ahhhhh beard algae

[panboy]

help, i have a bad case of beard algae.

i didnt know what it was before, so it was in my tank on a couple plants for almost a month. and now ive researched and its all over my plants, and my filter tube.

its soo annoying, and i dont know hwo to stop it

its a 46g bowfront, i have 3 otos that have been there since the beginning, and a couple days ago i added a siamese algae eater. i do 20% waterchanges every weekend. i dont add fertilizer, and i have about 10 hours of light a day.

how can i stop it? im going crazy. and its growing fast.

just recently i took out a bunch of leaves that had a bunch of the beard algae, so hopefully that helps, and hopefully the SAE goes to work, because i havent seen him going after it yet.......

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

I believe you can help stop algae growth by breaking up the lighting, eg. instead of 10hrs straight, have 5hrs, off for an hr or 2, then back on for 5hrs. Also, adding some fast growing plants should deprive the algae of a lot of nutrients. Make sure nitrAtes aren't too high either, because they use that for growth too. & just a note on your SAE - have a scout around on the web & make sure he is actually a SIAMESE algae eater, not a CHINESE algae eater - apparently they're really easy to confuse & some lfs's sell them both as SAEs. From memory, CAEs only eat algae when they're young, so maybe you got a guy a bit older who doesn't much like algae. I believe they can get quite big, also, & are potentially aggressive, though I'm not positive on that last one. For info on the differences, try http/www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/

HTH. Michelle.

 

[smithrc]

it may be a phosphates problem... if you tapwater is high in phosphates (like ours is ) you'll make it worse with more water changes....

 

[panboy]

yeah, i actually did lots of research about algae eaters, and when i went to go buy it i checked many things on it to make sure it was.


about the phosphates though..... how do u guys lower that then? or do u not even do water changes?

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

I'm not sure how to lower them, maybe there are products that bind them, much like ammolock does for ammonia, but I'm really not sure about that. I'd say doing no water changes is gonna make for a terrible environment for your fishies, so keep up with them, but plant more live plants, esp. fast growing ones.

 

[heresmike]

Phosphates can be lowered by using phos-x in your filter. But, I don't think high phosphates is the cause of beard algae. I've read that it's caused by high iron. Phosphates contributes to brown algae growth. I also don't think breaking up the lighting will do much for getting rid of the beard algae.

If you haven't seen this link, maybe it will be of some help in diagnosing the type of algae and cure the problem.

Here's another link that illustrates a more radical approach.

Good luck!

 

[tstenback]

Phosphates can be lowered by using phos-x in your filter. But, I don't think high phosphates is the cause of beard algae. I've read that it's caused by high iron. Phosphates contributes to brown algae growth. I also don't think breaking up the lighting will do much for getting rid of the beard algae.

If you haven't seen this link, maybe it will be of some help in diagnosing the type of algae and cure the problem.

Here's another link that illustrates a more radical approach.

Good luck!

Great information and links, heresmike. i have bookmarked those. thanks