bad algae

[Cameo]

Re: bad algae

Get some nerite snails from www.azgardens.com
These are fabulous! I had a tank w/ hair algae strewn across my plants. Threw a bunch of those snails in and within a week I was having to feed my plecos algae tablets! Not a spec of algae anywhere.

[Cleetis]

Re: bad algae

I'm trying to figure out how to insert a picture on here.. sorry it took so long guys.

[Cleetis]

Re: bad algae

Let's see if this works...

[eklikewhoa]

Re: bad algae

Do a blackout period of a few days....cut back the lights after that....cut back on feeding, but back the ferts, add more circulation in the tank, run the tank cooler, do water changes to try and siphon most of it out and then if all else fails.....erethomycin.

[Mzungu]

Re: bad algae

Yuck, I'm so sorry it's hair algae!  :(

If you happen to have any rosy barbs or Flagfish, they will eat hair algae. So will scuds, but I think your rams will eat them first. I've tried so many things for this stuff, but those three were what worked for me, once and for all. Nothing else really got rid of ALL of it.

EDIT - Also, take as much of it out as you can. From what I've read, if you add something that eats it, the newer threads are more tasty. The strands will be long, so it's easy to just twist around your finger or something else (like a toothbrush) to remove it. Also, if you see any of the points where it's attached, remove those. They show up as little balls of green that stick really well to objects and glass, I have to scrape them off to make sure they're gone. Otherwise, they'll just put out more strands.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: bad algae

You could try a phosphate sponge to help.

[Cleetis]

Re: bad algae

when you say back the ferts, do you mean continue with them?  or to stop using the ferts?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: bad algae

Cut back on all of it.

[Cleetis]

Re: bad algae

ok, let me see what i can do.  I'll cut everything off for a while and see.

a friend told me to run an airstone at night and not during the day so I've been doing that for about 2 days now and the water seems a lot clearer.  what are your thoughts on that?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: bad algae

I don't like air pumps and don't like airstones......running the airstone at night will just gas out your co2 in the water depending on how you look at it it could be good or bad....

good, fish don't die since plants use o2 at night

bad, well....gasses out co2 which you need to keep the algae in control and the plants healthy when the lights come on.

I don't run airstones in none of my tanks and I have one that gets pressurized co2 24/7 and there's nothing wrong with the fish in there. My other tank that gets co2 with the photoperiod has to play catch up when the lights come on cause the co2 is low throughout the night.

You could add a filter or small powerhead to circulate water flow throughout the tank

[Spot86t]

Re: bad algae

I squeezed flat the loop that was on one of my long tube brushes and put it in my cordless drill.  It did wonders removing lots of it, but you've gotta be careful that you don't yank up your plants.  Flagfish took care of the rest of it.

[Cleetis]

Re: bad algae

maybe i'll just turn off the air and leave the lights off for a while.  my filter circulates a good bit already.

[Cleetis]

Re: bad algae

light and air have been off for a little over a weekend now and the results are very noticable... the algae has stopped growing and has began to shrunk some.  I'm going to add more shrimp in when i start the lights again, hopefully it'll stay clean.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: bad algae

Pull out what you can manually or siphon it when you do water changes...don't add too much shrimp cause when the algae is gone you will start another problem......patience is the key with planted tanks....it doesn't happen overnight.

[Cleetis]

Re: bad algae

ah, gotcha... how many shrimp would you suggest in this tank?  I do like cherry shrimp a lot though, their red color always catches my eye.

also... do you know of anything that'll take care of snails that'll fit fine in my 30g cube?