Keeping algae out of duck pond

[TX Chick Noob]

Has anyone had success keeping algae out of small duck ponds for more than a few days? We live in central Texas and have a 6x2x1 trough buried as a pond. We have tried having a barley bale on it but saw no difference. Have 4 ducks that are only 2 mon the old, and are having to drain it every 4-5 days.

Wish we had gone ahead with a larger trough, since now it will be impossible to get the excavator back in the area where we have them.

Has anyone tried any of the koi pond chemicals?

 

[DobieLover]

The size of the pond and the number of ducks in it are going to prevent you from ever having clear water without an enormous amount of filtration. You can try putting a shade cloth over it to at least keep the sun from shining on it.

 

[GreenJay]

Most of the algaecides for koi ponds are usually labeled safe for fish and plants, just not snails or crustaceans.

Agree with @DobieLover , shade and filtration are a must, sun and are complete algae food. We used a bio-filtration like this when we had a tiny prefab pond, it doesn't take up pond room except the submersible pump.

https://www.123ponds.com/571010.html

You can look for a smaller (5000gph probably overkill for the tank) or cheaper one of course, just an example

 

[TX Chick Noob]

We have a small pond pump but haven’t figured out how we want to use it yet. We did already put a large shade cloth over the chicken and duck runs. Just built the frame and redid the netting a few weeks ago.

We had already planned on pumping it out about once a week and using it to water the garden and fruit trees. But we’re trying to keep it a little cleaner in the mean time. I have had luck with barley in water trouble before but it doesn’t seem to be working here.