To build an algae pond, a liner like AquaArmor from BTL Liners is critical. In fact, you’ll quickly discover that pond liners are an absolute necessity. While you can produce fish and plants in ponds with mud bottoms or clay liners, in commercial algae production, these types of liners simply won’t work. Mud and clay liners will cause turbidity in an algae pond since the water needs to constantly be mixed in these types of ponds to ensure good algae growth. This stirs up any debris on the bottom of the pond.
That turbidity leads to additional problems. For algae to grow properly, plenty of light needs to penetrate the water so algae can use it for photosynthesis. Disturbed dirt interferes with light transmission, which in the best case will cause slow growth, and in the worst case, will result in an algae die-off. Natural ponds can also be very difficult come harvest time. You need the ability to pick up algae using commercial equipment. A liner protects the pond’s bottom from damage and prevents dirt from mixing into the algae. Liners are also essential to prevent possible contamination from surrounding soils, which depending on the types of contaminants in soil, can have a major effect on water quality and algae growth. Algae ponds also need to be cleaned after growth cycles. In a mud-bottomed pond, it is impossible to clean the muck at the bottom or to ensure that it doesn’t become contaminated with a competing algae species. Only flexible liners can be properly cleaned to ensure healthy and proper growth.
