How to clean pond

[ranoutofquinoaandprosecco]

We moved house 6 months ago and have gained a pond in the back garden. It's got loads of green slimy stuff in it, how do I clean it?

We've seen newts and frogs and wouldn't want to affect them if possible, but would like to make it a good environment for them. Tia.

You can buy balls of straw that are good for helping clean up algae.
Depending on how big your pond is, you could use those or a few sections of a bale.

Try putting a stick in and turning it round and round-if it’s spyragyra (sp?) it’ll stick to the stick like candy floss. Put it in the side of the pond for a day or two to let amy beasties climb back into the water, then compost it. Repeat til it’s clearer. Also a straw bale (mini) helps clear the water.

Thank you, me and the kids will do the stick thing over the next couple of days and then when we can get some straw we'll do that too. I could do with some straw for the allotment as well, that's another post!

Be very careful that you don't catch up any tadpoles - they're not very good at making their way back into the pond from a heap on the side.

What precisely is your green slime? Do you mean the water looks like pea soup? the barley straw is good for that, but it will settle eventually. Don't be tempted to add tap water - the problem is high levels of nutrient and tap water will make that worse.

Or is it that you have very fine green hairlike weed (aka blanket weed) - the stick method is good for that, but I'd leave it for a few week until the tadpoles are larger. And even then you'll have to keep a look-out for baby newts.

Make sure you have some dense planting along one edge of the pond, for emerging frogs and newts to take cover.

Hiya! How big is the pond?? Is it dug in the ground or raised up?

I've got a 1,500L raised pond (brick surround) with loads of plants, fish (2 gold fish who were having sexy time on the bank holiday), sticklebacks and a TON of tadpoles. (also the damsonfly and dragon fly larvae are out and about).

If its pea green you can use straw or liquid products as it will kill off any particles floating in the pond making it all green so they sink to the bottom. There are tons on the market which are animal friendly (fish keepers don't want anything to hurt their fish!), I get mine from an online company called ThePondKeeper. Got a green away and something else to help.

Normally a UV filter will keep it from going green again so if it is big enough and you plan to put fish in get an all in one pond pump (pump, filter and UV light on one) as this will keep everything lovely and clean for the fish, newts and frogs :) Also running water will bring in a lot more insects for the frogs to nom on.

Agree make sure there are things or plants for animals to climb in and out of. Also got tons of small boulders on one side (I will get a waterfall in one day) which also helps as a climbing frame and has hidey holes for the frogs.

for any thin stringy green weed (normally on side of pond) you can't beat the old stick method but you may need to leave it a few weeks so the tadpoles and baby newts don't get caught up!!

If you DO need to top up with tap water, get a tap water neutralizer which you add when you need to top up water which gets rid of all the nasties from it so it doesn't harm anything in the pond.

Do love a pond me

Mine always got bad at this time of year. I read that the algae grew because of the warmth but the plants weren’t big enough to keep it in balance with oxygen (or something like that, brain fail sorry). Anyhow it always got better by May once the plants had grown bigger. I fished the worst out and just left it.