Summit Clear-Water Barley Straw Pond Therapy, 2-Pack, Treats upto 2000 Gallons, 1000 Gallons per Bale

Wow, this really works!
We have a new pond this summer and it gets about 9 hours of full sunlight. We got algae issues immediately. We knew it would take a while for the pond plants to grow and shade the water but it might take a long time. We used API Pond Algaefix (about half a cup) every 4-5 days to keep it from turning into complete pea soup. It would work a bit, but never get crystal clear which we were okay with. But every time we used it, some of the bigger fish we had (we inherited some 5 inch koi from friends) would look like they were in a coma for a day. They’d recover, but it didn’t feel good to use a algae killer like that.Hence the search for an algae fixer that wasn’t toxic to our fish. After reading, we decided to use this. It seemed like it would take up to a month for the barley straw to break down and release whatever miracle algae inhibiting chemicals. We also bought some Crystal Clear barley extract to jump start the process.So here’s what happened. On day one, we added the two barley straw bundles to the top of our little waterfall. We added 1/4 cup of API Algaefix (because we figured there was NO way the barley would work that fast), plus about 3/4 cup of the Crystal Clear Barley extract. The pond was pretty cloudy. We couldnt’ see the bottom (about 2 feet deep in some places).Day two: Pretty clear. Like, better than when we used the API Algaefix alone. We figured we’re not sure what really worked, but hey, it worked, and the fish were swimming around looking very good. No coma fish.Day three-seven (it’s been one week). Crystal clear. LIke, mountain stream picturesque crystal clear. There is NO way this sustained clarity has anything to do with the Algaefix or even the barley extract. WE can only think it’s from the barley straw.It’s amazing. The plants look great. The fish are healthy and getting fatter by the day. (We only feed them about once a week–most of the time they forage on their own and do great).The only caveat: we used to have water bugs and other water surface insects. We haven’t seen a single once since the barley went in. No explanation for that. Weird. We have lots of dragonflies and they seem fine.All in all, SUCH an amazing product. We are so happy we did a little research and found this. No more algaecide! No more waiting for the pond plants to grow in. I’m shocked that it worked so fast and it’s still going so great!

Keeps your outdoor fountain clean.
East to use. Toss one in as needed.

Water is clear but now orange/rust color water
I have a 200 gallon pond, preformed black plastic molded liner. I have a pump waterfall attached to a flat Tetra filter with a combo of green (big holes) and white (fine like cotton batting made for pond filters) as the media inside. It I have a netting covering the pond to keep the leaves out.Pond is on 50/50 sun/shade throughout the day, each part getting some sun & some shade while the sun moves through the sky.I had been having problems with smelly, green water and was looking for a safe, natural way to control the algae and muck at the bottom when I came across these barley bales.I received them 10 days ago and used one. I tied it with a plastic zip tie to keep it from sinking and put it next to the water fall to make sure plenty of oxygen exchange is going on. This is also the pump, so it’s the clean water that just came through the filter.24 hours later, the water looked 50% clearer, but was developing an orange tint. A week later, the water is much clearer but looks like a retaining pond full of rusty pipes. The fish seem to be OK so far, but I don’t think this is normal as no one else has mentioned this and none of the photos shared by other users show orange water ponds.I searched the reason for orange pond water and it said it’s from tannins that can be released from decompensation of leaves. But I don’t have leaves in my pond, they’re stopped by the net and cleared off each day. I use a swimming pool skimmer net to remove any other debris out of the water, so my hypotheses is the orange/rust color of the water directly correlate to when I added the barley bale.I’ll be happy to update this review if I receive a response from the company or a pond expert who might give me a different reason for this.Pros:The amount of barley straw received is a great deal for the price. In small ponds, these 2 bales could last you a year.

Didn’t work
I was so excited to try these after reading so many comments about how well they worked. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case in my experience. They kept sinking to the bottom of the pond I kept fishing them back out and let it dry out completely as direction explained but as soon as I put them back in the water within a little while they sunk to the bottom again. It did nothing for controlling algae which I was desperately needing. So this item was definitely a waste of money.

I used it to clear the cloudiness of my pond …not successful.Unnecessary purchase.

To try to restrict algae in pond!