Brackish Algae

[justinp]

Ive had Brackish Tanks now for about two years and have always just cleaned the algae with a magnet or sponge, ect. but I was wondering if anyone knew of any Brackish Fish that will eat algae besides mollies... I dont think there are any true Brackish Algae eaters but what do you guys do??? Ive also heard of products you can use to get rid of algae but have never trusted them...Has anyone used these? Do they affect water quality? And which ones have you used? Thanks.

 

[kanzaris]

Ive had Brackish Tanks now for about two years and have always just cleaned the algae with a magnet or sponge, ect. but I was wondering if anyone knew of any Brackish Fish that will eat algae besides mollies... I dont think there are any true Brackish Algae eaters but what do you guys do??? Ive also heard of products you can use to get rid of algae but have never trusted them...Has anyone used these? Do they affect water quality? And which ones have you used? Thanks.

Hi Brackman

It helped when I put some java fern in the tank. But otherwise I use the same magnet or sponge.

Sabby

 

[nmonks]

What salinity are you operating at?

Possible options include Florida flagfish and certain loricariid catfish in SG 1.003 or so aquaria. You need to be very careful with the loricariid catfish, only a few occur in brackish water. One is Hypostomus plecostomus (very common in brackish water rivers in Florida nowadays) but this species is sadly not traded much. There are a few others, Hypostomus watwata and Hypostomus ventromaculatus for example, but these are pretty rare. The later occurs almost exclusively in brackish water.

Most other loricariids will not prosper in brackish water and will likely be stressed by it, perhaps killed, even at low salinities.

Higher up the salinity scale, I'd be looking at shrimps (pretty much any of the algae shrimps, even Amano shrimps) and nerite snails. Nerites are very tolerant of brackish water, and in fact the most commonly traded species probably do much better in brackish than fresh. They don't breed rampantly so population explosions are not an issue.

Violet gobies eat algae, though they are quite large. Scats devour hair algae.

Plants remain the best bet for total algae control, but you need to pick your species with care. There are some that will even go to half strength sea water, such as Samolus valerandi, but that species at least is very difficult to care for (needs lots of light).

Cheers,

Neale

 

[justinp]

What salinity are you operating at?

Possible options include Florida flagfish and certain loricariid catfish in SG 1.003 or so aquaria. You need to be very careful with the loricariid catfish, only a few occur in brackish water. One is Hypostomus plecostomus (very common in brackish water rivers in Florida nowadays) but this species is sadly not traded much. There are a few others, Hypostomus watwata and Hypostomus ventromaculatus for example, but these are pretty rare. The later occurs almost exclusively in brackish water.

Most other loricariids will not prosper in brackish water and will likely be stressed by it, perhaps killed, even at low salinities.

Higher up the salinity scale, I'd be looking at shrimps (pretty much any of the algae shrimps, even Amano shrimps) and nerite snails. Nerites are very tolerant of brackish water, and in fact the most commonly traded species probably do much better in brackish than fresh. They don't breed rampantly so population explosions are not an issue.

Violet gobies eat algae, though they are quite large. Scats devour hair algae.

Plants remain the best bet for total algae control, but you need to pick your species with care. There are some that will even go to half strength sea water, such as Samolus valerandi, but that species at least is very difficult to care for (needs lots of light).

Cheers,

Neale

Yeah Ive tried plants in the past but in my mono sebae tank the sg is 1.012 as they are now a few years old and getting quite large.

 

[nmonks]

Then you're out of luck. One option (and you may have thought of this already) is simply to up the salinity to 1.018, and then grow Caulerpa and other macro algae. While they don't do exactly what flowering plants do in terms of supressing algal growth, they will at least remove the nitrates and phosphates very quickly.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[justinp]

Then you're out of luck. One option (and you may have thought of this already) is simply to up the salinity to 1.018, and then grow Caulerpa and other macro algae. While they don't do exactly what flowering plants do in terms of supressing algal growth, they will at least remove the nitrates and phosphates very quickly.

Cheers,

Neale

I have thought of this, but I am raising the Salinity slowly as my Monos age. About .001 every two months. Is it true they should live in full marine conditions as adults?

 

[nmonks]

No, it's not precisely true.

In the wild, monos migrate in and out of estuaries, so the "perfect" condition for them would be a tank where the salinity went up and down once or twice a day. This is obviously not possible because of the filter bacteria, hence you need to run the tank at a single salinity. Provided the pH and hardness are high, any salinity around 1.010 or more is acceptable. Marine conditions work admirably, but they aren't essential by any means. The London Aquarium, for example, has monos in a marine tank and monos in a brackish water tank, and both do well. My own experience goes along with this.

Cheers,

Neale

I have thought of this, but I am raising the Salinity slowly as my Monos age. About .001 every two months. Is it true they should live in full marine conditions as adults?

 

[CFC]

The sleaper goby Dorminator maculatus will rasp algea from the glass as a supplement of its diet and is happy right up to full strength seawater, they dont quite do the same job as a true herbivor but it certainly intresting to watch them mouthing the glass.

 

[Dave Legacy]

I'm thinking a refugium will help out quite a bit. You'll probably need to up the SG though. Chaeto or Caulerpa with 24hr lighting would be excellent.

 

[hebegebe]

Also you can try running your tank with no lights for a few days to a week or two, and that will help slow the growth...or try using a shorter lighting period which may help reduce the algaes..and try to make sure no ambiet light is entering the tank also.