Hi, we seem to have a similar age of pond and much the same problem. I also have ran only a small fountain pump since building it to get the sound of water with no filter and a few plants. Things have started bad early this year though (also exactly as you have described)and I recently ordered a uv filter in my attempt to beat the green water.

I manualy removed the worst of the algae which was like winding spaghetti onto a fork, it just kept on pulling out. I remember last year all the tadpoles demolished alot of the algae stuck to the sides of the liner and made a right good job of it, I think there is good nutrients in it for them. I know aquariums have a fish called 'algae eaters' but I do not know if they can be for ponds, I would think they may be tropical so obviously not, maybe someone else will know more about this.

As for removing the green water...from what I have learnt from this site you will not get anywhere near the results of clear water naturaly, than you would using a uv light. The water would have to be about 80% in the shade for most of the day for starters and have the right balance of plants. Even then. you will not get the 'crystal' clear water that alot of these uv filter manufacturers GUARANTEE with their products.

Sorry to hear about your frozen spawn--my pond froze too, but most survived but of course their development was delayed. So I have to ask, were the corpses you got rid of white, or black?

The second year of my pond I had loads of blanket weed. The third year I got the attack of the yellow globules and a little blanket weed (prefer the blanket weed). This year the water is getting greenish but not a lot of blanket weed and no globules either (yet, but I'm on the lookout). So it might be about pond maturity and balances too. I have also made sure that the barley straw is in, which seems to make some difference.

Hi Beenz. It's good to know that your two-year pond is behaving like mine. After the drama of last year's bid for clear water, I am determined not to meddle too much with my pond. But it's always nice to know what to expect at certain milestones. I read somewhere that it takes a few years for the little newly created eco-system to acheive a sort of balance, with the right number and type of plants, fish and wildlife. Trouble is, most books and manuals don't tell you what "normal" is supposed to look like at various stages of the pond's life.

I have read about UV filters, but as my pond is in full sun until late afternoon, they probably wouldn't work for me. I positioned my pond there on purpose, actually, as I really love lilies, and I wanted to created the most favorable conditions for flowering. I knew that full sun also meant lots of algae, but for me the trade off is worth it. Last year I had six flowers, in various stages of opening, on the pond at once, and by moonlight the sight was just magical.

It's a shame you lost lots of your tadpoles as they love blanket weed.
I'm a firm believer in daphnia for green water, but the fish will eat them. If you want to try, find an aquarium shop that sells little bags of them for 30p to £1. Buy a few and tip them in.
They say blanket weed and green water are worse if the fertility of the water is high, so add more plants. There can also be too many nutrients if you feed the fish too much. Try feeding them less, or not at all.
My pond is coming up to 2 years old. The botom pond has very little blanket weed, and the water is quite clear at the moment. It has sticklebacks. The only treatments it had were last year some plant fertiliser because I thought they weren't growing fast enough, and one dose of sludgebuster (the sort that is meant to stimulate the natural backteria and to flocculate the debris.
The top pond (less that a year old, has no fish, a reasonable amount of plants lots of daphnia and quite a bit of low lying blanket weed. I'm going to leave this for now, and hope that the tads from the spawn I moved from the bottom pond will eat it.
I have only a part time solar fountain in the bottom pond, and the waterfall between the 2 ponds doesn't yet have a pump.
I don't have any filters or UV filter.
ps try bunging a pack of watercress in!

Chippewacat, the corpses were black, not white. I'm curious, what would the colour difference signify?

Dampflippers, thanks for the suggestions. I feed the fish about twice a week during the summer, not at all during the winter. Truth is, I really like feeding them, as it makes them love me. (And who doesn't like to be worshipped and adored? Even if only by a small school of fish!) But I really will stop, as I know it makes the water nitrogen rich.

Tell me more about this daphnia. I've never heard of it.

As for the remaining blanket weed, I'm considering "borrowing" some tads from a neighbor's pond - with permission, naturally - as there's plenty in my pond for them to eat. The other pond in question here is about a quarter mile up the lane. When the borrowed tads become frogs, will they go back to the neighbor's pond, do you think?

Ukyankee, I dont know if this is similiar to what you have tried before but I suppose by even reading the Q&A it might help you some, good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Pond Wizard'

Oh dear, you may have been hasty with the frog spawn. I noticed the dead frog's eggs turns white, the live ones stay black. Also, they don't move much either, and change from still commas to still exclamation points before they get lively. They also take as long as it takes to hatch depending upon temprature. The jelly-like egg sacs do get quite grotty looking with algae growing on it and pond debris (and the occasional stickelback corpse), but the tadpoles eat it after they hatch. I've had spawn laid quite recently and the tadpoles already hatched previously have been all over it to the point where I've been concerned they were devouring the egg sacs with the eggs still in it. But it seems they are only after the algae as the eggs are developing fine and in their own time.

I must say dampflippers, your ponds sound lovely. Any luck in bat detecting? If I go out at the right time just after dusk, some bats flutter by for about 5 minutes before heading off. The roost in the nearby park and we must be one of their scheduled stops. Its odd because you kind of sense them before you are able to focus on them. Once you see them, there off!

Anyway UKYankee, if you transplant spawn you should be fine, its tadpoles and frogs you want to leave well where they are. Best of luck with the next batch.

I was thinking the same as you Chippewacat, about the tads but it is too late to worry about them now, we are all learning still and there will be plenty of more spawn next year. I wonder if they stay black if they die from a sudden frost as it could be a quick death. I'm not sure really as it hasn't happened to me, the only dead ones I have had have turned white.
Alison

UKYankee... Hi, and welcome to the forum!

I rebuilt my pond last year, so its less than a year old now. It's roughly the same size as yours. Blanket weed is a big problem right now... previously I used barley straw with great success, but this year it seems to have no effect. Or perhaps the blanket weed would be even worse without it. I'm not too worried though - I suspect that my pond has not achieved a natural balance yet. Probably too many nutrients from the soil with all the new plants I added. It will probably take another couple of years before it settles down properly. I'm currently pulling out great swathes of it by hand regularly, but once the tadpoles start hatching I'll probably just leave it.

As for green water, you can try a UV unit, but personally I have had no success with that method. I just got a thick suspension of dead algae instead of a thick suspension of live algae. Maybe I didn't get the right size of filter or UV unit, or the flow rate from my pump was too high or too low. Whatever, it had no effect on water clarity and just increased my electricity bill. So, when I rebuilt my pond, I went with a big DIY filter instead, based on the Skippy filter. Do a web search and you'll find Skippy's site whch has details. It's a "natural" solution, which may suit your philosophy. Takes a lot of space though (compared to commercial filters).

Other things to counter green water is to have plenty of plants, especially a) a good coverage of floating ones (or ones with sperading leaves/pads), which will provide shade and therefore reduce algae growth and b) ones which grow rapidly and use up nutrients fast eg. watercress. Again these are "natural" solutions. I buy bunches of organic watercress from the supermarket, and throw it in the open top of my filter where it grows like mad. I buy lots of floating Water Lettuce and Water Hyacinth each year (they die in Winter), and the lily pads help as well. I have water soldiers too. I've had duckweed in the past which worked great, but was so rampant that I had to scoop out a bucket load almost daily. My current fish love to eat duckweed though, so that doesn't work any more (same result with azolla :-P)

So far, floating plants and the new filter have kept the water clear, but the real test is yet to come this Spring and Summer when the temperatures rise and we get more sunlight.

Well, whatever you do, good luck!

Hi, the daphnia I get comes in little bags for 30p a bag (you can also get bloodworms and brine shrimp). They seel them in aquariums shops as live food (and keep them in a fridge). Phone around till you find a shop, and buy a bag of each and try it.
Any tub or plastic dustbin or bucket can be used as a "farm", and then you can net it out with a net or a tea strainer and swish it in the pond. Just fill the bucket with pond water, add a bit of weed and add daphnia, and wait! You can also harvest any mosquito larvae.

I always get some of my frogspawn with white bits in it.
I am of the opinion that this is unfertilised spawn
Any experts know ?
Dave

I'm not an expert, just a keen observer and like researching! With unfertilised spawn the whole eggsac goes white quite quickly and dwindles away. I have noticed that when the spawn has frozen for longer than a day, the upper eggs turn white and don't hatch, while the black ones gradually metamorphise. I did bring some spawn inside this year, and most hatched and now the biggest in the pond, but some didn't and started to change colour after about 3 days. It's got me curious now, so I guess it's research time.

I didn't know you had to buy Daphnia - when we made our pond last year, they just appeared after the water had gone green. There were so many that the water looked as if it were fizzy! I'm sort of waiting for them to reappear anytime soon... (last year's got eaten).

How do you 'farm' the daphnia? I bought some bags of it from my local pet shop at 30p a bag and some bloodworms. I just put them straight in the pond for a treat for the fish. If I get a bucket and put some bags of daphnia or bloodworm in with some pond water, do I just leave it and they will multiply? I have often seen little black flies in stale water in the garden pots,can they be used as well and what might they be?
Alison

I would put in some pond weed to help oxygenate the water and then just leave it. As green algae grows in the water the daphnia will feed on that.
Below is a link to a site that tells you scientifically. Last year I tried plant fertisiser in the water, fish food etc, but the best crop was in plain tap water/ rain water in my half built top pond.

ps Sean is an expert.

Here is a link that might be useful: daphnia culture