Plants to Outcompete Algae

[FranM]

Hello.

Realistically, how many floating plants would I need to outcompete the brown diatoms which are thriving in my aquarium? I have 1 ppm of phosphate in my tap so of course it doubles plus in my tank. The tank is five years established. I don’t feel regular plants are for me and also, I have a silver dollar. Im serious. Am I looking at way too many floating plants to outcompete diatoms? Or do I have a fighting chance? I can’t stand the diatoms. Suggestions please? I’ve cleaned the fake plants to bright green. Within a week the diatoms come back. The tank is 120 gallons but it’s not long. 4’ x 4’ x 2’.

Thank you!

 

[Sgooosh]

Hello.

Realistically, how many floating plants would I need to outcompete the brown diatoms which are thriving in my aquarium? I have 1 ppm of phosphate in my tap so of course it doubles plus in my tank. The tank is five years established. I don’t feel regular plants are for me and also, I have a silver dollar. Im serious. Am I looking at way too many floating plants to outcompete diatoms? Or do I have a fighting chance? I can’t stand the diatoms. Suggestions please? I’ve cleaned the fake plants to bright green. Within a week the diatoms come back. The tank is 120 gallons but it’s not long. 4’ x 4’ x 2’.

Thank you!

duckweed, water lettuce, water hyacinth, and frogbit are all very invasive plants that will outcompete diatoms.
and make sure to clean the tank more often, as dirty tanks correspond to more diatoms

 

[FranM]

That really doesn’t answer my question. I know the types of plants that work best. 10 of each? 50 of each? How many would I need make a difference?

 

[Wills]

With Silver Dollars any plants are going to be tough to get going. I wouldnt normally suggest duckweed if you dont specifically want it but it might be a good candidate here - I'm not sure how much it would do though - have you tried any stems in there like hornwort or anacharis?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

You could try a phosphate remover pad in your filter? I've never used them but I haven't found any information on whether they're bad for your fish in the long term...maybe someone else could expand with their experience.

 

[FranM]

With Silver Dollars any plants are going to be tough to get going. I wouldnt normally suggest duckweed if you dont specifically want it but it might be a good candidate here - I'm not sure how much it would do though - have you tried any stems in there like hornwort or anacharis?

Hello. Thank you. I haven’t tried anything yet—no real plants of any kind.

 

[FranM]

You could try a phosphate remover pad in your filter? I've never used them but I haven't found any information on whether they're bad for your fish in the long term...maybe someone else could expand with their experience.

I have two canister filters that are a pain to maintain. I have tried Phosguard but the media needs to get changed often. More times than I’m willing to undo two canisters.

 

[Wills]

Hello. Thank you. I haven’t tried anything yet—no real plants of any kind.

How many dollars do you have and do you have any other plant eaters?

I'd be tempted to try something as weed like as Hornwort weighted down. If that works you could maybe try some other fast growing stems like Anacharis or Limnophilla Sessiflora but there is a chance they dont last a night haha! I had really good luck with Hygrophilla Siamensis 53b with a Severum and a load of Annostomus (plant eaters) once but couldnt replicate it again.

Wills

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

You're in a bit of a pickle here ordinarily we'd be recommending more water changes and more plants! Tricky one to solve would dropping your light intensity work?

 

[sharkweek178]

Hello.

Realistically, how many floating plants would I need to outcompete the brown diatoms which are thriving in my aquarium? I have 1 ppm of phosphate in my tap so of course it doubles plus in my tank. The tank is five years established. I don’t feel regular plants are for me and also, I have a silver dollar. Im serious. Am I looking at way too many floating plants to outcompete diatoms? Or do I have a fighting chance? I can’t stand the diatoms. Suggestions please? I’ve cleaned the fake plants to bright green. Within a week the diatoms come back. The tank is 120 gallons but it’s not long. 4’ x 4’ x 2’.

Thank you!

I've found that the best solution to fighting diatoms is cutting the duration and/or intensity of the tank lighting.

 

[Byron]

Phosphate is likely not the issue. Diana Walstad writes that her aquaria have phosphate in the 1 to 5 mg/l range, and she has no algae issues.

Diatoms occur in new tanks because the biological system is still in flux, but that should not be the case after five years, though it is always possible that this is an issue depending upon everything that contributes.

 

[FranM]

I’ll have to look up her article.

 

[Sgooosh]

O

That really doesn’t answer my question. I know the types of plants that work best. 10 of each? 50 of each? How many would I need make a difference?

sorry about that, i was half asleep when i read that haha
The floaters outcompeted diatoms after they covered the whole tank and matted. If you test params, there will be 0 nitrate. That’s at least worked for me

 

[Byron]

I’ll have to look up her article.

If you are referring to my comment from Diana Walstad, this is in her book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, on page 160, she is in this section discussing phosphate removal and other so-called algae inhibitors.

 

[FranM]

O


sorry about that, i was half asleep when i read that haha
The floaters outcompeted diatoms after they covered the whole tank and matted. If you test params, there will be 0 nitrate. That’s at least worked for me

So you’re saying the entire surface needs to be covered? How about 100 floating plants? There’s no way I’m going to allow the entire surface to be covered. 50 plants to start? Is there any way to really know?