Blanketweed treatments

[bekko]

Oh, Oh! It has been a while and I forgot to mention my favorite method of physically removing string algae. Put a one-quarter-inch steel rod about three feet long in the chuck of a variable speed cordless drill. Stick the rod in the water, loop it around some string algae a couple of times and turn on the drill. The string algae starts to wind up in the rod. Then it starts twisting masses of string into what looks like a big green slimy rope. Since most of the algae in the pond in somewhat intertwined to begin with, you end up pulling and twisting stuff from ten feet away as it is all wound into the green rope. You can pull out a rope with a wet weight of over twenty pounds. Its almost as much fun as not having string algae at all. Then again, some of us are easily entertained.


steve

[B.Scott]

Steve
I can do without that kind of fun, Thank you!

[Bob Hart]

Steve,

That would never have worked for me in the past, I've had so much of the stuff and growing so quickly that I needed to get buckets of the stuff out every day.

Free flow worked for one season, then not the next.
Pond balance worked well as well.

Sinse fitting a Bakki shower, but as additional filtration, so putting to contents of the pond over it every 4-hours, I now have 'no' blanket weed. In doing this, I have increased the pond turnover to 8500 gallons per hour on a 10,000 gallon system, so perhaps this helped? I also added a TT with BHM, so aeration is high, with 300+ litres of air in pond and filter.

So was it the Bakki/BHM? I dont know it it could take years to confirm it one way or the other. Next Spring will be interesting though ......

[B.Scott]

Bob,
I did about the same as you but with a TT instead of a Bakki shower.
I had read something JR wrote about Stringy Algae triving in low O2 enviornments. This encouraged me to try a simple TT it raise O2 levels. The results havent disappointed me at all. I'm so unbelievebly thankful that I has (possibly) gotten rid of the stuff. It wa driving me to the point that I was starting to consider giving up the hobby.

[Bob Hart]

Scott,

Glad to hear you're staying with the hobby, I always enjoy your posts.

As well as the increased O2, there's the potential for the gassing off of Ammonia, which then doesnt become Nitrite, then Nitrate. Perhaps at very low Nitrates, again there is less for the weed to feed off. Complicated scientific stuff which I havent the faintest about, but like you I'm just glad it's gone - at least for a while! LOL

[MCA]

Wihich begs the question if any O2 enriching filter system (with TT, BHs, Nexus) all make significant difference in the nitrogen compounds and therefore hold down string algae.

MCA

[B.Scott]

I don't think I would include the Nexus as a O2 enriching system. In general J-mat and other forms of media have heavy aeration as well, just like a nexus, In addtion I have a small bay with fluidized kaldness and that didn't make any difference. I believe the TT has.

B.Scott