Does anyone have a local source for barley bales? We are trying to clear some mean algae in our pond. They aren't cheap on the web, but would like to find a somewhat local source.
I put carp in my pond. They say carp won't eat algae but they did. Our pond has been clean for three years.
1.35 acres is the size of the pond. We've had carp in the pond. Started with 4, we know of one that someone caught, did not know any better and kept. We'll see the others at times. But they have not controlled it. Our problem is that we use it for irrigation on our garden. We use copper sulfate to try to kill the moss/algae. It does get it for a while, but it comes right back. It has a good fish population in it as well, so we have to take that into account when deciding on chemicals to use.
At NCSU 4 carp per acre was recommended. The folks who sold me carp put 150 in our 8 acre pond. They have cleaned up every thing. I also use my pond for irrigation. I used to have to clean the suction weekly. That's kinda scary when the pump is pulling about 600 gallons a minute!!
For a pond that size it also helps to have some kind of fountain system as the constantly flowing water is less likely to develop an algae/moss issue. As for the barley bales, tried them in my decorative pond several years ago and they did nothing but stop up filter/fountain system and the bales were proportional to the pond size.
We have a pond about the same size. We have a fountain that does help a lot. We also have grass carp that cleaned up the algae really quickly 2 years ago but this year it was back in our pond too! We went to a place in Garner, Foster Lake and Pond Management 919 772 8540, and got a few more immature carp and some algaecide that will not harm the fish and you can still use the water to irrigate. Also got some blue dye to inhibit photosynthesis. We learned that the carp don't eat too much when they mature. Ours are over 2 feet long now! It's the teenage stage when they go crazy and eat like we need them to. We added 10 that are about 8 inches each. If you don't have predator fish you could use smaller ones. Hope that helps. Foster's were a lifesaver for us and they sell the carp, too.
Yeah, me too, Foster Lake. My carp are 24 - 30 inches. They cleaned every thing. I had to buy 10 - 12 inch fish because of the the bass. anyhow, mine still control the vegetation, but I reckon it's because of the number / acre. They grew to the "same" size they are now in the first year. I was told I needed to add more each year because their metabolism drops. But, not yet, they're still eating. Actually, turbidity is my problem.
