Air stone in HOB filter?

[Reel]

I have a 10 gallon fish tank that I’m setting up. Who would’ve thought, I got a white hair algae problem.
There’s a lot of white Hair algae in the HOB filter, I take apart the pump and clean it every three days. Well, I’m tired of it! I got frustrated enough that I just plopped an Airstone into the HOB.
Will this work? Will this destroy the pump somehow? It’s a Marina 20, if that information is needed.

Photo taken right after a pump cleaning

 

[vince82]

is it actually reducing the flow? If it's not reducing the flow I would recommend not to clean it.. (and possibly looking into using ceramic media and sponges over the cartridges)

 

[Byron]

Can you post a clear photo of the stuff you call white algae? Algae is not white, it can be green, black, red, grey but not white, at least I have never heard of it.

And an airstone is not going to do anything when it comes to algae. But let's see if we can determine what this is.

BTW, a HOB filter is pretty massive for a 10g which is only large enough for quite small fish, and these rarely need a strong current. What fish do you have?

Welcome to TFF.

 

[Reel]

is it actually reducing the flow? If it's not reducing the flow I would recommend not to clean it.. (and possibly looking into using ceramic media and sponges over the cartridges)

It is reducing the flow, on the third day, it’s taken from a respectable, kind of fast flow, down to a trickle. I am working on getting sponges, but I’m keeping my ceramic rings out until this algae situation is a bit more under control, and just flushing through these remaining cartridges to do the dirty work

 

[Reel]

Can you post a clear photo of the stuff you call white algae? Algae is not white, it can be green, black, red, grey but not white, at least I have never heard of it.

And an airstone is not going to do anything when it comes to algae. But let's see if we can determine what this is.

BTW, a HOB filter is pretty massive for a 10g which is only large enough for quite small fish, and these rarely need a strong current. What fish do you have?

Welcome to TFF.

It is 100% white hair algae, it originally bloomed because I had the light on for 12 hours/day (I’ve learned from my mistake), and had the filter turned too low while cycling the tank. One of the causes of its bloom is low CO2 environments, so I thought this might help

For fish, I have 4 Cory catfish and 8 espei rasboras. I’m trying to create a river biotope, and read that these fish are ok with faster moving water. It’s not crazy fast, and I keep it on 3/4 the filtration capacity to create the flow of a lazy river. I put the HOB filter on the side of the aquarium, the filter is not 20” long

 

[Byron]

It is 100% white hair algae, it originally bloomed because I had the light on for 12 hours/day (I’ve learned from my mistake), and had the filter turned too low while cycling the tank. One of the causes of its bloom is low CO2 environments, so I thought this might help

For fish, I have 4 Cory catfish and 8 espei rasboras. I’m trying to create a river biotope, and read that these fish are ok with faster moving water. It’s not crazy fast, and I keep it on 3/4 the filtration capacity to create the flow of a lazy river. I put the HOB filter on the side of the aquarium, the filter is not 20” long

OK, to the facts. White algae does not exist, I just did a search and the first five sites that came up for "white algae" all had not algae but a fungus or mold; obviously a case of using the wrong term as these are not algae. If you could post a photo we could perhaps determine what this is, but I will go out on a limb and say it is not algae. Algae is the common term covering a group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms.

Second, CO2 has no impact on algaebeyond being one nutrient. CO2 meaning carbon dioxide, the gas dissolved in water. Algae occurs due to light and nutrients, nothing else. In tanks with no higher plants, the algae has free reign because there will always be nutrients and light of some sort. In planted tanks we have to balance the light (intensity and spectrum and duration all factor in) with nutrients from fish, water changes and sometimes plant additives.

On the HOB, someone has led you up the gardenpath. Trigonostigma espei (the rasbora) prefer quiet water. They will tend to hover mid-tank, or depending upon conditions swim more. But in a 10g tank a single sponge filter driven by an air pump is all you/they need. As for Corydoras, the C. panda does like more water current, at one end works best so they can get out of it, but most species do not need much. In a 10g there really is not room for a decent sized group of the medium-sized cories, this is where the pygmy and dwarf and habrosus work well, and they do not want this strong a current.

 

[Reel]

Alright, I’ll get a smaller filter for the fish. My 20g filter needs to be replaced anyways lol

Here’s a photo of the “algae”, I just cleaned the front glass today, and this panel of glass two days ago, so this is all I have at the moment. Here’s also an article on white hair algae. Might not actually be algae, but all the description and stuff matched up. When it’s longer, it looks like hair flowing off the glass (gross!)
My nitrites are close to zero, and phosphates are at a reasonable level, so, according to this article, it could’ve been from CO2 levels or lighting, which I think is both.

 

[10 Tanks]

I have a 10 gallon fish tank that I’m setting up. Who would’ve thought, I got a white hair algae problem.
There’s a lot of white Hair algae in the HOB filter, I take apart the pump and clean it every three days. Well, I’m tired of it! I got frustrated enough that I just plopped an Airstone into the HOB.
Will this work? Will this destroy the pump somehow? It’s a Marina 20, if that information is needed.

Photo taken right after a pump cleaning

Hello. The algae problem will eventually go away if you start removing and replacing half the tank water a couple of times a week. Apparently, whatever algae you have has a food source. If you've got something living in the tank, then reduce the food. I know this sounds like a lot of work, but you need to clean up the water. The chemistry is unstable and the instability is creating a perfect environment for algae growth.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Byron]

Alright, I’ll get a smaller filter for the fish. My 20g filter needs to be replaced anyways lol

Here’s a photo of the “algae”, I just cleaned the front glass today, and this panel of glass two days ago, so this is all I have at the moment. Here’s also an article on white hair algae. Might not actually be algae, but all the description and stuff matched up. When it’s longer, it looks like hair flowing off the glass (gross!)
My nitrites are close to zero, and phosphates are at a reasonable level, so, according to this article, it could’ve been from CO2 levels or lighting, which I think is both.

The "CO2" in that link is not CO2 but liquid so-called "carbon." It is glutaraldehyde, a toxic disinfectant. It is sometimes effective on certain algae.

There is no such thing as white algae. The photos in the link show fungus, not algae. Another case of misleading and inaccurate information on sites that are less than reliable.

The photo of your chunk of wood also shows fungus, not algae. On this fungus, there are dozens of species, some are safe and some are highly toxic. I had the latter several years ago, it is common on the branchy wood like grapewood/graperoot. On other woods it is usually safe. It will continue to leech out of the wood until it is gone.

 

[Ram419]

I know of this white fungus that Byron is speaking ok. I've seen it growing on driftwood. I don't think I've ever seen it to be stringy or describe it as hairy though.

EDIT: Is Staghorn algea actually algea? I just found it by doing some searching and it can appear white in certain situations from what I read.

 

[Reel]

The "CO2" in that link is not CO2 but liquid so-called "carbon." It is glutaraldehyde, a toxic disinfectant. It is sometimes effective on certain algae.

There is no such thing as white algae. The photos in the link show fungus, not algae. Another case of misleading and inaccurate information on sites that are less than reliable.

The photo of your chunk of wood also shows fungus, not algae. On this fungus, there are dozens of species, some are safe and some are highly toxic. I had the latter several years ago, it is common on the branchy wood like grapewood/graperoot. On other woods it is usually safe. It will continue to leech out of the wood until it is gone.

Aw man I did not get any notification for this, my bad! The article called it an algae, so I called it one. I am by no means an aquatic biologist, so I do not understand why it needs to have the specification of algae or fungus. Nor do I know how to tell them apart! I got rid of it, now. The driftwood is spider wood from an azalea, if the store person told me correctly.

I treated it like any other algae, or fungus, or whatever it is, and it went away! None went in the (new) filter after the Airstone was put in there, because if you remember, this was the original question. Thank you for the information, learned a lot, got a new filter, and everything is fine now. Just dealing with the fluctuating water quality of a 10 gallon. I completely forgot how much work it was to own a 10 gallon

 

[Uberhoust]

I completely forgot how much work it was to own a 10 gallon

I forget that myself sometimes. I have gone through a few trials of maintaining a small tank but eventually, I end up doing something larger. You think it's only 10 gallons how hard can it be?, just as much work as a larger tank, you don't have to move as much water or substrate but you have to be much more sensitive and careful with the small tank.

In regards to, the fungus on the wood I am wondering if the commercially available wood is not fully dried and still contains green wood. Well aged wood is mostly cellulose and lignin, but green wood has a lot more nutrients which leach out of the cells. I haven't seen fungal growths with well aged and dried wood in the tank but I read about a lot of posts about fungus growing on their newly purchased wood.

 

[Byron]

I am by no means an aquatic biologist, so I do not understand why it needs to have the specification of algae or fungus. Nor do I know how to tell them apart!

This worries me. There is a vast difference between algae, fungus and mold. The treatment/process to correct these is individual and different depending which it is. Not knowing means the real risk of doing something that will not only not resolve the issue, but cause harm to the fish.

I don't see how anyone could not see the difference between algae, fungus and mold. The fungus is whitish. Mold is usually whitish though black mold exists but not sure if it does in water, it is more common in houses due to moisture/water in the structure. Algae is never white, it is green (usually dark), deep red, brown, or dark grey/green.

Algae will not usually kill fish in and of itself, though it may be indicative of a biological imbalance that could. It is dealt with easily, by adjusting the light/nutrient balance, depending upon the circumstances. Mold in the aquarium I have never come across; I suspect that which some call mold because it is slimy is actually fungus. Fungus can be harmless or toxic, depending what it is. The fungus that will form on dead things is in itself harmless; the fungus that sometimes occurs from within wood is fortunately usually harmless but it can be deadly toxic.

Every aquarist must recognize these and be able to deal with whatever.