The Pond Guy Barley Straw Pellets Natural Clarifier for Water Gardens & Fountains, Treatment for Cloudy Ponds, Koi Fish, Plant & Pet Safe, 12 lbs

I have a fountain that has a lions head atop a square pillar that spits into a bowl that dribbles into a livestock trough where there is another fountain pump to keep the water moving. I used to drop a brick of barley straw in behind the pillar every 3 to 6 months & I was good to go. BUT the stupid raccoons kept pulling it out & ripping it apart & leaving barley ALL over my deck. I have no idea why. So I was looking for a way to fix that. BUT all I could find was stuff (pucks, solutions, etc...) that were for BIG ponds. I contacted Pond Guys and they figured out from my measurements how many gallons of water were in my fountain & told me how many tsp to use every 3 weeks. YAY!!! Great customer service & great product. They also suggested a motion sensitive "predator light" that looks like eyes to scare off the raccoons. I didn't get that because (1) it would have to shine directly into my bedroom to be effective & I would be the one freaking out & (2) they aren't afraid of ANYTHING. They are huge city raccoons & ignore me when I come out & yell at them so I doubt a light would do anything... except entertain them while they take it apart. Every few weeks they pull the lower fountain pump out & leave it on the deck... I have NO idea why. I had to order a special one that turns off when there is no water after they burned out the 1st one. I LOVE the sound & the birds playing in the water during the day but the raccoons... not so much.

Used to use the bales. This is so much easier and works even better than the barley bales. Used regularly, water is always clear!

Used this product to hopefully clear my goldfish pond up. Has only been in the pond a week, but seems to be working.

I met the founder of The Pond Guy over twenty years ago when I was doing a project involving a one acre concrete "pond" in a condominium complex. He was ahead of his time with simple but very effective biological understanding of how aquatic systems work. Barley straw was then and remains now an effective way to thwart the growth of new algae, particularly "string algae" which seems to love something about concrete. Today I'm just dealing with a fountain - probably less than 500 gallons - but I'm thrilled to find barley extract in a liquid form with a measuring cup cap. The fountain is a miniature wildlife habitat, complete with pond snails, dragon fly larvae and frogs, so I don't want to mess that up. Very happy to see The Pond Guy thriving.

Tried these instead of bails. Put in water fall for the water movement. Seems to help but they do smell. Never got that from bails

I have a Spring fed clear water 1000 sqft pond. Clear constantly moving water can be challenging to control algae. Both chemicals & dyes can work, but in water moving 9-11 GPM are quickly flushed out requiring more frequent & costly reapplications. Barley Bails may be bulky & not authentic. For my type pond, BARLEY PELLETS are BEST.The included mesh bag may float, but works. I like to put pellets in a couple of one gallon black polyurethane paint buckets with lids & matal handle available at Home Depot. I drill 5 rows of 3/8" holes around the bucket. I put a 5"x4"x3/4" paver (Homo Depot Garden Section) in the bottom of each bucket to hold in place. It's important to place the barley pellet buckets in or in front of your water stream. I'm very pleased with the natural vs chemical algae control offered by barley pellets. Buying a 12 lb bag every 6 months vs more costly chemicals works best.Daylily FarmerSpring Fead Irrigation Pond

This really does work to get rid of algae in your pond and much better than using chemicals. It does take time to work, so be patient. The key to success is consistency in application.

I have honestly tried just about every pond water treatments for the past 6 years. I'll honestly say this Barley Pellets is no doubt the best.I have a 15000 gallon koi pond. Every year it gets cloudy, foamy, and weedy. I've tried pond product with bacteria (ie muck removers) which are not very effective. Caused lots of foaming. I've tried other liquid clarifiers, which works but my fish don't like it and it's really expensive per use.With the Pellets, I just throw about 4 cups in at a time. Within about a week, the pond clears. No excessive foaming. Interestingly, my Koi's like the pellets. They don't eat them or anything like that. They just congregate in the area where I threw the pellets in.Overall, this is the best one shot pond treatments. I'm getting rid of all my closet full of pond treatment products and will just use this by itself. Working great so far this year.