Hair Algae AGAIN??
- Thread starter Pudge
- Start date
Actually it is my amanos eating both types of algaes.
I've now been observing barbs for 2 days and making conclusion that I don't think they are that great in terms of eating algae. I see them pull some hair algae off but they are not actively looking for them. And I fed nothing during the last two days in the tank. I finally gave in and just fed them decent food (NLS pellets). The whole tank went crazy.
Amanos on the other hand, are really good with algaes. They managed to remove most of the pesky hair algae berried inside Java Moss. I switched with another Java Moss bunch from the main tank and they are at it again. They also ate BBA on Java Ferns that I have placed in the shrimp tank. They don't eat clean but I would say they ate about 70% of them. Its amazing that they find these new plants within seconds after placing them in the tank. This Java Fern is only like 1 inch tall and within 1 min, two of them are on it already.
After 2.5 days, I finally fed shrimps some real food too. I fed them 1mm NLS pelletes. They found those 10 grains or so I dropped in the tank within seconds and ran away with them... Looking at them, I think next time I am going to feed them the growth pelletes - 1mm pelletes look like water melons on them.
Now that I spoiled their diet, it will be interesting to see if they continue to eat algae... haha.
I've now been observing barbs for 2 days and making conclusion that I don't think they are that great in terms of eating algae. I see them pull some hair algae off but they are not actively looking for them. And I fed nothing during the last two days in the tank. I finally gave in and just fed them decent food (NLS pellets). The whole tank went crazy.
Amanos on the other hand, are really good with algaes. They managed to remove most of the pesky hair algae berried inside Java Moss. I switched with another Java Moss bunch from the main tank and they are at it again. They also ate BBA on Java Ferns that I have placed in the shrimp tank. They don't eat clean but I would say they ate about 70% of them. Its amazing that they find these new plants within seconds after placing them in the tank. This Java Fern is only like 1 inch tall and within 1 min, two of them are on it already.
After 2.5 days, I finally fed shrimps some real food too. I fed them 1mm NLS pelletes. They found those 10 grains or so I dropped in the tank within seconds and ran away with them... Looking at them, I think next time I am going to feed them the growth pelletes - 1mm pelletes look like water melons on them.
Now that I spoiled their diet, it will be interesting to see if they continue to eat algae... haha.
Oh by the way, I also switched the light to 1.5wpg... Now I don't see ANY hair algae forming on the rear glass. I used to have to clean it every 2 days or so because they seed and settle in that glass but it looked really clean now after 2.5 days.
The moral of the story, I think, is if you don't have high light plants, weaker light is the best thing you can do to control algae... And sell all fishes that could eat your amano and buy some of those.
The moral of the story, I think, is if you don't have high light plants, weaker light is the best thing you can do to control algae... And sell all fishes that could eat your amano and buy some of those.
Amanos have no problem going back to algae after eating NLS pellets. After eating couple of those grains they searched for more but after few hours they went back to algae again. I think switching between algae and these pellets will work ok.
I've added 4 more now.
I've added 4 more now.
I would say the best tools I have found for algae is fast growing plants, keep water flowing everywhere in the tank and make sure the phosphates don't clime above a 1 to 10 ratio with nitrates. This might mean you have to add nitrates.
I have wondered if adding CaCl will precipitate the phosphates. It should create Ca(H2PO4)2 and then precipitate as an insoluable powder. It works in plain water but of course there is lots of other chemistries going on in an aquarium. Like iron bonding with phosphates. I'll have to play with it one day.
If I get so much growth that I choke the water flow at the surface near the brightest part of the tank I always get hair algae. All I have to do is prune it so there is water flow and it goes away.
I have wondered if adding CaCl will precipitate the phosphates. It should create Ca(H2PO4)2 and then precipitate as an insoluable powder. It works in plain water but of course there is lots of other chemistries going on in an aquarium. Like iron bonding with phosphates. I'll have to play with it one day.
If I get so much growth that I choke the water flow at the surface near the brightest part of the tank I always get hair algae. All I have to do is prune it so there is water flow and it goes away.
I'm not sure if I speak for the majority but I don't want to turn all my tanks into fast plant growing tanks. They have additional requirements that makes it more tricky to maintain (and higher cost) and if any one of those thing go off, then you have a problem. Having some plants are always beneficial so I also suggest to everyone to have some easy plants (which are low light slow growing plants) but if you have to deal with fast growing ones, that's a different story.
I personally would like to try one heavily planted tanks with fast growing plants as they do look interesting and is yet another form of a challenge. But not in all of my tanks.
Are there any fast growing plants that do not require high light, CO2 and fertilizers?
For some reason, in my case, hair algaes grow on plants that are placed directly where water falls off from the HOB filter. This is the area with the most amount of water flow in the tank.
Nothing really helped up to this point except reducing light intensity which has worked nicely.
My 29 gallon tank has water sprite, dwarf lilly and red fox tail that I have to prune weekly with no fertz, 55 watts of light and no C02 or Excel. Underneath I have slow growing low light plants. They get shadowed and this is OK for them. I encourage the fast growing plants to grow "emergent" so they can take CO2 from the air. I only have an inch between the water line and the hood but that seems to be enough.
Other than phosphates I have no water quality issues.
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites
0 Nitrates
I change water to keep phosphates below 1.
Other than phosphates I have no water quality issues.
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites
0 Nitrates
I change water to keep phosphates below 1.
