Algae is back! Options?

[yhbae]

Well, after keeping the level of algae in check for a while (doing manual clean up), I gave up... :(

I didn't clean for just over 2 weeks and the rear glass is basically a carpet of these hair algae. Also, it has spread on the drift wood which I don't want to take out each time to clean up the algae...

I've been shopping around for many LFS and here are my options:

- SAE: Geez, just when I thought I finally found it, they told me it's only for their show tank (which also contains Discus). They don't receive any in stock. I'm still looking.

- Otos: I have two already in 25g, they never touch these algaes. Worse still, they are running out of areas to suck on as the hair algae is dominating more and more over the tank. Believe it or not, I may have to remove them to another tank because of algae is kicking their b*tt!

- Bristlenose Pleco: I found a store that sells a pair for $10CA. Great! Do they eat the hair algae? (Please please someone say "yes"...)

- Amano Shrimps: I found LFS who sells one for $4CA each! So I'm not going to spend $40 on shrimps that I'm not sure if they will survive. I do have Blue Rams in the tank and not sure all I'm doing is feeding some live food for them... These shrimps were under 1 inch long at the store. I've read enough articles that confirm that these guys do eat hair algae if no other food are available in abundance.

I hope either Bristlenose Pleco or Amano Shrimp will do the trick. I started reading "Breeding Amano Shrimp" articles to see if I can replicate a few myself... :D (So far, it appears to be quite hard to breed and raise these critters...)

[valerie]

Well i have all the fish you stated and the only one that has ever eaten any type of hair algae is the SAE. My bristlenose eat mostly the soft green and brown algae. my otos have only really eaten teh brown algae. my amano shrimps are always cleaning but i haven't noticed a difference, there is still hair algae growing in their tank(i have 8 ina 15g). I have 1 SAE in my 58g planted tank and it is the only fish i have actually seen eat hair algaes. They get pretty big fairly quickly, mine is 4"+ in less then a year and doesn't eat as much algae as it did when smaller.

So depending on your tank size and other tankmates i would suggest a few SAE(make sure they are the real ones) if you can find them,they are your best bet. Amano shrimp might work but you will need a huge army of them to actaully see a difference. I think either cherry barbs or rosy barbs also eat hair algae. florida flag fish are another one but can be kind of aggresive.

[Richer]

Before you run off to buy fish to control your algae, lets try to find the root of your problem, and solve the problem from there.

How large is your tank? What sort and how many fish do you have in there? What is your water changing routine and how much water do you change at a time? How do you feed your fish? Any plants? (More questions for you if you have plants).

If we can kill the problem at the root, it will be better for you in the long run. Many algae eating fish cannot solve a problem that has started, they can only help prevent a problem from starting in the first place. However, they are only one part of the entire equation. Good algal bloom prevention starts with good nutrience, and light balance (involves managing your fish load, feedings, water changing, etc.). Try cutting back on your feedings, and reducing the amount of fish you have in your tank by returning them to your fish store (assuming your tank is heavily stocked). Increasing the amount of water you change, or the frequency that you change the water will also help greatly in reducing the amount of nutriences (if your tank is cycled, mainly nitrates) in your tank's water column. Being able to prevent an algal bloom in such a fashion is friendlier to your tank (better water conditions, and no increase on your bio load), and best of all its free.

HTH
-Richer

[Locust]

SAE's are all around your best bet, but that's not news, is it? ;) In my experience, ottos are fantastic at clearing at brown algae... and not much help with any other kind. If you don't want to move them, you can try feeding them vegetables.

For hair algae, I've heard that mollies will devour the stuff as long as you don't feed them.

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

if your algea is growing so fast it could be how long you have the light on or your phosphates are very high water changes is my susgetion

[yhbae]

Thanks for the feedback, guys...

To answer some of the questions, I do have a slightly larger tank at the basement as well. (The tank in question is 25g, the one at the basement is 33g). This one has more lights but MUCH less algae. The feeding patterns are about the same. I don't believe I overfeed them since the flakes go away pretty quickly and besides, I only feed them flakes about 2 - 3 times a week - I circulate different foods for them including live BBS.

I do 1 water change, about 25% every week, gravel vac pretty thoroughly. My live plants mainly consists of java moss and java ferns - there's plenty of them in the community tank and they are all growing very well despite only 20w of light. My nitrate has never gone above 5ppm since setting up the tank. Ammonia and nitrites are 0ppm of course.

My tank currently consists of (for 25g):
- 2 platies (one got hurt by the male so is in the separate tank)
- 4 panda cories (still young)
- 5 harlequin rasboras (only 2 of them are mature)
- 2 otos
- 2 blue rams (both are under 2 inches)

I don't think I am overstocked... (Please correct me if I am wrong).

I think the main problem is the indirect sunlight. The first tank is located at the opposite wall to the windows so no direct sun light but it is pretty bright all day long since the living room windows are huge. Basement hardely gets any natural sunlight - I have to keep lights on even during the day to do any work down there. I can't really rearrange where the tank is since I can't think of a way to re-organize the entire living room accomodating all furnitures...

May be I should adjust the light timer so that it only works during early morning and during the evenings?

[OrionGirl]

I really like having my lights on timers, since it means I can have them come on while I'm not home, and then go off around the time I go to bed. Natural light shouldn't make much of a difference--my FW tanks all get tons of indirect light, and most get some direct light as well. I have about 200 watts of PC on my 40, which gets the most natural light, and no algae problems.

Start looking at your water source. It could be that you have high phosphates, which benefit the algae more than the plants.

I would also consider adding something a little faster growing than java moss and fern. There are crypts that will thrive in low light, and grow quickly. Anubias also does very well for me in the lower light tanks.

[yhbae]

Originally posted by OrionGirl
I really like having my lights on timers, since it means I can have them come on while I'm not home, and then go off around the time I go to bed. Natural light shouldn't make much of a difference--my FW tanks all get tons of indirect light, and most get some direct light as well. I have about 200 watts of PC on my 40, which gets the most natural light, and no algae problems.

Start looking at your water source. It could be that you have high phosphates, which benefit the algae more than the plants.

I would also consider adding something a little faster growing than java moss and fern. There are crypts that will thrive in low light, and grow quickly. Anubias also does very well for me in the lower light tanks.

Sounds like a good advise! Thanks for confirming that the sun light is not the cause of the algae - at least I can eliminate that one out of the equation...

How do you test for phosphates? I don't recall seeing one at the LFS...

I'll look into crypts... If it grows even faster than java moss, I'll definitely invest into crypts as I need more of these type of plants for live bearer fries... :D I do have to admit though during the past few months, java moss at least multipled by factor of 5 or 6 - I used to have one ball of 6 inches. Right now every tank has a ball of size 10 inches - all came from the same original. Even java ferns grew better than I expected - I can't even see the bed of rocks that I attached them to - hundreds of leaves which started off as at most about 20 leaves few months ago...

[yhbae]

Originally posted by OrionGirl
I really like having my lights on timers, since it means I can have them come on while I'm not home, and then go off around the time I go to bed. Natural light shouldn't make much of a difference--my FW tanks all get tons of indirect light, and most get some direct light as well. I have about 200 watts of PC on my 40, which gets the most natural light, and no algae problems.

Start looking at your water source. It could be that you have high phosphates, which benefit the algae more than the plants.

I would also consider adding something a little faster growing than java moss and fern. There are crypts that will thrive in low light, and grow quickly. Anubias also does very well for me in the lower light tanks.

I just went to couple of web sites and read up on the crypts. Although some can survive under low light condition, all of them seems to need "rich" substrate. Mine is a simple pea sized gravel - I doubt crypts will survive in this environment. Do you know of any other plants that can survive under low lights and does not require any specific substrates? So far, I've only found java moss and java fern...

Appreciate any feedback!

[OrionGirl]

If you are willing to fertilize with spikes (search in the plant forum--Jobes are commonly used) this will make up for the lack of a 'good' substrate for crypts. I have huge crypts that are in sand--no nutrients there--but I fertilize about once a month.

Otherwise, anubias will do well on rocks and wood, but not planted...And of course, floating plants like duckweed are fantastic for nutrient export--I have tanks where I remove them by the cupful.