I am an agriculturist and growing mainly cotton in my family farm. I use drip irrigation system for the irrigating the crop. We have a small farm pond, covered with polythene sheet to reduce the percolation of water. My problem is the constant growth of algae in water which creates problem in irrigation system. I am interested in exploring some new and cheap treatment methods for reducing this algae from the irrigation water so that drip doesn't have any problem. ( We have used barley straw to control the algae but it still there is formation of Algae in the pond. )
We also had the same problem once but not any more. We have 3 pools sizing 200 X 600 ft and 6 feet deep. Soil is highly porous. Some years back we did use poly ethylene sheets but they were always destroyed by the weeds growing through them. So we resorted to clay plaster and we found it doing the job. To our algal problem, we reared fish and its doing well and we do not need any eco friendly enzymes:)
It appears that your algae is growing due to lack of oxygen in the water. A simple fix would be to install a pump hooked to a compressor in the bottom of your pond to get your water circulating. I had a similar situation with a shallow marine and installed a air line to a pump in our marina and it corrected the problem.
Published
by Jeff Lynch, Environmental Water Resource Technician-T-1, D-1
Small ponds have always an issue for Algae. The main reason for algal development is sunlight and stagnant water. To avoid the growth there are enzymes available in the market for which the algae is nutrition. Further you need airation, have a floating fountain in you pond. this will help you avoid water becoming stagnant and there are much less chances of algal growth than. Further more to both of the above, you can have a floating garden in your pond which behaves as a ecosystem and the algae will be its nutrient. This is a very effective technique but you need to be very specific in selecting the floating garden plants. But to go for any of the above solution, your pond data as in quantity, quality of water, region, etc are very imp factors.
Small ponds have always an issue for Algae. The main reason for algal development is sunlight and stagnant water.
To avoid the growth there are enzymes available in the market for which the algae is nutrition. Further you need airation, have a floating fountain in you pond. this will help you avoid water becoming stagnant and there are much less chances of algal growth than.
Further more to both of the above, you can have a floating garden in your pond which behaves as a ecosystem and the algae will be its nutrient. This is a very effective technique but you need to be very specific in selecting the floating garden plants.
But to go for any of the above solution, your pond data as in quantity, quality of water, region, etc are very imp factors.
As previously stated, algae need light for photosynthesis. You could consider covering the pond with another polythene sheet which would also reduce evaporation.
I agree with George Laszlo and believe that in fact we need two sets of data. First the size parameters comprising the depth and second the chemical parameters, mainly pH, dissolved oxygen and redox. If it were possible to know the kind of algea you have that would help. Algae develop when they find nutriments to do so and when the chemical parameters build for them a nice environment. It is often difficult to eradicate them but it can be done.