Algae problem in a small pond

[Barb]

I hope someone has some advice for me. I dug a pond about six weeks ago. It's about 5' x 7', and about 3' deep at it's very deepest. The edges have an 18" shelf, and there are two "steps" leading to the deep end that are about 2' and 2 1/2' deep. So while the pond is small area-wise, it's fairly deep overall. I am in Connecticut, and I wanted a deep end for the winters. I used a pond liner to line it, and there are some small rocks on the bottom for decoration/egg laying purposes, although whether that helps or is even necessary, I'm not sure. I have four Shubunkin goldfish, about 6"-7" long. The pond is situated in full-sun, and I have a Pondmaster 1250 pump and fountain on the bottom. I have a few plants in it, including some kind of floating plants that look like green balls stuck together, lol. One just had purple blooms, I'm not sure what they are called. However, the pond continually turns green, so green with algae that we can barely see the fish. I put Microbelift-PL into the pond starting 3 weeks ago, and keep adding to it each week, but that hasn't worked. Since then I ended up draining half the pond and refilling it, in an effort to clean the pond a bit. (ad added something to get rid of the chlorine in the process, too) The algae is not stringy, just kind of sludgy. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Here is a pic from about a month ago:

[Barb]

It looks so tiny there, but it's actually bigger, I promise!

[MaryPa]

If I remember correctly all ponds get algae for about 6 weeks then starts to clear up. I don`t think doing water changes is the thing to do. Just be patient. Your pond looks lovely. How many hours of direct sun does it get?

[Barb]

Thanks! It gets 6-8 hours of sun a day, it's very sunny there. I am feeding the fish "Goldfish and Koi" pellets every other day, 8 pellets each day.

[Cichlid_Mania]

I would suggest for one to stop feeding as much. I have this same problem and I still have not figured it out. I have heard it takes a UV sterilizer to remove the algae or green water properly in your pond. I have been told you can use Barley bails to remove algae also but it didnt work in my pond at all.. I'm debating on dying the water blue or green to shade my pond...

[Barb]

Thank you, I was wondering how much was too much. I was hoping I wasn't starving them by feeding them every other day, apparently not. How often do you feed your fish?

[KiltyONeal]

The plant with the purple blooms is water hyacinth. It does an excellent job of filtering the water, especially if given plenty of sun. I use these in my ponds each year. In the spring, I usually get an algae bloom (which is great for my baby fish), then I add some floating plants and it clears up quickly when the plants cover 1/3 to 1/2 the pond. I don't use a fountain/sprayer though. The floating plants probably won't like the surface of the water moving around much.