Do Algae-eaters 'produce' More Algae Than They Consume?

[A creature void of form]

Do algae-eaters 'produce' more algae than they consume?

I'm sure there are variables, but in general is it worth putting an algae-eating fish in my tank specifically to reduce algae, or will the fish's waste counteract this?

Plant Questions

How do I fertilise my plants? Any recommended products?

As a novice, do I need to worry about CO2?

When is a good time to add my plants? At the end of the cycling period perhaps?



Also, this may be of use to some people. I found it in the planted forum section, and thought it was a great idea:

A relatively new concept in lighting is to have a gap or �siesta� in the photoperiod. Plants can apparently adapt to a small dark period whereas algae is not so adaptable. Recommended siesta periods can be from 1 hour to 4 hours with a minimum of 4 hours of lighting either side of the siesta. This is a popular method of limiting algae growth and personally of have had great success with it and still run my lighting with a 2 hour siesta, with 5 hours of lighting either side (5 on, 2 off, 5 on). I can assume that the plants recognise that there is 12 hours of light even though the tank actually illuminated for 10 hours.

Timers are a very effective and convenient method of controlling photoperiods. One can set the timer to switch off at a time most suitable to the viewer. Personally my lights switch off just before my �bed time�.

 

[Underwurlde]

Do algae-eaters 'produce' more algae than they consume?

I'm sure there are variables, but in general is it worth putting an algae-eating fish in my tank specifically to reduce algae, or will the fish's waste counteract this?

I do not think that adding fish to specifically reduce algae is a good idea – the increased bio-load will induce more algae (due to increased nutrients as a result of fish waste in the water). Secondly, when adding algae busting fish, they will in the short term hoover up the algae they like to eat – one must bear in mind however that as the ‘good’ algae is eaten up this leaves the door open for other less desirable algae such as Black Fur Algae (only SAE’s eat) & BGA, and no fish I know of will eat that stuff!

How do I fertilise my plants? Any recommended products?

You can use a good substrate (highly recommended with plants) such as AquaSoil, EcoComplete or Tropica.

You can dose the water column directly using commercial products such as SeaChem / Tropcia etc products, or even better & cheaper, by the dry ferts yourself and put that in the water.

As a novice, do I need to worry about CO2?

If you can afford it, get it. It will make things considerably ‘easy’ for you. Go for pressurized if you can and use a Rhinox Diffuser, placed in a high flow area / next to filter intake, on all the time.

When is a good time to add my plants? At the end of the cycling period perhaps?

Whenever, it does not matter. If you are in the middle of a cycling process, wait for the cycling to complete if I were you.

Also, this may be of use to some people. I found it in the planted forum section, and thought it was a great idea:

Siestas, as far as I am aware have no impact that I am aware of on algae – if someone thinks there is, please point me to the evidence.

Planted tank keepers infact tend to do the opposite in an attempt to emulate natural sunlight and hence have a brighter period in the middle of the day, thus simulating dawn and dusk periods. Siestas make no sense to me what so ever (and yes, I have tried them).

 

[rdd1952]

As far as the amount of waste an AE produces, it really depends in the AE you have. An amano shrimp for instance adds almost nothing to the bio-load while a pleco is a pooping machine. Even at that, I don't think the waste of a pleco is really a major factor in the production of more algae. The nitrate isn't the biggest issue. There are a lot of factors that go into having algae and nitrate is only one of them. Getting an algae eater to clean up algae though isn't the best solution. It is much better to find out what is causing the algae and solve the problem rather than getting a fish or shrimp to clean it up.

There are a lot of ferts out there. I rarely use any as most of my plants are pretty easy to grow. Stem plants such as anacharis, hornwort, java fern, amazon sword, hygrophilia, val grass, etc. don't require a lot of light or nutrients other than what is in the water. For the higher maintenance plants, this pinned topic is good article on ferts. Those that use this method say it is a sure fire way to have lush plants with no algae. CO2 is a bit tricky I think as you have to be careful that you don't raise the level too high at night when the plants aren't producing O2.

I use the siesta method and my tanks are algae free. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it or not but it seemed to help when my tanks were new and had algae. Even if it doesn't help with algae, it works for us as it means the lights are on when we are at home to see the fish rather than during the day when we're at work. My lights are on for 5 hours in the morning (5:30 to 10:30) and 6 in the evening (4 to 10). If I just burned them for 12 straight hours, they would be coming on at 7 in the morning just as we left for work and going off at 7 in the evening, just as we were settling in for the evening.

 

[lukestanislaus]

does that kind of light schedule have any negative effect on the fish? assuming a semi-lit room where the tank doesnt receive much natural sunlight so will be reasonably dark with the lights off??

 

[rdd1952]

The fish will get enough light just from the ambient light in the room. They would much prefer that we never turned the light on at all.

 

[Ilya]

Use shrimp and snails instead. Better yet, buy more plants.

 

[A creature void of form]

All my questions answered in full.

Thanks to everyone who left comments!

8)