ph and algaecides

[akg]

Hi --

Does anyone have any experience with algecides causing Ph levels to rise? Any thoughts or observations would be welcome.

Thanks -
akg

[gaday]

Algecides are usually balanced and don't alter the ph that much. you need to find out why you have the algae in the first place. Too much/ too little light, water movement, are you using fertilizer?

110 gal South American
55 gal planted South American

[Lupin]

Don't bother with algaecides. I agree with Gaday. Find out what exactly is causing the algae growth. Eliminate the cause instead of the effect itself. If algal growth is not rampant, it is not a problem IMO. Algae is part of the ecosystem.

[katschamne]

:iagree: with Lupin 100%.
When people come in and ask me for algaecides or an "algae eater", I ask a bunch of questions to try and get to the bottom of the problem. Most of the time it is one of a few things or a combination of a lot of things. These are some of the questions that I ask. I tell people lets play "20 questions", not really but usually we find the problem. Then ask people to let me know if what they did corrected the problem to let me know.

How long has your tank been running?
How long do you leave your lights on?
How old are your lights?
When was the last time you did a water change?
How are you doing you water change?
How much water do you change?
How often are you feeding your fish and how much?
How many fish do you have in your tank and what type of tank do you have (IE community)?
Is it by a window?
What size is you tank?

There are some that just won't listen and just head for the chemicals because they think it is easier.

[akg]

Hi -

Thanks for your comment. I think I've been keeping my lights on too long. I'll try reducing the time and see what happens.

akg

[katschamne]

Is you don't have live plants 8 hours is all you need them on for. You can also do a black out for a few days and feed your fish very little until the black out is complete.

[akg]

Thanks again for your comments on algae. My problem is really the high Ph. I am thinking that the algaecide is not the cause of my Ph problem, but I'm stumped. I know my well water has high Ph, so when I exchange I use mostly bottled water. But the Ph stays high. I do not have shells or coral - everything in the tank came from the pet store and the folks there agree that the ornaments are not the problem.

At any rate, I last exchanged the water Wed. 4/1, I used 4 gallons of bottled water, less than 1/2 gallon of tap (so that was just shy of a 50% exchange). I did not use the algaecide, nor did I bother with the bacterial suplement or water conditioner. The Ph was still between 7.5 and 8. I have treated with a Ph lowering agent a few times since Wed. and the Ph is now between 7 and 7.5 - slightly better.

This is realy frustrating. Until I figure this out I won't put guppies back in there because they all died. However, my kids really want them and frankly so do I. Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

Thanks again --
Ann