Algae growing at an alarming rate in our ponds
Q. Hi. I have three spring fed ponds that were beautiful and clear when I had gold fish in them. Unfortunately the gold fish were wiped out by Platypus and cormorants. Since then algae has taken over and grows at a remarkable rate. Was told that barley straw helps to reduce it. Would you recommend just plain barley straw or your barley straw extract? Eager to hear from you.
Answer:
It’s unfortunate to hear about your goldfish. If your algae levels are currently high we would recommend our Coptrol aquatic algaecide as it is specially formulated to treat algae in water. Whilst Barley Straw is used more as a suppressant – so once the algae has gone to then use Barley Straw. For the quickest result, Coptrol is your best bet! Click here to learn more.
Once the algae has gone away, you can then use the Barley Straw Bales to reduce the likelihood of the algae returning. The Barley Straw Bales are an excellent long-term algae control strategy. The bales do take between 4-6 weeks to start to work, so during this time you could use the Barley Straw Extract which works immediately and you would need to add this weekly. The Barley Staw Bales need to be replaced every 4 – 6 months.
Another product you may be interested in is our Aquatic Blue pond dye. Aquatic Blue gives water a deep blue colour that reduces the visability of fish to cormorants and similar predators, while also slowing down the growth of algae and aquatic weeds.