My husband & I moved into a house in the Albq. NM area last fall. We found a pond in the backyard, decided to clean it up & enjoy the water feature. Only to find a turtle (RES) living in it. The house had not been lived in for some time, & we discovered the turtle had lived on birds & bugs. I will try to attach a pic of original pond. After cleaning, & re-introducing turtle (Lucky), lucky we found him, back into the pond. NM went into the coldest winter in 90 yrs. (see pic) temps went down to -9 degrees. Lucky lived through winter & We committed to keep him going, healthy & happy. We have put in a new larger pre-formed pond liner, 135 gal, new pump & filter, air bubble stones (2-5" flat airstones) live underwater plants, & umbrellas to block direct sunlight. We are in the process of creating a "play yard" basking area that is fenced in with large basking stone, sand area, & a small feeding pond that can be easily cleaned. Just recently, learned of this website, & believe Lucky is not a he, he is a she.
Now here is my big question...How do we keep the algae from growing in the pond!? I have purchased sucker fish, (which Lucky eats), moss balls (atleast 6), umbrellas, air stones, cleaning, feeding outside the pond (in an aquarium), plants, Oh PS there are some feeder fish that have survived "Lucky" & live in the pond too. I have considered the pet store algae eliminators, but don't want to use due to the chemicals, & I'm pretty sure it wouldnt be good for fish & turtles (even though it says its OK) PLEASE HELP...
? dont know how to attach the photos.