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Blanket weed & pond algae control services

Here at DU Waterscapes, we're experts in blanket weed & pond algae control services covering Somerset and across the South West of England.

Algae Control Services

Blanket weed or string algae is the most common

Algae in ponds & water features can be very unsightly and actually become a bit of a burden when trying to enjoy your garden. The first thing to understand is that there is no such thing as an algae free pond, only methods to control and lessen its impact on your ecosystem. Finding a balance in algae growth can be pretty easy once you understand a few basic principles and water treatments.

Typically in new ponds (less than 1 year) algae can be a bit of a problem, and are likely to experience a few different stages of algae as the pond matures. Even mature ponds experience algae blooms which can be a nuisance to deal with. Generally having a bloom in a larger pond would indicate that something is out of balance, but this is not uncommon especially during the warmer months and those heat waves we sometimes get.

Yikes! One unbalanced ecosystem.

Algae problem?

Your likely causes...
Too many fish

Overfeeding and/or too many fish

On too many occasions pond fish are overfed: contrary to common belief, fish should only be fed once every other day in the warmer months. Ponds that are overstocked generally have issues with algae. Acquiring fish can be addictive especially when it comes to Koi so remember they grow, and fast at that!

As they do grow obviously they become bigger, therefore the available space in the pond decreases and no surprise the amount of waste they produce increases. With bigger fish in a same area there is likely to be more waste which is nitrogen, the favourite meal for our nemesis; algae!

Lack of routine maintenance

Lack of routine maintenance

Yes, ponds can be built to have minimal maintenance but nine times out of ten yours has not been installed with this in mind! A LOT of filtration systems on the market are designed to be backwashed on a very regular basis.

This takes up your valuable free time and in turn makes it a lot easier to put to the bottom of the list; no surprise this neglect causes an even bigger build up of waste and other issues start to occur – green water being the most likely first one. Green water is down to the lack of maintenance – when green water arises, it is most likely due to your ecosystem crashing!

Lack of filtration

Incorrect or lack of filtration

There are many different filtration systems on the market, they all do a similar job, but some do it in a very different way than others. The conventional pump in the bottom of the pond with an external box can work with some applications but more than likely they will cause more grief than relief.

A lot of ponds we come across are lacking correct filtration if you can filter the pond correctly a lot of issues that could arise will be cut in half. It must not be forgotten that, no matter the filtration system, there will always be some routine maintenance.

Improper pond circulation

Improper pond circulation

Filtration goes hand in hand with pond circulation. As much as ponds in our native environment don’t have flow; in our garden environment this is a must if you are adding fish to the system. These issues normally arise when it comes down to a broken pump, more often than not people trying to cut corners to save a little bit of money and buy a smaller pump or filter. Cutting corners and buying cheap equipment can have drastic effects and causes major circulation issues, dead spots in the water start to occur which leads to issues with water quality and clarity.

Please do not forget the numerous hazards cheap and wrongly installed equipment could have!

Excess rain water

A surprising one, as many people do fill their ponds up from water butts etc, which is good for the environment but in these circumstances there can be excess nitrogen within the rain or building up with the water butt. We suggest checking your rain water periodically to ensure you are not doing more harm than good, this can also be said for your tap water as phosphates can often be detected within it. Nitrogen and phosphates are loved by algae but also various strains of bacteria, if you can encourage the right balance of bacteria through correct maintenance, proper filtration and sufficient circulation you’ll be certain of having an amazing aquatic paradise everyone will be jealous of!!

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