Algae Questions

[Signus]

Until I added the sag grass to my tank, I only really had a problem with long green tufts of algae growing on my Temple plant leaves. It clung pretty tenaciously, but did not seem to affect growth.

A week after the grass was added; I noticed a red algae growth on all of the plants. This continued to get worse with the other, green colored algae till it threatened to start taking over the tank. Last weekend I did an immediate pruning of all of the red/black colored algae and tried to give the plants more light by keeping the windows open longer. I only have a 20" bulb.

If I were to increase the wpg from the .8 to 4.0, would this remedy all of my problems? I use Floriplan fertilizer to supplement the lack of specialized substrate.

I can set up pictures here if you need them. Are there any sites that would be good for posting the pictures on?

[Indigo]

The only algae that does better in lower light is brown algae (it loves my tank with .8 WPG)

The Skeptical Aquarist has a bunch of good articles on the matter here: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/algae/algpref.shtml

My n00b hunch is that at .8WPG ferts won't help much besides giving algae more nutrients to work with. Anyway, I hope that helps a little, and wait for the pros to weigh in. :)

[Signus]

LOL alright. I have managed to give the tank sunlight from my southern facing window. The plants grow and pearl like crazy during those weeks! Of course, the bga also decides to cover the walls.

I lost my otto cats to some drunks last weekend, so I need to get more.("OOO, look! You have fish! Let's get them drunk!" -Gotta love college people when they're ineibriated! :rant: )

The tank is only 10 gallons, so maybe the best control for algae would be to use shrimp. I tried using an SAE and killed it due to a malfunctioning heater. I don't know when the pet store will get more in.

The red algae I'm speaking of looks like it comes from individual hairs that are very twisty and irregular.

[djlen]

Check the algae stickies at the top of the page for pics, so you can definitely ID the types of algae you've got.
It's tough to help without exact IDs.

Len

[Signus]

Going by the pictures I guess I have spot, fuzz, beard, and brush algae. Oh joy!