Septic Lagoon Algae Buildup - How To Clear It ???

[doxford jim]

Hi Guys,

My septic system utilizes a holding lagoon, where the water evaporates (in theory).
This year for the first time in eight years, the lagoon is covered with green algae.
I have tried googling to get a solution but can only come up with expensive "fixes" - like buy our product or install air bubbling equipment

I would naturally like to be able to rectify this myself, for as little cash outlay as possible.
Have any other readers had this problem? If you have, how did you manage to eliminate the algae growth ?

My understanding is the algae grows from nitrogen and phosphors enriched waters - oxygen depletion being partly to blame.

Of course I would like a cheap and easy fix - being on a pension doesn't give much in the way of spare cash.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Jim

 

[oosik]

There are two "fixes" to your situation. 1) reduce the food(nitrogen, phosphorus, etc) to the algae - this would be very expensive and not really very viable in your situation 2) oxygenation with either bubblers or surface aerators. Unfortunately, #2 can be expensive also and has the disadvantage of creating some really noxious odors.

Actually, the algae are doing a job for you by using the nitrogen, phosphorus as food.

If the algae is not creating a problem - heavy odor - I would not worry about it. If your lagoon is truly, an evaporation lagoon then the algae is not creating a problem for the lagoon.

 

[charlz]

Probably not an option considering what it is used for but when my pond gets heavy with green algae I pump it way down and let the exposed 'dirt' areas completely dry out. This seems to kill it back and stays pretty clear for the rest of the season.

Another 'natural' option is barley straw. I don't know how big your lagoon is but they make small bags of the straw and i believe there are large bags for regular bales. When the straw rots underwater it releases a natural algaecide. Has to be barley straw.

If chemicals are OK then there are various copper based chemicals. The previous owner left some here that I used one year, it worked but I don't remember the name, might have been Cutrine ... it was a dry chemical in a 50# bag. Whatever it was when I ran out I looked to buy more but it was quite expensive.

 

[blueriver]

I have a lagoon for holding waste from my farrowing house ... Holds about 20k of liquid ... I pump it out and put it on my fields for fertilize .. I know your deal is different ...BUT when I get the algae build up on the surface I simply back my brush hog into it ... Fire up the PTO lower the brush hog into the lagoon and let it stir things up .. Adds oxygen stirs thing up pretty good.

I have to do this is the summer cause I don't pump it out only in the spring and fall .. It helps and I do it every couple weeks ...

 

[ozley]

I have a lagoon for holding waste from my farrowing house ... Holds about 20k of liquid ... I pump it out and put it on my fields for fertilize .. I know your deal is different ...BUT when I get the algae build up on the surface I simply back my brush hog into it ... Fire up the PTO lower the brush hog into the lagoon and let it stir things up .. Adds oxygen stirs thing up pretty good. I have to do this is the summer cause I don't pump it out only in the spring and fall .. It helps and I do it every couple weeks ...

I really had laugh at the picture I got in my head.
Sorry

 

[Gary Fowler]

Copper Sulfate will kill that algae easily. A one gallon bucket (about $50) will treat more than a half acre pond but it will also kill any animals like fish and frogs that might be living in it also if you get it too strong (DAMHIK)

 

[dmccarty]

I really had laugh at the picture I got in my head.
Sorry

:laughing::laughing::laughing: Yeppers, I laughed at the image too.

Note to self. Do not buy a used bush hog from BlueRiver. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[sld]

Sounds like duck weed and chemicals will get rid of it. Doesn't hurt anything though. For free you can remove it yourself. I have used a seine before. Get one long enough that you can walk on dry ground on either side. The duck weed did not come back after skimming it off.

 

[doxford jim]

Just thought I would update the post as I am making some progress.
I did a lot of searching and found both copper sulfate (thanks Gary) and clorine work to clear the algae. Also aeration is said to be a big help.
I have bought some copper sulfate (8lbs so far) - not so easy to find in Canada. I am using what I found in Home Depot called "Root Away" and made by Zep.
Today I setup my 2" gas powered water pump to circulate the water. I made a nozzle out of sched.40 2" PVC and put a 2" - 1" reducer on the end. This is connected to the discharge hose of the pump and shoots a good stream where I want it. The suction is one end of the lagoon and the discharge goes to the other end - this hopefully will help circulate the aerated water.
While doing this I also scattered the copper sulfate around the lagoon (hand broadcast) as much as possible. Hopefully this will dissolve and do it's job.
I don't yet have any chlorine but thought that swimming pool chlorine tabs would probably work well - any thoughts on that ?

I don't have any photo's yet but will take some tomorrow. My thoughts are that if I circulate the water for several days for six or eight hours, I should see some improvement. Time will tell of course. My cost so far is around $150 for PVC pipe and fitting and copper sulfate. Probably a lot cheaper than using a chemical company special formulation - but it was what was available locally.

The water did smell once I started circulating - prior to that there was no noticeable smell.
Will post the photo's tomorrow hopefully in case any one is interested.

Thanks

 

[lostcreekranch]

Do you have an estimate of total volume ( gallons)? Add about 1 gallon of cheapest chlorine bleach you can buy per 10,000 gallons. Aeration will be very helpful.

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[bigtiller]

I really had laugh at the picture I got in my head.
Sorry

So did I. By the way, isn't that what money smells like?

 

[doxford jim]

I can see some improvement in the algae today - it isn't so thick and it moves much easier now, leaving open spaces.
Today I noticed that the smell from the water has completely gone which I assume to be because of the spraying to add the oxygen to the water. So far all I have put in to the water is 4kg (8.8 lbs) of copper sulfate - still waiting on the bleach/chlorine as we only get into town once a week (40 miles away). I think that once I get the chlorine, it would be well worth using a syringe to spray it directly on to the water surface instead of putting it through the septic tank. I have a large syringe made out of 2" pvc which should do the trick and put the chlorine right where it needs to go.
It looks like I might have to circulate on a regular basis - I think the lagoon is probably a bit on the small side for the house size and it's performance is marginal because of the sizing. It is 80ft long x 48ft wide and has a working depth of either 4ft or 5ft - depending on how much is in it.

 

[guyrj33]

Just run the pump to circulate and aerate the water, let nature do the rest. You have some nice reads growing that will filter the water naturally and you risk killing them with the copper sulfate.
Bleach will kill all beneficial bacteria in your septic system, bad idea to add bleach to the system. A septic system is a living breathing system, do everything you can to keep it alive. Chemicals are likely to kill it and then you'll have a bigger problem.

 

[Sysop]

I have a lagoon for holding waste from my farrowing house ... Holds about 20k of liquid ... I pump it out and put it on my fields for fertilize .. I know your deal is different ...BUT when I get the algae build up on the surface I simply back my brush hog into it ... Fire up the PTO lower the brush hog into the lagoon and let it stir things up .. Adds oxygen stirs thing up pretty good.

I have to do this is the summer cause I don't pump it out only in the spring and fall .. It helps and I do it every couple weeks ...

A variation of when the SHTF?

 

[boggen]

I can see some improvement in the algae today - it isn't so thick and it moves much easier now, leaving open spaces.
Today I noticed that the smell from the water has completely gone which I assume to be because of the spraying to add the oxygen to the water. So far all I have put in to the water is 4kg (8.8 lbs) of copper sulfate - still waiting on the bleach/chlorine as we only get into town once a week (40 miles away). I think that once I get the chlorine, it would be well worth using a syringe to spray it directly on to the water surface instead of putting it through the septic tank. I have a large syringe made out of 2" pvc which should do the trick and put the chlorine right where it needs to go.
It looks like I might have to circulate on a regular basis - I think the lagoon is probably a bit on the small side for the house size and it's performance is marginal because of the sizing. It is 80ft long x 48ft wide and has a working depth of either 4ft or 5ft - depending on how much is in it.

what ya doing will work, but your making a bigger mess than what you need to.

you want circulation! toss your inlet hose (into the middle) and then the outlet, place 1 to 2 feet under the water and pointed slightly upwards, so it shoots down the length of the lagoon / pond / lake. this will create a whirl pool / hurricane / vortexing like current. that causes everything to swirl. by placing the outlet of the pipe under the water and slightly pointing up. you get a second effect in that it will pull extra water/sewage/algae up to the surface and expose it to the air.



the above should give you the better overall aeration and circulation.

=============
if you stay with spray bars or fountain like effect. your better off with very small little holes. smaller the better. but since your running a trash pump. that really doesn't have any sort of filtering. you end up hurting yourself needing larger holes that will not plug up. resulting in less air to water exchange. it doesn't matter how high ya send the water up into the air or causing it to splash. you will still be at a lower ratio of mixing water to air. vs above. its more about getting as much water as you can in contact with air. and water doesn't have to be shoot up into the air or be sprayed, or done in a fountain to achieve highest results. but rather simply circulating the water. so the entire mass of water circulates, causing dead zone areas to move and give it a chance to become right next to the surface of the lagoon. were you will get a lot more air/water exchanging happening.

majority of is noted above comes from www.koiphen.com and dealing with various fish/koi ponds. and simply learning how to make water currents work for you. vs against you. if you end up going with a diffuser setup. you may find some better choice diffusers through some of the dealers there. "epdm membrane diffusers" that are kinda self cleaning due to the nature of how they create air bubbles. along with air pump/s more likely rated for 24/7 running. double check on replacement diaphragm for air pumps, "devil in the details" can be rather expensive.

 

[boggen]

I can see some improvement in the algae today - it isn't so thick and it moves much easier now, leaving open spaces.
Today I noticed that the smell from the water has completely gone which I assume to be because of the spraying to add the oxygen to the water. So far all I have put in to the water is 4kg (8.8 lbs) of copper sulfate - still waiting on the bleach/chlorine as we only get into town once a week (40 miles away). I think that once I get the chlorine, it would be well worth using a syringe to spray it directly on to the water surface instead of putting it through the septic tank. I have a large syringe made out of 2" pvc which should do the trick and put the chlorine right where it needs to go.
It looks like I might have to circulate on a regular basis - I think the lagoon is probably a bit on the small side for the house size and it's performance is marginal because of the sizing. It is 80ft long x 48ft wide and has a working depth of either 4ft or 5ft - depending on how much is in it.

*cringes* killing algea = also killing off beneficial bacteria / parasites, and all the other little goodies of single cell stuff, that actually break down the waste, and help turn the waste into various stuff, that can be off gassed. your doing more harm than good. adding chemicals. and end up of cycle routine of buy more chemicals, and more chemicals and more and more.... and never getting out of the cycle. if you kill all the stuff that breaks the waste down... you will end up with a lagoon full of crud. and set everything back to point that you will have to wait for the good bacteria that you want, to break everything down to grow back. which may take 90 days or longer. this is a septic lagoon not a swimming pool. completely different.

 

[roadhunter]

Just run the pump to circulate and aerate the water, let nature do the rest. You have some nice reads growing that will filter the water naturally and you risk killing them with the copper sulfate.
Bleach will kill all beneficial bacteria in your septic system, bad idea to add bleach to the system. A septic system is a living breathing system, do everything you can to keep it alive. Chemicals are likely to kill it and then you'll have a bigger problem.

This. Bleach is bad.

If you want an alternative try sodium percarbonate (oxy clean). It will have similar benefits including oxygenating the water but wont' kill all the good bacteria in your system.

 

[sld]

My folks had a 40 x 40 lagoon for 25 years or so and the only thing they ever added was water during dry times.

As I mentioned before, I did use a seine to remove some duck weed like you have, but even then I don't know that it was necessary. It looked better though.

Usually an inspector would not like the cattails but probably wouldn't even care about the floating duck weed. Be careful with the chemicals. As others have said, it's a living entity that is breaking down your waste. Pretty much an all natural process that needs little attention.

 

[doxford jim]

Thanks guys,

I really appreciate your input. As you probably guessed, I am doing what I can with what I have available. Your concerns on the use of bleach is noted.
I was thinking of maybe putting a "T" at the end of the pipe and using 1" pipe with 1/4" holes or similar, to give a better spay area.
Actually, the suction is at one end of the lagoon and the discharge towards the other, but can be aimed to induce some surface movement. The lagoon isn't that big and I am reluctant to get too aggressive as I don't want to wash out the sides/banks.
I am sure what I am doing must be some help as the smell has all but gone and the green algae does not seem to be as thick (maybe wishful thinking on my part). I am trying not to spend too much money unless I absolutely have to. Also, I have been surprised in that the water pump seems to run all day on about 1.5 galls of gas. Around three litres last 3.5 hours run time.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated - and many thanks for comments thus far.
I will stay with just circulating for now and leave the chemicals out. I like the suggestion of Sodium Percarbonate - need to do some reading up on it.
Thx
Jim

 

[lostcreekranch]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your input. As you probably guessed, I am doing what I can with what I have available. Your concerns on the use of bleach is noted. I was thinking of maybe putting a "T" at the end of the pipe and using 1" pipe with 1/4" holes or similar, to give a better spay area. Actually, the suction is at one end of the lagoon and the discharge towards the other, but can be aimed to induce some surface movement. The lagoon isn't that big and I am reluctant to get too aggressive as I don't want to wash out the sides/banks. I am sure what I am doing must be some help as the smell has all but gone and the green algae does not seem to be as thick (maybe wishful thinking on my part). I am trying not to spend too much money unless I absolutely have to. Also, I have been surprised in that the water pump seems to run all day on about 1.5 galls of gas. Around three litres last 3.5 hours run time. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated - and many thanks for comments thus far. I will stay with just circulating for now and leave the chemicals out. I like the suggestion of Sodium Percarbonate - need to do some reading up on it. Thx Jim

Jim;

Sorry about the bleach suggestion, just not familiar with this type of open lagoon septic system.

We have an aerobic system;

1. Raw black water / gray water flows to aerating tank with large air pump and diffuser.

2. Then pumped to chlorinating tank.

3. Finally pumped to multiple spray heads in field.

Everything below ground except controls, air pump, and top of 5 gallon bleach tank. Only maintenance is adding bleach once a month.

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