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1. Will regular old Clorox harm the pump or any of the parts/pieces of the mechanicals? Will it corrode the plastic hoses that the water flows through? Bleach works best for me - tried the peroxide (ok results with the string algae but not the matting type) Have not tried it with baking soda.
2. Do the various algaes have to be treated differently? It seems yes with my experience with the bleach working on one type but not the other. We have string algae and the kind that looks like a mat and can be lifted off the rocks by hand quite easily -- under water looks like puff balls.
3. I do understand the purpose of growing plants to help with algae, but algae forms in the various pools that come before or after each waterfall that leads to the final large pool. So how do I keep the plants from being washed downstream to the last and largest pool --the 'pool' where the pump vault lives and where the water is quiet? I have about a foot and a half of water in that 'pondless' area. So much for a disappearing water fall / feature!
I do not have a biofilter, skimmer or anything like that because this was supposed to be a 'pondless' water feature. Through error in computing how much water reservoir needed for all those waterfalls, we had to enlarge gravel pond depth to triple its original and widen it almost as much. Then we had to empty it of its total gravel fill and instead fill it with plastic drainage pipe and then cover with fabric and only thin layer of rock. So that last pool is a reservoir for all the algae that flows down hill also. Pretty gunky. I know I can grow the plants in the last pool (water is still) but I don't see how I can grow plants in the active very vigorous other pools where the water is rushing downhill and over the various falls. Thanks in advance for your response -- I know it is probably 101 for most of you. I know about the lifting / sludge busters but since no filter/skimmer not sure where all that stuff would end up after busted up. Each year I've been empting and pressure washing and cleaning by hand. Water is clear --- but again, it has those two types of algae in the clear water. I do plan on getting one of those vacuums where the water is filtered and returned to the feature.
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