DAE think barley straw is overrated? My 3 year old pond cleared up when I stopped using it
I've been running a 1,200 gallon koi pond in my backyard in Boise for about 5 years now. Back in 2021 I heard everyone on forums saying barley straw was the magic bullet for algae, so I bought a big bale and tossed it in. Fast forward to last month, my water was still green as pea soup and my two koi were hiding all day. I did some digging and found that barley straw only works when it's rotting in the right temps, and my pond gets too warm in summer. So I pulled it out, added more shade plants like water lettuce, and cut my feeding to once a day. Within 10 days the water went from murky to clear enough to see my bottom drain. Has anyone else had a similar experience where the "tried and true" method just didn't work for their setup?