Jim, while there are obvious differences in a lined pond and a natural or clay bottom pond, the theory of algae control is the same. You have to eliminate the food sources and supply additional oxygen. Dredging is normal maintenance for a pond the size of yours. It doesn't eliminate all the nutrients feeding the algae but it is a start.Until that is done nothing else will be effective. The runoff is an additional problem. You can add plants to the water and the shoreline to use up some of that food but that type of plant can add debris from winter kill so you would still have to get rid of the debris eventually along with any other leaves that blow into the water. The Michigan DNR has some good advice on plantings and the Ohio DNR and Ohioline have some as well. The lakes in Wisconsin where we used to live were dredged on average every 3 years but those were much larger and were used for swimming and boating as well as providing for wildlife. They were marvelously clear. This all presupposes you want to keep the fish and other critters. There are chemicals that kill algae very thoroughly, but they essentually sterilize the pond and only the strongest critters survive if any. There are products that shade the pond, eliminating the light that algae needs to grow but most of them contain copper sulphate or other forms of copper and that can kill the critters too. Adding microbes and enzymes to the pond can be done easily on a regular schedule but to work properly they require good oxygen levels. The device you mention adds enzymes gradually but doesn't supply any additional oxygen. That is where the fountains mentioned above come in or some other type of aerator like a waterfall or barley straw which supplies hydrogen peroxide as it rots.(recent studies suggest barley straw is not effective) Water that seeps into the pond is oxygen deprived as is the water from a sump. In addition, that device and everything else is based on maintenance from a dead start with a clean pond, which you don't have at the moment. It is usually easy to tell if there is insufficient oxygen in the water. There is a hint of sewer in the air. The odor is being produced by that muck on the bottom. If it has not been dredged in 30 years it could be several feet deep. One way or another you will have to deal with the muck even if it calls for hip waders and gas masks. Sandy PS, recently I helped get info for the restoration of a 5000 acre, 23foot deep artesian supplied pond. The info from the Michigan DNR in particular was very helpful.

I found this bit of information also. "Brown algae" (diatoms) This is often the first algae to appear in a newly set-up tank, where conditions have yet to stabilise. It will often appear around the 2-12 week period, and may disappear as quickly as it arrived when the conditions stabilise after a couple of months. It is essential to minimise nutrient levels to ensure the algae disappears - avoid overfeeding and carry out the appropriate water changes, gravel and filter cleaning, etc. Limiting the light will not deter this algae, as it can grow at low lighting levels and will normally out-compete green algae under these conditions. If brown algae appears in an established tank, check nitrate and phosphate levels. Increased water changes or more thorough substrate cleaning may be necessary. Using a phosphate-adsorbing resin will also remove silicates, which are important to the growth of this algae. However, as noted above, it is essentially impossible to totally eliminate algae with this strategy alone. Due to its ability to grow at low light levels, this algae may also appear in dimly lit tanks, where old fluorescent bulbs have lost much of their output. If a problem does occur, otocinclus catfish are known to clear this algae quickly, although you may need several for larger tanks, and they can be difficult to acclimatise initially. There are some very plausible theories as to why this algae often appears in newly set up tanks and then later disappears. If the silicate (Si) to phosphate (P) ratio is high, then diatoms are likely to have a growth advantage over true algae types and Cyanobacteria. Some of the silicate may come from the tapwater, but it will also be leached from the glass of new aquaria, and potentially from silica sand/gravel substrates to some extent. Later, when this leaching has slowed, and phosphate is accumulating in the maturing tank, the Si:P ratio will change in favour of phosphate, which is likely to favour the growth of green algae instead. Green algae A certain amount of green algae is likely to occur in any tank with sufficient lighting. It is eaten by most algae eating fish and is generally fairly easy to remove from the tank glass. Hard 'green dot' algae This appears as small round dots on the aquarium glass. It appears to be a normal part of planted tanks with higher light levels. Algae-eating fish will not remove this algae and manual removal requires hard scraping. Magnetic algae scrapers are usually inadequate, unless the edge of one half is used inside the tank - or use a razor blade.

Good day to you Skygee, Yes I think Spring is finally here in zone 6. Oh I am so ready for getting back to my 2 ponds. I was ready 2 months ago. How about you? Hi PequaFrog, I won it on Ebay, if you call it winning. I bought it new at $21.00 not including shipping. I gather it sells in retail pet stores around $39.00 not including sales tax. Since I am waiting for the delivery of it, I can not tell you how I like it yet. I am still using the market water for water changes. Here is some information on Aqua Pharmaceutical Tap Water Purifier. Makes Perfect Deionized Aquarium Water with super activated carbon and colour changing Ion-Exchange Resin. As the cartridge changes color the Tap Water Purifier removes all dissolved minerals including calcium, sodium, sulfate, carbonate, magnesium, potassium, chloride, fluoride. Removes all heavy metals including copper, zinc, lead, iron, cadmium, manganese algae promating nutrients. Including phosphate, nitrate, ammonia, silicate, nitrite chlorine and chloramine radon organic pollutants. Also insecticides, herbicides, pcbs, other pesticides, gasoline, fuel oil, agricultural and industrial pollutants. The tap water purifier attaches to your faucet, producing 50 to 150 gallons of perfect aquarium water "DEPENDING" on the mineral content of your tap water. I know of one person who swears by it. As he purifies the water he lets the water hose into a clean trash can for storage. Then gets the water as he needs it. He had found it a lot easier this way. I am thinking of doing this as well, not only you have stored water for you fish and plants but emergency water as well. Theresa

I do weekly water exchanges with water from my aquarium shop, I do about 8-9 gallons a week. I am leaning more towards diatoms as I couldnt find a pic on the net of what I have and the brown algae pics I saw dont look like what I have.. My setup has been weird from the start, I once had a huge jellyfish outbreak, which went away eventually but the other day I noticed a few more returning.. I now also have about 10 aiptasia's but will be killing those when Joe arrives in the mail.. I do feed alot but water test all came back fine.. my salinity was high for a while but is now back to normal level.. I dont really have any corraline algea on the back walls and never have which the aquarium pros are a bit puzzled by.. I also had a huge coral die off as well a few months back which was never explainable... not sure what to do about the light as I cant really change it; well I could change the bulb its currently a 12k.. I also have the buffer stuff that comes in a bag down in the plumbing which is supposed to help filter the water.. I do have purple algae on the back walls but it looks more to be the long hairy type and not yet corraline.. and each water exchange I do add a couple drops of the Luigis solution.. not sure what else to do besides keep on scrubbing each water exchange.. attached is my site, all the pics are old, but a few close up pics of the fish you can see some small dots, this is when it just starts and then gets progressivly worse.. check the second yellow tang pic, I think that has the best shot of it.. Here is a link that might be useful: my tank