One of the problems you’ll undoubtedly come across when you have a koi pond in the yard is algae. Algae love to grow in warm, moist environments, just like your pond can provide them. Algae will threaten to take over if you don’t diligently take the time to thwart it. New pond owners will discover that their pools are especially prone to algae, simply because they haven’t yet established an ecological balance of plants and fish. In fact, if you’ve only recently installed a water garden pond in the yard and have noticed stuff growing on the liner or waterfall, it’s almost certainly algae, and you will have to take steps to help keep it at bay.

Although a few of the short, velvety algae that quickly covers the liner and everything else within the koi pond are beneficial as long as they aren’t allowed to take over, you still need to take steps to keep the population down. You can find chemicals you can use in the water that won’t harm the plants and fish but should help diminish this type of algae, but don’t expect to ever completely eliminate it. A limited amount is beneficial for your pool because it puts oxygen into your water and provides fish something to nibble on.

String algae is much more difficult to control. This kind of koi pond algae thrives in portions of the water garden environment where there’s a great deal of sunlight. Therefore, it will form on waterfalls and in shallow parts of streams. Additionally, these regions of the pond have got a ready availability of nutrients continually flowing through them. Using a skimmer or algae net will help you remove string algae as well as other larger debris, like leaves.

It is easy for algae to turn into a real problem that it will smother plants and fish. Building your water garden in an area of your yard where it will not be in direct sunlight all day long may be beneficial. When you have only koi within your pond, they’ll require much less sunlight than plants do, and will even get sunburned should they be exposed to an excessive amount. Therefore, select an area which may have direct sunlight for part of the day and will also have shady times and areas. The warmer the water gets, the more algae will form.

You must also work at controlling the quantity of nutrients that enter the water, since the more nutrients which might be present means additional algae that should be able to thrive within the environment. By carefully planning where your pond is located or building a lip surrounding the edge, it is possible to lessen how much rainwater runoff that enters the pool. Rainwater contains air pollutants, fertilizers and weed killers, and other particles which can be appealing to algae.

Koi pond algae need three things to be able to grow: water, nutrients, and sunlight. By reduction of some of these factors, you can lessen the formation within your water garden and make it safer for your plants and fish.