For the last 5 or 6 years we’ve had the pleasure of seeing a number of new technologies come along that have helped in the battle with pond and industrial algae. Few have garnered more attention than ultrasound. After all, it’s high tech, easy to install in most situations, and when it works, it does a really good job of stopping algae growth.

At the same time, I’ve always said that it’s not a silver bullet by any means. It has great capability, particularly on larger waters, where it can be very cost effective compared to chemical and biological solutions. But make no mistake, it has it’s limits. I don’t normally suggest that small pond owners use the device, simply due to cost considerations. There are other options like UV light that may help. For ponds of say, 1/8th of an acre on up, ultrasound may be a good solution.

As we’ve described previously here, ultrasonic systems send sounds waves, precisely tuned to create vibrations in any algae cells that are in the targeted range, and over time, these vibrations create damage that will ultimately disable the cell in some way. The sound waves do not adversely affect fish or other wildlife and visually, you’d never notice any disturbance in the pond at all.
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Can I be honest. I’m not a fan of running in the first place.

Yes, it’s true that if something bigger and meaner than me is in pursuit, I’ll run fairly quick, but that’s about it.

Needless to say I’m not into marathons either. For those of you that are, I applaud your efforts because anyone can certainly understand that running 26 miles, all in one attempt, takes true endurance and stamina, oh and a bit of determination too.

Now just for the sake of discussion, how do you think you would perform with a plastic bag over your head?

If it’s sealed reasonably well at the bottom, and has no leaks (or as I call them, cheater holes) my best bet is you won’t get very far at all. Try as you might, you’ll probably drop in the first 1/4 mile and if you don’t, you’ll certainly be struggling along as if you were dragging an elephant by the tail. Suffice it to say, you won’t finish. But YOU might be finished when all is said and done.
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I don’t think it will come as any great surprise to those of you reading this, but the truth is, most people wait until pond algae is well underway before they do anything about it. I’m not being critical, I’m just sharing an observation. And I understand.

First of all, algae can grow quickly when conditions are ripe for it. Warm and sunny days are what you want when you’re growing something green. Then too, algae in a pond comes on as an unwanted annoyance and it’s a pain in the behind to deal with sometimes. And people generally, to their credit I think, tend to put off or resist the temptation to use a chemical in their pond.

Not everyone feels this way of course as some folks will use algaecides liberally, but many pond owners aren’t as comfortable with them as they used to be. I kind of hang more with the second crowd. And the longer I do this algae control thing (going on almost a decade now) the more I’ve learned that chemicals just aren’t the answer to everything.
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