Return to the Ponds in the UK Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Algae or Blanketweed?
| | |
Posted by Beenz Glasgow UK (My Page) on Tue, Apr 5, 05 at 18:53
| My new pump & uv filter arrived today :-) and thoroughly reading the instructions and planning the layout before I install. It mentions in the manual that the filter does NOT remove blanketweed. I thought Algae & blanketweed were the same thing, just named differently. So what is the stuff that grows all round the side of my liner with a stringy effect? Should I remove most of this manualy before installation? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Algae or Blanketweed?
| | |
Green water is caused by a single cell algae.
Blanket weed is string algae or spirogyra. It is the one that looks like hairs or strings or patches of cushion stuffing.
The green water algae will go through the filter and be killed off. Obviously the blanket weed won't go through the filter.
Do you have any tadpoles? They eat blanket weed or the stringy algae round the side. If not, remove that mechanically if you can. |
RE: Algae or Blanketweed?
| | |
It sounds as if you have what around here we call 'String Algea'. Long and stringy and can be collected by twirling around a brush.
What I call 'Blanketweed' is the thick slimy stuff which clogs the pumps and floats to the surface when disturbed, forming a blanket on the water. Breaks up when you try to 'twirl it'.
Probably the same thing in different forms!
However....whatever it is, your UV filter won't remove it.
As Dampflippers says...the UV only kills single cell algea i.e. green water.
I have found (by accident) that Calcium Bentonite (Koi Clay) added to pond water seems for some reason to 'remove/kill' string algea/blanketweed and I will be adding it to my ponds again this year after the taddies have had their fill and it starts growing again.
It is of course very good for the fish as it adds minerals to the water. (Could it be that a lack of certain minerals in the water is the reason why some people have problems with blanketweed and others don't?)
I recommended it to friends last year who had problems and it certainly seemed to work.
Barley straw is another 'solution' I used many years ago in my first pond. This doesn't kill blanketweed/string algea until it starts decomposing so takes a few weeks before any results are seen.
Barley straw pellets work quickly but can initially turn the water 'tea coloured' and are expensive.
This is just personal experience and may or may not work for you.
If it's the sort of algea you can 'twirl', unless it's a real nuisance, I would just remove any excess manually
Best of luck
Sue
|
RE: Algae or Blanketweed?
| | |
- Posted by AJC_1 8 the fens (My Page) on
Wed, Apr 6, 05 at 11:48
| Actually if you have very green water often you dont have much blanketweed, the green water blocks the light and kills a good deal of it off, unfortunately the bits that are left grow like hell when the water clears again! |
RE: Algae or Blanketweed?
| | |
- Posted by Beenz Glasgow UK (My Page) on
Wed, Apr 6, 05 at 18:13
| Thanks for your ideas everyone, I will get the worst of it manualy and leave the rest for the taddies. Once they are all grown up and moved on, I will review the situation again as the filter will have kicked in nicely by then and I will have a clearer picture of whats going on below as well |
RE: Algae or Blanketweed?
| | |
| The blanket weed in my pond has grown incredibly over the last week or two, but since the tadpoles are swimming about it's impossible to move it, every time I try and lift it out, hundreds of tadpoles are stuck within it, not to mention all the snails. Laso it has attached itself to many of the plant pots in the pond and they'd be lifted out aswell. I hope they eat it quickly because it's beginning to cover the whole pond. I take it the tadpoles have no trouble swimming through it? |
RE: Algae or Blanketweed?
| | |
I have the added benefit of happy grandchildren (I am a young grandma not quite yet reaching half a century) who love to play in the pond so are quite happy to take the blanketweed/string algae and sort through it putting all the taddies and snails back into the water. We do the same with the roots of the watercress when it becomes overcrowded and take all the little creepy crawlies off and place them back into the water. At the same time we are teaching the children the wonders of nature and helping them to overcome any fear of insects etc. When I know they are coming I always let them feed the fish and generally help around the garden. Last week we seeded the bare patches of grass, they had great fun throwing the seed down, covering with soil and watering.
Alison |
|
|
|
|
