has anyone used chemicals for removing algae?

[Alien_spawn]

I know not the best way to do things, but was just wondering if anyone has any experience in using them

 

[Rose]

Read Effective Algae Control it will get you on the right track to dealing with algae with out chems.

Rose

 

[oazanki]

I was very close to using one of those chemicals when I had an algae bloom, but all I did was to cut down the photo period to 8 hours and everything cleared in a couple of days..

Its better to treat the problem at the source

 

[ryan]

I was very close to using one of those chemicals when I had an algae bloom, but all I did was to cut down the photo period to 8 hours and everything cleared in a couple of days..

Its better to treat the problem at the source

I'd agree, if you can find the source and alter that it is always better than using chemicals.

 

[babyfish]

Buy lots of floating plants, these cut down on the algae by using up the nutrients and they take toxins and heavy metals out of the water

 

[Alien_spawn]

I agree with all comments but when you consider all this that I have/ done

You might understand why I've asked this question

When you've got Bristlenose pleco's, no sunlight hitting the tank (even keep the curtains in the living room closed now lol). NitrAtes low 15ppm tested today, regular water changes (weekly), Filter maintenence fortnightly, Light on timer for 8hrs, Green X in the filter
Algae is still growing in the tank!!!! even when the tank was going through ICH treatment,


One new thing I've started is to reduce amount of food, also the tank runs two filters one internal (fluval +1) and a canister (fluval 404)

Funnily enough my other tank doesn't suffer with algae at all, but doesn't have real plants, it seems like the algae bloom started soon after introducing real plants

So to me that rules out the tap water causing it?

Trying my best to find the source!!! and scraping all algae that appears daily now lol

In two forms : green dot algae - doesn't bother me
Short hair algae -bothers me- it grows on pipes, my heater and
White rocks (which gets so bad that I have drilled algae off to remove the stubborn arggh

I've tried the getting loads of plants method to get the nutrients before the algae does. the algae won

But saying all this I'm controlling it by scraping the hair algae off, I would like it that I didn't get it in the first place.

 

[Rose]

AA what exactly have you done over the last 3 months to keep algae in check and what have you changed (what were you doing before the plants and after the plants). A detailed account (as detailed as you can give) over the last 3 months might shed some light on the situation. What size tank are we talking about and what fish are in it as well as the names of the plants and the light stats, water stats, substraight, ferts, need anything and everything you can think of so we can find the problem and fix it.

Rose

 

[Alien_spawn]

last three months lol I'll try and remember!!!

its a 4ft 42 (uk) gallon tank, the substrate is sand (of which I added a bit more recently)

it is has white rocks at the back with plants at the front (which are in a poor state after an ICH treatment and have hair algae) there is bogwood in the tank too

I want to replace all these plants and start again (bearing in mind I'm restricted in which plants I can get from Petsmart and maidenhead aquactics)

My white rocks have hair algae on them which I scrub off, I've been using green x for a month and a half now

I'm using a 18,000k Aqua-glo bulb with a 4,200K Sun glo, which are the same bulb types that came with the tank (replaced once a yr)

I made the mistake around 3 months ago putting some leaf zone in for the plants which could have set it off!!

I have two filters internal and external

water stats have stayed at a steady

Nitrites 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Oxygen 5ppm
PH 7.6

I only recently got a NitrAte test kit (it might have had a NitrAte spike?)
which was 15ppm today

The fish are what is in my sig except for the neons and apple snail

Cheers

 

[Alien_spawn]

Oppss forgot to mention algae control, I've been scrubbing it off. before trying green x etc etc

 

[Rose]

How often are you doing water changes? Is there any way you can pick up a Phosphate and a Iron tester? I'm thinking there may be some Phosphates in your water supply. If you have excess iron as well that might be another thing that could be causing your woes. Before you ask why is it in one tank and not in another I don't know but I do know it's possible for one tank to get messed up with algae and the other be just fine. It's usually the tank with plants that's messed up. Reasuring isn't it

Rose

 

[Alien_spawn]

I've tried to look for Phosphate and a Iron testers no joy at mo, they don't seem to sell them much in UK (or where i've been looking)

My water changes are 20% weekly i use Aqua plus conditioner

I also have an airstone in the tank which gets turned off at night

 

[babyfish]

You need to cut down on the light reaching the bottom of the tank, as you have a light substrate this is in effect doubling your light. Floating plants will do this and at the same time they will remove phosphate( a big algae nutrient),let the plants cover three quarters of the tank and then thin by three quarters as needed.
Your airstone will also help encourage algae as algae thrives in water saturated with oxygen, it is best to switch on your airstone at night and leave it off during the day so that the plants use the available nutrients and start to outcompete the algae.
Are your bristlenose plecs male ? The males aren't as good as the females at cleaning the tank once they get to a certain size

 

[becs66]

Hagen do a phosphate and iron test kit for about a fiver each which you can buy online at aquatics-online.com amoung other fishy websites. I have a planted 35 gal tank and was troubled by hair algae due to high phosphate levels which I solved with the use of Rowaphos. Also it could be me but your filtration is quite high for a planted tank as they tend to prefer lower turnover rates and airstones will knock out most the CO2 from the water so don't tend to be compatible with planted tanks. With a little surface agitation from your filter there should be no lack of O2.

HTH

Becs

 

[Alien_spawn]

One Bristlenoses is female the other is unknown at moment (too young), interesting comment about the filtration rate, the tank doesn't depend on airstone for oxygen, it's there for more effect than anything, I wonder if the combination of using a spray bar and airstone could be causing it, the tank isn't a heavy planted tank has around 5 plants, Also I didn't realise about light substrates and doubling your light. does that mean I could reduce the light strength? if so what should I reduce them to?

Cheers

 

[susangc]

I'm probably going against the current here, but we used an algicide (AlgaeFix, I think) on our 29-gallon tank. Basically, we had a lightly planted tank with green water that multiple rebuilds would not cure. On the third try, we used a single dose of AlgaeFix as soon as the problem looked like it was coming back. We haven't had problems since; it's been over six months now.

We believe that the root cause of the bloom was overlighting, but cutting the light to the correct time for the bulb wattage was not enough to kill off the algae already in the tank.

Using chemicals routinely instead of fixing the root cause of the problem can't possibly be good in the long run, but nothing was harmed by the one dose -- there are still a pleco and three juvenile Pangasius catfish in there, doing just dandy. The plants are doing fine, too.

Edit: My favorite article on lighting is here

Susan