastebin.com/UwLksJmX

NOTE: I'm an experienced breeder of freshwater fish, golden clams, dwarf shrimp, and other invertebrates like daphnia.

  1. May 2019. I noticed algae in my pond and I keep fish in my pond every year (comet goldfish) to eat mosquito larva so I wanted a solution that would not harm the fish. I bought some barley straw. My research showed that many chemicals are harmful to fish or very questionable to fish especially if you look at the Amazon product reviews.
  2. July 15, 2019. Barley straw is not doing a thing so I put in a solar powered water pump to pump water into a filter. The first filter has a case of an upside down juice bottle with the bottom cut off, and a microfiber cloth from the Dollar Tree. The juice bottle is weighted down with rocks to keep it in place and it is inside a cinder block hole above the water line. It works very well, but it works so well I have to clean it every 2 days or the water just overflows from the filter.
  3. July 27, 2019. Microfiber cloth is extra work to clean so I bought a small square basket with holes and a nylon backpack from the Dollar Tree. I put the backpack in the square basket. The backpack filled up with water in minutes but is not yet overflowing the sides. EDIT: The backpack eventually grew good bacteria which clogged the holes in it and water soon overflowed the sides, so I have set aside the backpack and I put a kitchen towel from the dollar tree in there. The terry cloth towel has a lot of surface area for good bacteria to grow on. It gets covered in good bacteria in about 12-24 hours and the bacteria without doing any other thing and it soon filters out the worst waste from the fish.
  4. Aug 5, 2019. So I have stopped cleaning the muck off my pond filter (a towel) every 2 days and there is still no algae. The filter quickly grows dark brownish bacteria due to the large waste load in the pond, mainly due to the dead leaves in there. Physical filtration does not seem necessary to remove the algae, simply remove the nutrients. And I did a 33% water change about a week ago too. This water is great to water plants around my garden.
  5. Aug 15, 2019. I've stopped cleaning the towel used as a filter and leave the beneficial bacteria on it. This bacteria eats up some of the pollutants and eventually convert ammonia to nitrites, and finally nitrites to nitrates. These nitrates must then be removed from the water and can be used to water garden plants. I simply use my water pump which pumps water into the towel "filter" to fill a bucket, and then use the bucket to water plants around the yard. This water has free fertilizer! I haven't had any cloudy water for over 2 weeks. Any type of clean cloth with lots of surface area can be used as a "filter" on which the beneficial bacteria grow, but I avoid plastic bioballs and other plastic filter media as the bacteria can be harmed by the phthalates in the plastic and don't stick to the plastic well anyhow.

What I learned

  1. A tall thin water filter is probably better than a low flat one because the taller water column will force more water through the filter due to increased water pressure. This is especially important when healthy "sludge" builds up in the filter media. EDIT: I found this is not true because the good bacteria grows so thickly and quickly it mostly clogs all pores in any filter sock or towel.
  2. The filter grows a combination of brown and green algae and bacteria on it much like a fish tank filter does. The brown goo smells nice and earthy, it should not smell rotten or sulfurous. An earthy filter is a healthy filter. Never remove this brown good from your filter, you need it! It's what makes the closed ecosystem better in balance and removes/converts ammonia and nitrites. The physical filter itself does nothing but provide a lot of surface area for the good bacteria to grow on.
  3. To clean the microfiber cloth I have a garden hose sprayer which I can set to a "flat" spray. This flat spray works fine and covers more area than a concentrated "stream". I put the cloth on a plastic table with slats to let the water flow through, and spray the algae off. I also squeeze the filter full of water, and repeat until the water runs clean.
  4. The pump does not get clogged from anything, it works very well.
  5. EDIT: The pump has 4 suction cups which I stuck to the inside of the plastic pond liner but sometimes these suction cups come undone, the pump falls down into the muck and gets clogged. So I have cut a pool noodle into slices and glued those slices to the sides of a kitchen strainer so it floats, and I put the pump into the floating kitchen strainer. Now all debris is kept outside of the strainer where the pump lives and the pump no longer clogs.
  6. I didn't choose a 5vdc pump because I thought there not might be enough power to overcome the friction of algae growing on the pump impeller. My water pump, from online, is AC powered and uses only about 6 watts per hour, or 246 = 144 watts per day. My power costs $.10 per 1000 watts so per day my cost is $.10 .144 = 1.4 cents per day. If I had a solar powered 12vdc pump the cost would be zero but the pump would only work on sunny days (without a battery backup).
  7. I will remove the pump from the pond, drain the pump and store it in the fall.

Other options

  1. Daphnia and other freshwater "plankton" are filter feeders but the fish would eat them and the plankton cannot eat mosquito larva if I did not put fish in the pond.
  2. Clams are filter feeders and will help but cannot eat mosquito larva. Golden clams (freshwater) can often be found at the local fish store.

The equipment

  1. The (original DC) water pump I got off Ebay I think. The solar panel is one 100 watt panel from a Harbor Freight kit. I had 2 panels left over so I used one for the water pump. The solar panel does NOT provide enough power for the pump on a cloudy day or without direct sun. I think the pump requires 10-12vdc.

    pond #algae #dollartree #filter #pondfilter

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