Can some algae be good for your tank?

JosephMCorbett

JosephMCorbett

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Feb 7, 2005
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Northern California
Correct me if I'm wrong. Nitrates are the end result of the nitrification process which have to be removed with water changes. Live plants use nitrates and co2 and produce oxygen. Would it not be fair to say that algae (a plant) would be good in that it uses some nitrates, produces some oxygen, and allows grazing from herbivors?

Joe
 
Algae is beneficial in many regards; so long as it isn't the invasive type that gets all over your plants and you are okay with its aesthetics. I've seen some aquatic gardners that will cultivate it, actually, on a piece of driftwood or a rock, and it looks quite nice. Most people simply dislikae algae for one reason or another. I only use an algae scraper on the front and sides of my glass, letting the back get a little "dirty" because I have mollies and they love picking at it.
 
I don't think it does enough to matter. I have no scientific knowlege to back that up. I know that large plants help a little in cycling. It probably benefits your fish more. I have a molly and loach that pick at it. I have been told that my killiefish probably appreciate it as well. There are different kinds though. I just got over an algae bloom, and it sucked!! The spotty stuff on the glass the fish don't eat. Diatomic stuff has no benefit.

http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

Lisa
 
Raskolnikov said:
I'd love to get some green hair or beard algae in some of my tanks, but all that turns up is the occaisonal spot of brown algae.
Click to expand...

You can have some of my hair algae :D Why on earth would you want hair or beard algae? Both are ugly and can be hard to eliminate.

I'm starting an "algae farm" on my windowsill. Hopefully I'll be able to get a nice coating on the rocks so I can drop them in for my otos. I wish I could find a way to continuously grow diatoms - I have tried without success so far.

Some algae doesn't hurt, and can be beneficial to some fish and inverts. The next tank I set up will be put right next to a window so I can grow as much algae as possible in it. It's going to be a zebra oto and shrimp tank.
 
hmmm- intriguing idea... a windowsill algae farm.

I think I might try that for my bristlenose... put a little tank water in there from a water change, some rocks... then drop em in by the front.

You learn some really great things on this forum, just from reading random threads.
 
i like growing algae on rocks to put into my tanks. i can never get my indoor tanks to get algae though i even tired not changing the water for a long time while the tank was in front of a window all day. i just dont ever get any, probably my tanks are too understocked. my pond grew a bunch of hair algae and it helps a lot to help keep it clean. it was atleast 2 feet long and the fish would go into it like an anenome.
 
My tank sits near a window in the bedroom. It was the only place I could put it when I got it. It gets some late afternoon sun that filters through the window and into about 1/3 of the tank. So I do grow some different types of algae in the tank. Looks like some hair algae, your typical brown algae, some blooms (probably due to nitrates), green algae on the tank front/back/sides which my Pleco does a pretty good job with. Some of my lava rocks are just covered with hair like algae. My plants get covered in it and the fish pick on it or when it gets bad enough I'll clean them. Overall the algae doesn't bother me and I figure that some of it is there from nitrates in the water and it is therefore using up some of those nitrates.
 
I actually like the algae in my tank - mostly. I leave one side wall unscraped. I have every green and black algae imaginable I think. The only one I really can't stand is the black hair algae. :mad2 It grows onto the plants, and short of removing the leaf there is no way to keep it from taking over the plant eventually. It ruins the fine leafed plants - just think of Jaylo with squiggly long black hairs growing out of her chest - too graphic? :thud: :laugh:
 
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