How To Get Rid of Hair Algae in a Pond

Hair Algae in a Pond is a great nuisance but is a easy pond algae to get rid of. Learning how to take care of hair algae and doing it early will make your job a lot easier in the long run. First let me describe what Hair Algae is so that you know what it is. Hair algae is a slimy green, filamentous algae that grows up to a couple feet in length. It typically is about an inch long or so but tends to grow up to a a foot or two feet long in moving water because with moving water it has more room to grow side ways instead of straight up. Hair algae is also called string algae and filamentous algae.

It clings to the sides of the pond, and pretty much any other surfaces in the pond especially large rocks. It can smother plants basically by strangling them from getting nutrients and sunlight also it can clog your filter up. On the up side, it competes with other forms of algae for nutrients from the water and that helps reduce the amount of floating algae in your pond. This causes a clearer pond. Hair algae seems to do best in water that has a lot of movement as it gives the algae a larger surface area to grow over. UV Filters don't work on this types of algae because it's not a free floating algae. The best way to remove this algae is to take your finger and twirl it around the algae and keep twirling and pull out. You can also try a pool skimmer net to scrap and scoop out the algae that way minimal falls through the net.

If your hair algae grows in the winter or early winter I would just let it because it creates a food source for your fish and ducks and helps attract ducks to your pond. If you let it grow just shut off filter and just let it run it's course it won't hurt anything thing. So the easy way for getting rid of pond hair algae is to physically remove it.