Anyone used pond dye?

[HasaDigaEebowai]

We've just created a wildlife pond in the garden and its looking pretty murky already. The pond itself is very large and part of it gets the sun for most of the day, although the rest is in shade. I know I need more oxygenating plants and also that it will take a few weeks for the chlorine to dissipate properly from the tap water (we filled it about a third of the way before letting the rain do the rest).

Has anyone used pond dye to stop algae growing? The main issue seems to be blanket weed.

Blanket weed you can pull out, its quite easy.

If the water itself is green you'll need an algicide.

Its more about preventing it from recurring. Happy to remove what is there. Just wondered if the pond dyes are any good.

Barley straw gets rid of blanket weed, it raises the ph level slightly. Totally wildlife friendly.

You buy it in a net bag, but push a big stone into the bag to weigh it down, and tie the end of the bag to a string which you can hide under plants for when you want to pull it out and replace it.

Algae and blanket weed need a high nutrient level and a lot of light. So cover half to 2/3 of the water surface with floating leaves to stop the sun reaching the water (don't over-do it else the pond won't warm up). Once the initial bloom of algae has used up the nutrients and died off, it shouldn't recur, as long as you can resist the urge in hot weather to top up with tap water.

I've not used pond dyes, but I'd be reluctant to add anything to a wildlife pond.