mellowvision
Seafood Lover
I am amazed by how much algae 6 amanos has eaten in less than a week. They really put my otos to shame.
Hair algae question
- Thread starter FishyMatty
- Start date
I had tanks with 5wpg before, told myself I'll never do that again. Too much work trimming and trying to keep the nutrients balanced, green spot algae everywhere too. What plants are you growing that you think you need that much light for?
Cutting back to 3-4wpg will slow down the algae growth considerably and almost all plants will grow well under that amount of light and dosing scheme.
Cutting back to 3-4wpg will slow down the algae growth considerably and almost all plants will grow well under that amount of light and dosing scheme.
So where'd ya get 'em? I've seen them posted on Aquabid every couple of weeks, but I've got so many Cherry shrimp that it hasn't been a priority.
I started dropping clumps of algae in my shrimp tank to watch them gobblie it up. At first I was afraid I'd jumpstart something I didn't want to deal with, then I realized it wouldn't stand a chance anyway if it doesn't have a foothold. I just wish I could put cherries in with my dwarf puffer, that tank needs a little cleanin'.
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Got this blurb regarding Hair Algae from some other forum that shall remain nameless. It would be nice if it was that simple.
Hair Algae
Very common on plants and rocks. Can be many different colors but is usually green or greyish. They are long thin strands sometimes growing 3-4 inches long. Normally due to overdosing of liquid fertilizers, especially ones high in iron and phosphates.
Getting rid of it
Just reduce the amount and frequency or completely erradicate adding any fertilizers to stop it from growing or add more potassium so the plants will use the phosphates quicker. It is easy to pull off so you can just pull it off until you get rid of it.
Hair Algae
Very common on plants and rocks. Can be many different colors but is usually green or greyish. They are long thin strands sometimes growing 3-4 inches long. Normally due to overdosing of liquid fertilizers, especially ones high in iron and phosphates.
Getting rid of it
Just reduce the amount and frequency or completely erradicate adding any fertilizers to stop it from growing or add more potassium so the plants will use the phosphates quicker. It is easy to pull off so you can just pull it off until you get rid of it.
I don't really want to think about buying any new lights but what if i just cut my photo period down to 6-8hr/day.
The green spot algae is annoying but I don't mind the trimming. It gives me the ability to make the tank look exactly the way I want it to.
As for plants I have hair grass, HC, HM, Glosso, Rottalla and the giant weed know as jungle vals.
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
the amanos are currently tearing through my hair algae farm, a big rock in the back. they are really thorough, even climbing in rapid water to get the bluegreen skin of algae on the driftwood.
I got them at a local fish store, in Brooklyn, on the border of China Town and Bay Ridge. They were a $1.50, 50 cents less than the cherries. They weren't even labeled, I saw them and was psyched.
I think the otos have given up. they spend most of their time eating off the glass, hiding near the filter intake, and hanging upside down from the driftwood. I think there is too little open space for them, I plan on putting them in the 10 gallon I am setting up, I hope they like that.
I got them at a local fish store, in Brooklyn, on the border of China Town and Bay Ridge. They were a $1.50, 50 cents less than the cherries. They weren't even labeled, I saw them and was psyched.
I think the otos have given up. they spend most of their time eating off the glass, hiding near the filter intake, and hanging upside down from the driftwood. I think there is too little open space for them, I plan on putting them in the 10 gallon I am setting up, I hope they like that.
If you want to reduce your WPG a little and combat algae at the same time (increase growth of good plants) add some floating plants like Frogbit or Salvinia.
I still have not seen any evidence that reducing the duration of photo period is beneficial to fighting algae. Unless of course you have them on 24hrs/day. Algae will still grow on only a few hours of light a day, likely better than your plants.
I still have not seen any evidence that reducing the duration of photo period is beneficial to fighting algae. Unless of course you have them on 24hrs/day. Algae will still grow on only a few hours of light a day, likely better than your plants.
Out of all the plants you listed the glosso and rotala (if it's macrandra) are the most light demanding and they will grow fine in 3wpg.
Going to an 8hr light period isn't a bad idea, plants will do fine with just 8hrs and you save a few pennies in the electricity bill. Still won't solve the high light problem though.
What's your light fixture like? How many bulbs? Is it possible to run without a bulb or two?
Shading with floaters is a good idea, just know that those floaters will grow extremely fast and you'll be removing them on a weekly basis. Daily if it's duckweed.
Going to an 8hr light period isn't a bad idea, plants will do fine with just 8hrs and you save a few pennies in the electricity bill. Still won't solve the high light problem though.
What's your light fixture like? How many bulbs? Is it possible to run without a bulb or two?
Shading with floaters is a good idea, just know that those floaters will grow extremely fast and you'll be removing them on a weekly basis. Daily if it's duckweed.
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
Yeah, I'm off the duckweed advocacy bandwagon. I'm really embarassed to say, but it turns out what I thought was duckweed is actually Salvinia Minima. The LFS clerk put some floaters in my bag for free when I asked if they knew where to find it a number of moons ago. She put in some real duckweed, and somehow some Salvinia too apparently. This whole time I thought there were two stages of Duckweed growth. I finally figured it out this past weekend and realized that it's the Salvinia that I like and is relatively easy to manage, the duckweed is a royal pain in the @$$. I've spent a few hours of the last few days trying to remove all the duckweed without pulling too much of the Salvinia from most of my tanks. The good news is that I can dump the duckweed in my half-barrel pond outside and my planted goldfish tank as the goldfish gobble duckweed up like it's their job.
Augh, I hope I'm not the only one that has made that mistake.
