ponds / keeping them clean

[kopend]

my mums pond has green water, she keeps taking water out and topping it up with fresh , but it doesn't make any difference, are there any products out there that work. or would water snails help?

[Jules001]

Hi Kopend, I think your mum is adding to the problem by taking water out and topping it up again, ponds need time to balance themselves out naturally and by doing what you say it is just not getting a chance to settle itself. Is there some sort of fountain/ pump system in place as this would help oxygenate the water which will help with the green water . Plants would be better than water snails, also I don't know if you have fish in the pond, if so make sure you don't have too many in there as their waste will pollute the water.

[ipek]

I agree with Jules - leave it alone to stabilise itself (apart from adding water occasionally as some evaporates naturally).  Our pond gets quite green at this time of year, but suddenly it goes clear.

A pump with fountain/trickle hose makes all the difference as well - ours is off at the moment because the tadpoles are still small and get caught up in it.  The tadpoles also eat the algea, which helps.

Oxygenating plants are freely available in a lot of garden centres and work wonders.  Also, if you can put some plants around the edge of the pond (we have ferns), this will keep some of the sunlight out and reduce the green.

Basically these are all preferable methods instead of putting chemicals in the water (and these don't work that well anyway).

[jimtom]

This is an old country remedy.
If you know a local farmer or riding establishment, get a bale of straw. [not hay] Depending on the size of pond put some or all the straw in {still tied up in it's string}. If you don't need the whole bale, put it in a hessian sack or some other pourous natural material. I did this to my pond which was dark green with algae, and had been for years. The results were dramatic, it's still crystal clear after 5 years.
My pond's quite large, about 10 x 25 metres and one bale cleaned it.