Algae under control

carrcn

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Mar 10, 2004
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20 Miles from Hell, California
Using stock lights, I didn't have very many problems with algae, but my plants weren't doing all that well either. I did have some low-light plants that actually stayed alive, but they definitely didn't thrive, putting off new leaves that were less than 1/3 of what the original ones were.

I bumped my lights from 30 watts to 192 watts. That's when things started to get bad. With 7 otos in there, 4 algae eating shrimp (amano???), and somewhere between 6-12 ghost shrimp, black hair like algae was starting to grow all over my plants. Nitrates have never been above 5-10ppm, so that wasn't a problem.

After reading many posts on the subject and referring to my one book on aquarium plants, I think I may finally have it under control.

I changed their lighting schedule first. Instead of 12 hours straight, I make them take a nap during the day. I left them on for 6 hours, turned it off for 3, then back on for another 6 to get the full 12 hours they need. Noticable decline in algae growth, and it actually looked like it was receeding somewhat. To further that, I cut back on the light by an hour, so it's now on 5 hours, off 3, then on another 6.

I also probably close to doubled the amount of plants I had in there. Starting to figure out how to plant them a little more densely. I've made some more room, but want to hold off until I get CO2 so I can get some colorful ones in there. Red looks really good in there with the blue background. But I've noticed one of my plants that was absolutely covered is now almost completely clean, with one or two hairs here and there, but only noticeable when you look really closely.

I've also quit adding chemical fertilizers during my water changes. I was even adding straight iron to the water, but have no way of measuring the content, so quit that first, then quit the flourish treatment also.

There's still algae that grows on the gravel substrate, and it's still on some of the plants, but I think I'm starting to get it under control. I've also noticed some new algae that grows on the glass, which I haven't had before, but it's a hell of a lot better than it growing on my plants. At least I can wipe this stuff off, and it's very minimal. I'm probably going to try dipping some of them in a bleach solution to clean them up in the next week or two.

So you can get algae problems under control. It just takes some experimenting and time. But be patient, as I'm finding it can be controlled.

I did see some "algae busting discs" at the store this weekend. I'm kind of scared of putting them in my tank. Don't know what they'll do to everything else. Don't like adding things in like that, and I haven't put so much as a drop of meds in this tank, my only tank. No problems with diseases or anything yet, cross my fingers. But does anyone have any experience with these "algae busters?" And how well do they work?

Thanks for all the info everyone. Been a great resource, and escape from real work here at the office.
 

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