Algea on plants

[Tinman]

With so many planted tanks here I have a question. I have tried to grow plants so many times with limited success .I see beautiful plants flowing in tanks here and none seem to have the algea on the leaves of the plants . Mine always seem to die from inundation by algea . Am I just way overgrown with algea and it spreads to the plants or is the color of light a huge problem or hours of light? Are you treating for it? (That really scares me)You all keep your glass so clean where I don't so much , I have always found algea SO benificial to a healthy tank. Maybe I just have the wrong kind of algea growing . Please advise O knowlegable ones I understand feeding plants is important but chems scare me so.Any comments? Tinman

[Munkee]

Algae control is really about nutrient control. It's a balancing act of sorts that can turn in either direction if not monitored.

There is a great article on algae control at another forum I belong to. It's worth a read, I hope it helps:

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_algae.php

[connor]

Tinman,

algae are usually on the rise when there are too much nutritients in the water. If you have plenty of healthy plants there are little algae.

For excellent plant growth you need about 12-14h of lighting. What kind of light source do you use?
You absolutely do need a chemical fertilizer because many elements the plants need are basically non-existant in tap water (mainly iron). No need to be scared. I use EasyLife ProFito.

For the rest of the algae it helps to have one or two little ancistrus sp. or the like in your tank.

-Connor

[mistergreen]

Munkee is right... It's when the nutrience are out of balance not necessarily when there is too much nutrients.

If you don't dose any fertilizers or add CO2, lower your light wattage and photoperiod.. This depends on your tank size.

and do regular water changes. Clean off your algae first and things should be fine. Your plants will grow really slow with this low-tech method of course but no algae.

[Ded1]

My fight against algae:

- Must add co2 for faster plant growth ( Hygrophilia difformis is for example NO3 killer and fast grower )
- 12 hours of light
- Weekly 25 % water change
- I use Juwel NO3 reducer ( few little bags you put in your filter - if you really have too much NO3 in water you add to your tank )
- Adding fertilizer for plants
- Crossocheilus siamensis / SAE ( at least those guys make me feel good when they eat them )

Simple ( far from entirely effective ) but it does make a difference. You just try to give your best to help plants win over algae.

[Tinman]

Thany You all for the nice responses. My lighting is all flourescent 4' lamps on a timer . My plecos and small algea eaters do a fairly good job of keeping things clean but they don't seem to keep the leaves clean. I have recently added substrate so I have been thinking of plants to remove any by-product that may accumulate. I have a 70 separate and may experiment there. I have 12 different filters on my system so things don't always travel through the same over and over but the Juwel will work for my 70. I do have a 36 UV Super Twist on my front tank on my system to catch and kill. Money is an issue on repeat things like fertilizer on 1000 Gallons . I am going to do more research before I mess with the system. I am still reeling from adding sand.Here is a link to some pics of my set-up if you have not seen it.
http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t26 ... ?start=20

[shari2]

Hi Tinman,
What kind of algae is it? Is it the brown stuff that covers the leaves and wipes off fairly easily? Or is it green algae?

[connor]

My lighting is all flourescent 4' lamps on a timer .

I don't know what brand of FTLs you use but the ones sold explicitly for aquarium use are a rip-off, plain and simple. While not necessarily being bad, they're usually far too expensive.

If you want a lot of bright white light I suggest looking for modern tri-band FTLs in 4000° or 6000° Kelvin colour temperature, e.g. the Osram Lumilux 860 daylight (I'm not sure if they are sold under this name in the USA, too).

I dumped my - expensive - aquatic FTLs a few weeks ago for two 6000° Kelvin tri-band daylight tubes and boy, what a difference. The best thing about the tri-band tubes is they only loose about 10% total luminance after 20.000 hours of use! Mine cost US$ 4,- each.

My plants grow like never before and regarding algae .. what are algae?

-Connor

[Tinman]

Shari2 asked

What kind of algae is it?

This is green. I will add a pic after my batterys charge,
I am going to redo my 70,add sand and some plants me thinks,remove the rocks as the rainbows don't use them

Conner said

the ones sold explicitly for aquarium use are a rip-off,

I agree.I use the ones you asked about, poverty lamps for fish and plants at about 4.00-5.00 US

Conner asked

My plants grow like never before and regarding algae .. what are algae?

I guess we should say plants here????
I have been keeping fish here in a black hole called Kansas for years,I am very excited to have some people now with at least as much experiance as myself and some with so much more to bounce questions off. In all these years of fishkeeping (30+) I have never met anybody that knows all that much really.I am lax on my Latin for this reason and my sub-specie ID. But...I do know how to keep my fish thriving and have some over 15 years old,THEY are living the good life.......Thank You all so much for taking the time to help me

[chefkeith]

Personally, I've learned to like algae more then plants. I've got all the high tech equiptment for growing aquatic plants. Automated CO2, Lots of cp Lights, a shelf full of ferts, lots of books, about 30 bags of eco complete substrate, you name it. I don't care for it anymore. I don't think my loaches cared for any of it either. It's just more work for me to prune/trim plants and add ferts. Plus my fish hate when I make any changes to their tank. And it is their tank and they want me out it. So I do what they please most of the time.



Just a FYI,
Ferts can be harmful. They need to be administered very carefully. They will raise the TDS. Overtime this TDS build-up can be significant. It's dangerous to fish when you do a water change to the tank and the TDS drops. Big TDS drops are harmful to the health to almost all fish.

[Tinman]

Yes Chefkeith, You are right again I will stick to what I know and enjoy your guy's plants on my computer. I do not need to un-balance my system nor end up where you are with another shelf of stuff . I was thinking of experimenting on my Rainbow tank but I will stay the course and just be a simple fishkeeper.I know this well enough and am getting to old to change up.I really like the look of the Java Fern on wood and all these great pics here had me thinking......

[mistergreen]

Personally, I've learned to like algae more then plants. I've got all the high tech equiptment for growing aquatic plants. Automated CO2, Lots of cp Lights, a shelf full of ferts, lots of books, about 30 bags of eco complete substrate, you name it. I don't care for it anymore. I don't think my loaches cared for any of it either. It's just more work for me to prune/trim plants and add ferts. Plus my fish hate when I make any changes to their tank. And it is their tank and they want me out it. So I do what they please most of the time.



Just a FYI,
Ferts can be harmful. They need to be administered very carefully. They will raise the TDS. Overtime this TDS build-up can be significant. It's dangerous to fish when you do a water change to the tank and the TDS drops. Big TDS drops are harmful to the health to almost all fish.

Too bad you got burnt out on it. Nothing like a lush planted tank. But I totally understand. Maybe you should go the low-tech/natural route.
You might want to check this out.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/

[chefkeith]

Mistergreen - I am doing low tech out of default. I still have a few dozen Crypts in my main loach tank. They don't grow much and don't require any care, so I never pulled them. Algae doesn't grow on them much either. I only use 110 watts of light on that tank about 8 hours per day. The hood has about 400 total watts of cp lights which don't get much use. With the cost of electricity I don't want to run lots of light 12 hours per day either. That tank is 190 gallons and 6ft x 2ftx 26" high. Algae don't do well at the bottom of tank. Algae grows on driftwood in on the upper regions of the tank.

I take pride in Algae. I think it looks real nice. Here's a pic of the algae covered driftwood in my 85g tank-

[mistergreen]

the algae looks nice. I think bearded algae looks good too. A lot of plant growers in the USA hate the stuff. Not sure why.

You should put in a few anubias.. It'll be a nice contrast to the algae and it'll live in low tech tanks pretty nicely.

[Ded1]

I always found algae on background, wood, filter to make aquarium more natural. I hate them only on plants and glass. They are part of water life.

Dont touch it, it is great !