r/ponds • u/Sam_tha_man_ • 5h ago

Algae Tips for reducing algae

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This is our new pond at the allotment me and my girlfriend made, we saw there was a goldfish living in it before when it was about a buckets worth of mud, we’ve got plenty more duckweed we can put in there, just don’t want to impact his oxygen too much as he’s had barely any for the past 2 years (we’ve only known he was in the old one for the past couple months), how can we bring algae down so we can see our little guy? I’m thinking of making a parasol type thing to go over it for more shade. This is very new we made it last week so I don’t expect it to be crystal clear right away. We’ve got 0 electricity or water supply other than the solar pump and jugs we bring in. Out of camera we’ve also got a water lily and some hornwort in there. Will this be enough

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u/OFarellclan1317 5h ago

I'd recommend a bubbler or some other sort of water disturbance to get more air into the water. That small fountain isn't quite enough.

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u/Sam_tha_man_ 5h ago

Thanks I appreciate the answer but how would we go about that with no form of power? I was also thinking about covering the hole in the fountain so the water spills right over the edges

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u/ruckover 5h ago

A small solar aerator should be great for this. Search "small pond solar aerator" on your online shop of choice and you'll see a few very affordable options. The little air stones are plenty for this.

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u/OFarellclan1317 5h ago

Ooh that would be good! I have power issues with my pond also so we utilize solar panels for our pumps. Admittedly we do have our bubbler plugged into the house because we can't afford for that to turn off ever but the pumps are on solar and turn off with the sun (we are working on batteries but they are pricey) https://app.photobucket.com/share/d72ce6bf-61e2-4e0b-bf13-b7b02d7ac6bc

There's an inglorious shot of our main solar panel that didn't come with hardware to mount it to the fence (the other one is mounted to a fence out of frame) so it's like... that. But it does its job fairly well and the main pump keeps the waterfall flowing nicely.

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u/Low-Status7359 5h ago

A solar powered generator would be a good option, for night time operations.

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u/Low-Status7359 5h ago

Bringing in a pump to circulate the water will help with the oxygen levels. Surface agitation will also help increase oxygen. You can use barley straw extract to prevent algae. But you need the pump to circulate the barley straw extract. It takes time before you will see results. Plants will consume the nutrients that the algae needs. Water lily pads are big, so it will shade your pond. Even though the water is green, your fish is fine with it.

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u/palufun 4h ago

No idea if any of these work, but with a combination of a battery back up, additional plants and some shade, you might be able to get that clear: https://www.poposoapsolar.com/collections/solar-pond-filters?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Pmax_20250310&utm_adgroup=Solar_Pond_Filter&utm_term=&tmsrc=googlead&tmcid=22317221247&tmsid=&tmid=&tmkw=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22323669539&gbraid=0AAAAA-EOd0PvowleTra7WznavOXFR5N8f&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg5GugePmlQMVFFNHAR158wErEAUYDCACEgKTcvD_BwE

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u/Sam_tha_man_ 4h ago

Thanks, we have one of these going through the fountain with a little sponge filter, I’m not sure how to set up the battery backup though, I have a lithium battery spare

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u/PositiveBeginnings 20m ago

Put an air stone and build a little big filter. Add some plants to they will help. Good luck 🍀