barley for algae?

247Plants said:
My guess is there is a reason it isnt commonly used in home aquaria.

Why not fix the root of the problem instead of looking for a bandaid? For every algae out there, there is a way to beat it and keep it at bay.

Here is a good read on it at the Barr Report. http://www.barrreport.com/articles/1451-barley-straw-research-review-article.html
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yeah their must be a reason, maybe it simply doesnt work in aquariums for some reason, i doubt it is harmful.

no need to get to the root of the problem just yet, tank wont exist for another month or so :)
it was just something i was thinking about :grinyes:
 
the only experimenting im doing with barley will include hops and fermenting. i'll let you know how it goes.
 
thanks 247... that changed my mind. i say my driftwood is good enough now.
 
You can see the comments made in the Algone threads here also.

This stuff has been around for dozen or more years, but few bothered with it.
I made fermented BS, I tried all sorts of barley straw mixes and types, raw, etc.

Never got any responses.

My advice is to focus on growing plants and use the old saying: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound or in this case,a bale of hay.

I do lake management and ponds as well, I never tell folks to put rotting bales of hay in their ponds.............:silly:

I tell them to add floating aquatic plants at about 30-50% coverage and mulch the excess growth, do not allow more than 50%(reduces O2 exchange). This has works in every case.
No algae, clear water etc. Needs done around the last 1-2 or March, April or so is when the algae starts.

If I add 1-2 plants in a 20 Gal tank, that's not much, if I add 100, then we are talking. Same thing in a pond/lake.

But there's a big difference when the lake is 5 acres and you have to remove 2 tons of Hyacinth.......so there's some trade offs and plant choices to be made. But for smaller ponds that folks have, this is not much work, a few pitch forks in the compost and you are done once a month.

Flowers and plants look much nicer than Bales of Rot:thm:
Better for fish also, and give the space for many other critters that keep the water clean a good home, keeps pond cooler, removes waste, increases evaporation(good and bad, better than a water change, but means you have to refill the sucker).

Stick with 50% coverage, and the focus is much easier.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 
thanks plantbrain :)

i was plannng on 13 plants for a 29 gallon, does this amount sound about right?
yeah i agree about the ugly bales lol..ive never used the bales tho, ive only used just the bottled extract
 
SquirrelOsO said:
thanks plantbrain :)

i was plannng on 13 plants for a 29 gallon, does this amount sound about right?
yeah i agree about the ugly bales lol..ive never used the bales tho, ive only used just the bottled extract
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Extract does not do anything.
Might as well add H2O2, much cheaper.

Focus on plants and growth, their needs, ignore the algae cure alls.
Been at it for many decades now, I'm not going to sell you anything or steer folks wrong on this.

No reason to.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
plantbrain said:
Extract does not do anything.
Might as well add H2O2, much cheaper.

Focus on plants and growth, their needs, ignore the algae cure alls.
Been at it for many decades now, I'm not going to sell you anything or steer folks wrong on this.

No reason to.

Regards,
Tom Barr
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the algae extract did work for my pond, so i disagree with that.
i did also dose with hydrogen peroxide which worked quicker but it bleached equipment and left a brown crust so i stopped using it.
what works better than anything is algaefix, instant cure all lol, but its dangerous. and you have to realize algae in a pond is kinda inevitable...in the aquarium its easier to prevent and control
my pond has a bottom drain now and it seems to help alot more than when i didnt have one, even with my 80 watt UV, string algae is still possible so im always on the look out for the first signs :)
 
SquirrelOsO said:
the algae extract did work for my pond, so i disagree with that.
i did also dose with hydrogen peroxide which worked quicker but it bleached equipment and left a brown crust so i stopped using it.
what works better than anything is algaefix, instant cure all lol, but its dangerous. and you have to realize algae in a pond is kinda inevitable...in the aquarium its easier to prevent and control
my pond has a bottom drain now and it seems to help alot more than when i didnt have one, even with my 80 watt UV, string algae is still possible so im always on the look out for the first signs :)
Click to expand...

I've seen ponds go from green to clear without adding anything also.
So was it due to the extract? Who knows, unless there's some control or independence, you cannot say.

If it's a surface algae that coats things, try percarbonate, toss it on and it will sink and fry any algae off the rock etc.
Basically dry H2O2.

No no no! Pond algae is not always a sure thing.
I've been helping folks do this for decades without anything other than plants. Good flow(prevention of stratification) is very helpful.
UV's are fine, but I have never needed one for a pond.
Just 30-50% coverage with plants. Clear water, no algae.
Same approach for planted tanks works as well.

Every pond/lake I've worked on has no algae issues, not just for a few weeks etc, but for the life then on.
The trade off is that the plants need culled and pruned back once every 1-2 months during the warmer growth season so they do not take over the entire pond.

Very easy to care for if you have 1000-10,000 gal pond.
Also helps save koi/goldfish etc from birds etc since the fish can hide under the plants, having a few lilies is often what I see, which offers little cover and hardly any export. Plants block the light, which also cools the water, and blocks the light that algae use to grow really fast.

This is a very well known and researched results based on Florida lakes(7800 are 4 hectares or larger) of which are very similar to many planted ponds.

The lakes are clear where there is 30-50% coverage.
Several researchers looked at Barley also, in the USA few found results in controlled studies they did. In the UK, they had more positive results.
But there is no consensus amongst the research by any stretch.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
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