How to Filter Out Algae Spores and Salinity for a Large Pond

I've seen them treat the ponds where I used to work with copper sulfate. I don't have any first hand experience with this sort of thing. You didn't say whether you had fish in your pond. I think you have to be careful using this method if you have fish. Here is a link:

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/bluestone.htm

copper sulfate

We did the same to our farm pond......

Hi Yes the issue with copper sulfate is that the spoors sink to the bottom and then a build up of brown/black debris occurs. The treatment also does not guarantee all the spoors are killed and can regenerate.

Hi, instead of treating the symptom, it would be wiser to try to find out why there is an algae overgrowth. Perhaps to much Nitrogen in the water? Good luck!

Nitrogen in the form of urine and fecal material.

Agricultural Fertilizer runoff

Yes.

You can certainly filter out algae and algae spores, but salinity is pretty tough to remove by filtration proper. Salinity can be reduced by reverse osmosis, but that isn't actually filtration.

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What kind of goals and budget are you working with?

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I suspect the areas of stagnation are algae blooms which could be directly tied to the high salinity of the makeup water....if that salinity is in the form of run off from fertilized areas.

Hi thanks. I'm looking to have a polishing plant (Reverse Osmosis ) to remove the salinity (chlorides). I believe to get effective algae spoor removal I would require a minimum of 5 micron membranes. I'm looking to get water movers in areas where there is stagnation and try to restrict the nutrients however this may not be totally feasible. There is the potential to treat with algaecide however this may damage the fish stock and ecology .

so still looking and any further advise would be appreciated.

As stated in #12, probably the oldest, most frequently used and most proven method to polish water is to aerate it. Chemicals can easily be detrimental to the water and/or the fish. Once the chemicals do their damage if used incorrectly the fish will probably be dead and you will have to add more chemicals in an attempt to counteract the original chemicals. The aerators are water movers besides being air injectors, both dissolved and non-dissolved. Reverse osmosis or filtration will clog any unit up very quickly and could be an expensive investment that doesn't work well.

The only problem you incur with the aeration and the fish is if you catch them with rod and reel and cook them. (Fish in the stomach and not the lake). This method of aeration has been used, whether ancestors knew they were doing or not, probably for at least over 2,000 years. The Romans used it with their aqueducts. It is used today for things ranging from several quarts (fish bowls) to millions of gallons (lakes). It is a proven successful method. It is easy to add too much/too little chemicals but not the same with air.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Aeration is always a good idea. I have one caveat. If the Phosphorus (P), another nutrient, is high, aeration will create a lot of foaming. The foaming will not be unlike soap in water. You may have noticed foaming in any small stream where water bubbles over rocks. The foaming is because the leaves and debris that fall into the stream decompose and release their P into the water. More prominent in the fall when the leaves fall off the trees.

Yes, but foaming from the decomposition of leaves and debris can be controlled and not be detrimental to fish and wildlife. There are numerous non-toxic defoamers that are used in food processing that could be used in this situation. There are also edible ones that are FDA approved that only require a low concentration.

At one time these were used to reduce foaming of the results from sodium hydroxide being used to clean out reactors used for natural oils, mostly castor oil. The resultant saponification product was very foamy in the waste water processing plant. Originally an ounce or two of carpet defoamer was used per thousand gallons. This was then changed to an edible defoamer to decrease any effect on marine life. These reduced the foam from a large "bubble machine" as in Lawrence Welk, to nothing.

http://www.siovation.com/find/antifoams-and-defoamers.php?src=adwords&gclid=CO_evvCt674CFaZlOgodalUAeA

Good Luck, Old Salt

What is the ground like that surrounds the pond? Sand, clay, lime, detritus?

Without going into extreme detail, but a "sand" filter typical for large swimming pools, remove all or part of the sand, and install the mineral zeolite (sodium aluminosilicate) granule flakes. These have irregular angular edges that are even more efficient in filtration than most anthracite filter media. Follow this with a "nominal" 1 micron fiber tube polypropylene Hytrex filter which is available in up to at least 40 inch length, and installed in filter housings which contain multiples of these filter tubes. Another (expensive) option is micro/ultrafiltration available from various water treatment equipment OEMs. At the outlet of your filtration (that should be scaled up to the size of total feed flow to your RO system) you should have a high quality feed for RO. Note that the pond does not contain chlorine, and will slime up all equipment unless you chlorinate upstream of the filtration, then de-chlorinate downstream prior to the RO inlet.

Diatoms, as in diatomaceous earth, are an inexpensive filtration media option as well.

Reverse osmosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

He does not need to use a full flow RO unit, only a bypass one, but supply it from the filtration system that filters all the water to superb clarity (i.e. low turbidity) before the returning to the pond.

Stop all the farmyard manure getting in, Mildred. Prevention is better than cure.

There are many methods available to control algae growth. However, without knowing the chemistry of the raw water including; nutrient loading, major ions, conductivity , TDS, temperature, and pH, it will be difficult to help. The removal of salts from the water is particularly difficult and may prove an obstacle to large. I have attached this site to help explain the use of salts to actually control algae and it also explains algae. Good luck.

If your algae problem is due to farm and fertilizer run off, one of the oldest methods to reduce/rid the pond of these is to aerate the water with air. This is usually done by pumping the water through a nozzle that forces the water up into the air. Air is entrapped and goes back into the pond. The larger the spore count, the more aeration nozzles used. Look in a clear pond, it probably has at least one of these.

Good Luck, Old Salt

No to mention to protect the pond from further run-off

Yes, very true. Unfortunately this usually takes the cooperation of the generator. Some times they take the position that it is all your problem and not theirs. Some agriculture generators take the attitude that the animal discharges were there before the people and the pond. Some then become very annoyed with the pond owner. That is the time to consider bringing the local health dept. or the state environmental agency to "assist."

I still like Old McDonald and his farm though.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Take the algae and make biodiesel.

Regular filters for the algae then high pressure membrane filters for the salt.

I wonder what his budget is?????

Tom Consulting-

Thank you for the picture. That is exactly what I was trying to describe in #12! Aeration of the water by pumping it through a aeration nozzle.

GA!

Good Luck, Old Salt