Algae on Pond

Place a bale of barley where water enters pond.

I use the aqua shade also but I have only treated once this year due to the amount of rain and runoff we have had. I usually treat three times a year

I believe that the stuff he is describing is coming up from the bottom. Globs of crud will float up from the bottom of ponds as the biological system in the pond breaks them down and their specific gravity changes causing the crud to float. Using copper will kill most everything live in the pond, but that is the opposite of what is needed. That just encourages a worse problem next year. What is better, is to encourage the bio system with good bacteria and enzymes. Air works wonders once the biological system is alive. This produces a pond that is natural, clear and healthy for it's inhabitants.

Will barley get rid of my algae problem?

The effectiveness of barley straw will depend on the amount of algae you have, the type of algae, and how quickly you want it gone! As with many natural methods of control, the turnaround to see results is often much slower in comparison to mechanical and chemical treatments. If you have a major algae bloom in your pond, and your fish are suffering, opting for a mechanical treatment (i.e., UV Clarifier) to resolve the problem and then using barley as a preventive method is usually the best way forward.

In-fact, in most cases of algae growth, we would first recommend mechanical removal and a pond clean-up before adding barley to the system. Having large amounts of algae usually indicates excess nutrients, excess waste, or low-aerated conditions. Adding more organic material to the pond, such as barley, would only make the problem worse as it takes so long to become effective. As well as this, as barley straw is reliant on the beneficial bacteria in your pond to break it down, adding it to low oxygen and high waste systems will actually reduces its effectiveness, as bacteria are likely already struggling with the low oxygen content and large bio-load present.

Barley straw works best in high-oxygen, well-aerated, and algae-free ponds as it’s free to decompose quickly and more efficiently. For this reason, we always recommend barley as a preventive measure, and not to stop a huge algae bloom already in place. The best way to use barley would be to first eliminate any major algae blooms, and then supplement with straw to prevent blooms coming back the following season.

Edited by steve(ill) - 17 Sep 2018 at 7:36pm

We had a big old long cable off a big old dragline. Stretched it across the dam, hooked a tractor to each end of the cable. And started to pull real slow. Drug a lot of it out of the shallow end, along with part of an old wooden boat.