This spring (1996) after the snow and ice cleared and it rained several times, the water was so clear that I could see to the bottom of the deep end (4.5 ft). Then about 3 weeks later, with the warmer weather and sunshine, the algae started growing again. There seems to be a lot of opinions about how much algae should be in a fish pond. Of course there is not a whole lot we can do to easily adjust this artificially. After several years of experience now, I am happy to let the algae go through its' yearly cycle. From clear (in the late fall and winter & early spring and summer) to green (in late spring to early summer & late summer to fall.) This spring (May,1996) the Belted King Fisher has discovered that he can catch fish in the pond and fortunately the water is getting green to make it harder for him to see the fish. My mother was looking out of the window one day and saw a splash and out came the King Fisher with a goldfish in it's beak. Eventually the lotus, lilies and nymphoides will cover a large part of the surface which will give the fish a place to hide and also shade the water which will clear up the algae.

To the right of the stream and water fall you can see floating hair algae. This algae persisted for about 3 weeks. Then as the other plants and micro algae started growing, the hair algae disappeared.

This photo shows the gravel filter where the submersible pump is placed. The water depth is 20 inches here and you can see the bottom. It took 3 years for this pond to reach a cyclical balance where there is clear or mostly clear water. The first year the water alternated between green and brown. The brown occurred when the algae got so thick that it starved itself then died and then re-grew as the rotting algae fed new growth

This view is from August 20, 1996. As spring turned into summer the algae kept multiplying until the pond plants started covering the water and utilizing the waste and rotting material. The water gets clearer as long as the plants keep growing in coverage. You can see the fish down to about a depth of 2 feet. The Lotus that I had placed in the deep end (4.5 feet) last fall finally reached the surface on August 12. I thought it was too deep to reach the surface but on that day I noticed a leaf had popped up. This will help with control of algae as the deep end area is about 120 square foot of surface area that has had no plant coverage until now.