How to Clean Up a Green Fish Pond

Minimize the sun the pond receives by adding floating plants like lilies. In addition, plant shoreline plants, like pussy willows, that overhang the water. The reduction in direct sunlight takes away part of the food source the algae need to grow.

Reduce feeding cycles for your aquatics. Most people overfeed their fish. If you reduce feeding to every other day, you will decrease the amount of rotting fish food in the pond and decrease the amount of food available to algae.

Break up a bale of barley straw and place it in a fishing net. Place the fishing net into the water. The barley releases chemicals that inhibit algae growth. Leave the barley in the pond for a six-month period and then replace it with fresh barley. On average you should use 225 pounds of barley per every acre of water in your pond.

Install UV sterilizers and skimmer filters. These methods work on smaller ponds. An ultraviolet (UV) sterilizer is a piece of electronic equipment submerged into the water. It sterilizes the UV in the water and neutralizes it, which will decrease algae in the water. A pond skimmer is an electric filter that skims the top of the water and then runs the water through a series of carbon filters. This will manually remove algae and waste from the water.