Thanks to what I learned from this forum, the severe hair algae (black beard variety I think) that had been plagueing my 128 planted aquarium for the past several months is completely wiped out. I had tried removing the stuff by hand for awhile, but I couldn't come close to keeping up with it and it just grew back in a matter of days. I was ready to throw in the towel when I went to the local aquarium shop and was told to buy a u.v. sterilizer to get rid of the hair algae. Luckily, I found this forum before I made that purchase. I put out a question about the use of the u.v. sterilizer and one recommendation was to install a CO2 system. I also read about the use of Flourish Excel in eliminating hair algae. I tried the Exel (didn't install the CO2 system) and within less than two weeks the hair algae was completely wiped out! Now my plants are growing like crazy and are covered with lots of fresh, bright green leaves! Then it hit me - I had used Excel for a number of years and had very little algae at all during that time. I had stopped using Excel within the last year after the shop stopped carrying it and it about that time that the hair algae took over. The one freshwater shrimp in the tank died shortly after the first Excel treatment, but I don't mind that if the hair algae is gone! I recently inquired at the aqurium shop about the CO2 system. The shop owner questioned whether it would be effective in eliminating the algae. His answer was blunt - "Algae is a plant and if CO2 is going to make your plants grow, why wouldn't it also encourage the growth of the algae?!" Good question. I'm curious what you think regarding his response - why would a CO2 system eliminate the hair algae? I really appreciate the help this forum provides - your suggestions saved my plant tank!
Flourish Excel wiped out the hair algae!
- Thread starter silversalmon
- Start date
I'm new to all this, so this is just a guess. But with C02, your plants will grow. When they grow, they use the nutrients in the water. With less nutrients in the water, there's not enough for the algae to grow.
Plants use nutrients and Co2 more efficiently than algae. Co2 will boost plant growth and therefore increase their nutrient consumption, leaving less nutrients for algae to consume. Under optimum conditions, plants will out compete algae for resources. It is when there is an imbalance in resources that algae will oportunistically grow.
There is a relatively new theory that suggests most forms of algae require ammonium as a nutrient and cannot use other forms of nitrogen like nitrates while plants can use both. I can increase the nitrate levels in my tank to 40ppm daily with no algae growth, but add a little of common terrestrial fertilizer which usually contains NH4 and algae will start growing.
So you want enough growing plant mass to suck up the NH4 produced by the fishes and CO2 plus lighting is the most important components to plant growth.
So you want enough growing plant mass to suck up the NH4 produced by the fishes and CO2 plus lighting is the most important components to plant growth.
echoofformless
Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
Excel contains polycycloglutaracetal, which is a form of glutaraldehyde. Glutaraldehyde is used to sterilize and disinfect among other things, so it's not really a surprise that polycycloglutaracetal has an biocidal affect on lesser organisms like algae.
After I first dosed my aquarium with Excel, I found the one freshwater shrimp in the tank dead a couple days later. However, the many snails in the tank seem to be doing fine
On a separate note, if the CO2 system encourages plant grow which then reduces the amount of resources available to the algae, is there a similar effect from using Flourish Excel? I've definitely noticed a lot of new plant growth since I starting using the Excel again. I know that the Excel doesn't promote the growth as well as the CO2, but it would seem to me that the Excel induced growth would help reduce the nutrients available to the algae, in addition to the algacidal properties of the Excel.
On a separate note, if the CO2 system encourages plant grow which then reduces the amount of resources available to the algae, is there a similar effect from using Flourish Excel? I've definitely noticed a lot of new plant growth since I starting using the Excel again. I know that the Excel doesn't promote the growth as well as the CO2, but it would seem to me that the Excel induced growth would help reduce the nutrients available to the algae, in addition to the algacidal properties of the Excel.
phanmc said:
Sorry, this is certifiably false. I can prove it because I have grow tanks that have no fish (and thus no ammonium) but still have algae. Algae, like most plants, probably prefers hydrogen bound (NH4) over oxygen bound nitrogen (NO2, NO3) because it is generally easier to metabolize. I know for a fact that it does not require it.
Terrestrial fertilizers contain a cornucopia of highly concentrated mineral nutrients. The algae probably isn't consuming the ammonium so much as taking advantage of the excess nitrates that the plants, most of which also prefer ammonium, are now ignoring, in addition to the excess nutrients in the water column.
silversalmon said:
Absolutely. If the plants have a good source of carbon the plants are going to be more healthy over all. A healthy plant metabolizes more efficiently either storing energy that it doesn't use or diverting that energy to resources such as producing chlorophyll which is going to sustain the plant at peak metabolism according to the amount of light you give it. Algae, which are less efficient, just won't have a chance to 'eat' as it were. This is what it means to 'out compete' the algae.