Algae Removal and Prevention

Try here Rixter:

http://www.algaecontrol.us/index.html

Much appreciated.

Do you know what type of algae it is?

Tamu. Thanks for you interest. At present we do not know what type of algea it is. The canals are part of a sea world entertainment park. Sea water is pumped from the sea , through the canals , into the main aquarium. We are currently removing the algae by draging a net behind a boat. This removes about 10 Otto bins of algae a day. It works fairly well but the buildup is continious and one has to be carefull not to trap to many fish in the net.

Any suggestions will be helpfull.

Regards

Rixter

We are currently removing the algae by draging a net behind a boat. This removes about 10 Otto bins of algae a day. It works fairly well but the buildup is continious and one has to be carefull not to trap to many fish in the net. Any suggestions will be helpfull. ----- I can turn the cellulose in that algae into fuel ethanol if you want to put a small distillery somewhere nearby. George F. Oerther, Jr. oertg@aol.com

If the water isn't moving too fast, dumping some copper sulfate in will kill algae. It is harmless to fish and wildlife. We use it here on golf course ponds to clear the algae.

Belius. Thanks for this information. Can you give me more details such as how much copper sulfate to what expanse of H2O and copper sulfate as in normal / standard coper sulfate?

Regards

Rixter

Environmental concerns eliminate most solutions, heavy metals, voc's, etcs'.

Va Beach Va resolved a similiar problem a few years back but the incentive to stop superceeded the incentive to continue. The fishing was great because fresh water bass thrived and grew to tremendous size.

Salty sea water was pumped to the inlet of the stream to control, but not completely eliminate the growths. The surface water was clean for boat passage & fish habatit. The deeper water was refuge for crab and vegetation. Salt water pump funds dried up, the vegetation returned, and the large mouth bass disappeared. Navigation and fishing are no longer possible.

We successfully used residual ozone to keep attached algae under control in an open lagoon. Where are these canals, temperate or tropcal sea water? What sort of length/volumes are you talking about?

Rod. Thanks for this information. However I have no idea as to the meaning of "residual ozone". The canals are about 600 meters long by 6 meters wide with sea water from the Indian ocean. The site is location on the beach about 50 meters from the sea. Please tell me more.

Regards

Rixter

You can treat these canals as giant outdoor aquariums. If you apply ozone via some foam fractionation towers, you can run the ozone levels such that there are traces of residual oxidising agent remaining in the return water. At the correct levels, this will not harm the fish but will inhbit algal growth.

Chemical control methods are not generally to be encouraged, in my opinion. Copper compounds are highly toxic to elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) and all invertebrates, so any corals, anemones, crabs etc in the canals would not survive and as these are flowing, the addition of copper would have consequences outside of the canals too.

Control by herbivorous fish species is possible - any of the tang (Acanthurus) species will help, but you will need a lot of them. Is there any possibility of shading the area? That will also slow down the algal growth. Other possibilities would be phosphate filters, removing one of the compounds essential for algal growth, but as these are open canals, that may not be possible.

If you would like a more detailed discussion, please feel free to contact me on rod@planit-aqua.com

Rixter,

In the cooling tower industry, copper sulfate is also common. I was going to suggest that too (another poster already did) until I read the bit on sonic devices above. That sounds very interesting and would be well worth a test given the price.

Also, you could consult a local marine biologist to see if there would be a way to stock the canals with fish that actually eat the algae fast enough to do the job for you.

As far as injection rates, you need to experiment a bit, but here is some data:

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/herb-growthreg/cacodylic-cymoxanil/copper-sulfate/herb-prof-copper-sulfate.html

Hope that helps.

Stephan

Stephen

This is great. I am meeting with a marine biologist next week mainly to see if he can shed any light on what the effect of copper sulfate will be oin the specis of fish present in the canals. If we get a green light from him we will take it to the park management. If they agree on a trial we will work with small quantities till we get it right. I sent a mesage to the company that sells the sonic devise and will give feedback once I get a reply from them.

Much appreciate everyones help here and will update the site as we go along.

Regards

Rixter

I was thinking along the lines of fish that can eat the algae at a rate to keep up with the growth. I have seen this done in fresh and saltwater applications - it usually requires experimentation with the species of fish to be used.

Another option may be lined canals or switch to pipelines, but cost will likely be a lot more than the park is willing to shell out.

Snails!

Drop me an e-mail regarding the flow rate

Jim H.

jhsbusiness@yahoo.com

Our company has a patented way of controling the algae by reducing the phosphorus in the water. Our company is called Aqua Fiber. We base in Orlando and have a ongoing project demonstration on Lake Apoka. If you have interest please e-mail R. Allen at mailatallens@aol.com Regards