Best Way To Grow Algae?

[Lord Spooky]

just wonder i have a 1 gallon bowl that i wanna grow it in. i know sounds weird but i think its cool.

 

[rdd1952]

Pretty simple: Overfeed and leave the lights on too long. You will have all the algae you could possibly want. Just remember the old saying though: Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.

 

[Lord Spooky]

thank you! Theres no fish in the bowl though i just wanted to grow a bit of it. is it still ok to put the food in?

 

[rdd1952]

Without any bacteria to process the ammonia after the food decays, I'm not certain the food would do any good. You can always set it in direct sun light. That will all but guarantee you some blue green algae and some green water.

 

[Meds081603]

Are you growing it to get food for algae eaters? There is a thread around here somewhere with exactly the information your seeking. The advice you were given is good though. Just put a bowl in some sunlight and throw a little food in the bowl. If it is for food you can put some clean rocks in the water for the algae to grow on and then put the rocks in your tank for food.

 

[Lord Spooky]

yep i wanna use it for food for my plec. my tanks pretty clean and i figured real algae would be better for him than those sinking wafers. will the bowl develop bacteria to break down the food eventually?

 

[rdd1952]

If you want it for food for a pleco, then you need the proper kind of algae. Plecos will not eat blue green algae. You are much better off feeding them algae wafers. They will also eat any other food that makes it to the bottom of the tank.

 

[01edmn]

yeah sinking wafers are very good full of goodness cucumber and perhaps tomato

 

[Lord Spooky]

well there goes the food idea. mabey ill just make a little algae bowl or soemething.

 

[sinistral]

I wish I hadn't given away my copy of David Boruchowitz's Simple Guide to the Freshwater Aquarium.

In that books, he suggests exactly as Meds081603 had recommended, except you don't need to add food. Just put some rocks in the bowl and put it in sunlight. Algae spores are everywhere, so you should have algae soon.

I actually don't know if you can predict what kind of algae will grow. Why not just give it a try? If you get blue-green algae you can always discard it.

I'm sure the plecos will benefit from the variety.

 

[rdd1952]

I would just be terribly afraid of putting anything that might contain B-G algae in my tank. I've had that stuff before and it is impossible to get rid of short of breaking the tank down and starting over (what I had to do). But you're tiget about the sunlight. Setting the bowl there would definitely result in some type algae.