i just read the "Giving up!" thread by Cathy G and various posts about algae in planted tank.
It seems every planted tank owner is scared to death about algae. I really dont get it... My plants are in the mail as we speak, so want to understand this better before i start my first planted tank.
Why is algae such a big deal? cant you just get some shrimp or oto and eat the algae? how are those algaes different than normal fish only tank algae? Why do those algaes only appear in planted tank and not regular fish tanks? is it because of the higher wpg light?
In term of prevention, i read if i start the tank off with some high growth stem plant, then algae wont occur. So following that advise, i ordered about 6 big stem of hornwort. Are there anything else i should watch out for to prevent algae?
My plan is not to have any fish in the tank for a while, just plants and some cherry red shrimp. Leave the light (2 WPG) on for about 10 hrs a day, and dose flourish + flouish excel every other day.
Guess my main question is why cant you just put in some oto/shrimp/snail and let them eat all the algae in like a day, and why do those bad algae only occur in planted tanks.
:help:
It seems every planted tank owner is scared to death about algae. I really dont get it... My plants are in the mail as we speak, so want to understand this better before i start my first planted tank.
Why is algae such a big deal? cant you just get some shrimp or oto and eat the algae? how are those algaes different than normal fish only tank algae? Why do those algaes only appear in planted tank and not regular fish tanks? is it because of the higher wpg light?
In term of prevention, i read if i start the tank off with some high growth stem plant, then algae wont occur. So following that advise, i ordered about 6 big stem of hornwort. Are there anything else i should watch out for to prevent algae?
My plan is not to have any fish in the tank for a while, just plants and some cherry red shrimp. Leave the light (2 WPG) on for about 10 hrs a day, and dose flourish + flouish excel every other day.
Guess my main question is why cant you just put in some oto/shrimp/snail and let them eat all the algae in like a day, and why do those bad algae only occur in planted tanks.
:help: