Algea problems

[Elise]

I have brown and dark green algea growing on certain plants and ornaments in my sorority. I scrubbed those all so hard and boiled the plants, but the algea has popped up!

Is there anything that you can put in the water that doesn't harm my baybees or the cories?

Help Please!

edit: I have no live plants in there. Would throwing in some javamoss help a bit?

 

[lljdma06]

I have brown and dark green algea growing on certain plants and ornaments in my sorority. I scrubbed those all so hard and boiled the plants, but the algea has popped up!

Is there anything that you can put in the water that doesn't harm my baybees or the cories?

Help Please!

edit: I have no live plants in there. Would throwing in some javamoss help a bit?

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Java moss is a slow growing plant that likes low light conditions, and will not adequately combat the algae growth. To combat algae without a chemical remedy, here are several suggestions, based on my experience.

1. Reduce the period of light, or break up your tank into periods of off and on time. I have 5 hours on, 2 off, 5 on again. Algae doesn't really like this very much. But this may not solve the problem completely.

2. Have a 3-4 day blackout. No light, no algae. But the problem is that the algae will just come back again, though perhaps in easier levels to remove with maintenance.

3. Reduce the amount of food you feed the fish. Algae thrives on the nutrients from fish waste (food, poop, etc).

4. Depending on the lightning of your tank, invest in some fast-growing plants to combat the algae. Fast growers include anacharis, wisteria, etc. They are not as demanding and tend to be, especially the anacharis, rather inexpensive.

5. Invest in some algae eaters, like ottos, which are very nice, if you can get them to survive the first month. Sometimes, when they are harvested and treated roughly, their little bodies can be damaged internally, rendering them unable to eat, and they starve. But this solution is dependent on whether or not you have room in your tank. Ottos like to be in shoals

These are the solutions that have worked for me. I still have algae, but it is not as strong as it used to be and weekly wiping really helps and my algae is quite managable. Eventually the plants win.

I hope this helps. You might want to consider posting this in the planted section, but there are a few of us here who keep bettas in planted tanks, so we can offer some advice. Just curious, what is your size tank and what kind of lighting do you have in watts?

 

[Elise]

It's a 10 gal. I turn them off at night. I clean the tank, really deep clean it every 2 weeks. It's just growing on the silk and plastic plants in the tank and it's such a menace. I really don't have any room for any more animals in my tank.

I didn't post this in the planted tank section because I've tried live plants before like anacharis and it just died. I don't think I have the right kind of lighting for fast growing plants. I'll go check the wattage in a sec.

Is there any kind of addative I can add to the water? Someone suggested making using a black background and thats where the algea would grow, on the back?

 

[lljdma06]

It's a 10 gal. I turn them off at night. I clean the tank, really deep clean it every 2 weeks. It's just growing on the silk and plastic plants in the tank and it's such a menace. I really don't have any room for any more animals in my tank.

I didn't post this in the planted tank section because I've tried live plants before like anacharis and it just died. I don't think I have the right kind of lighting for fast growing plants. I'll go check the wattage in a sec.

Is there any kind of addative I can add to the water? Someone suggested making using a black background and thats where the algea would grow, on the back?

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Adding stuff to the water is not the best thing to do. It can do more harm than good. I've never heard of the black background trick. I have a black background and my algae really just grows in the front, where the light is strongest. It is really easy to increase the lighting on a 10g, but I need to know what kind of hood you have. You can even do it with incadescent hoods, if you add compact florescents. Right now, I have two florescent strips in my 10g and my WPG (Watt Per Gallon) is 3.00. I add CO2, but if we can get you to 2.00 WPG, you can grow anacharis and Wisteria pretty nicely and you shouldn't need to add CO2 because your system is so small. The key is to make this as low tech as possible, since you just have the plants to control algae.

 

[Elise]

*tries to decipher jargon*


Thank you for all the help. I'm writing this all down so I don't have to remember this later!

 

[lljdma06]

*tries to decipher jargon*


Thank you for all the help. I'm writing this all down so I don't have to remember this later!

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I know, I'm sorry, too much jargon. I'll try and control myself. No more bad Mr. Data or Spock immitations for me. Let me know when you've got your specs on your lighting, so we can see where we can go from here.

My memory sucks too. It is all part of the aging process. I have a B-day in less then two weeks! One year closer to a major milestone!

 

[SRC]

You can get some java moss or java fern. Neither are hard to grow and require minimal lighting, and will help absorb the nitrAtes, which let the algae grow..as they will absorb the majority of the nitrAtes.

The plants absorb them more and faster..leaving little to none for the algae..and it will slack off, retreat, and then all but dissapear. Plants also harbor planeria..which appear to eat algae.

You can also change your water more often...as this will reduce the ammonia faster...which will also help reduce the amount of nitrItes..which in turn will reduce the amount of nitrAtes..since they form in that order.

Ammonia breaks down into NitrItes which breaks down into NitrAtes. NitrAte is what plants need to grow, along with light.

You can also try getting a timer (like you use for xmas lights) and putting your hood on that..and set it for 8 hours on then have it leave the lights off the other 16. Limited light limits algea.

Don't be fooled by the LFS or LPS telling you that Ghost Shrimp eat algae..they only eat that as a last resort. those little buggers will steal the flake/pellet food right away from your fish .

 

[lljdma06]

You can get some java moss or java fern. Neither are hard to grow and require minimal lighting, and will help absorb the nitrAtes, which let the algae grow..as they will absorb the majority of the nitrAtes.

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Actually, though it is not hard to grow and can grow with minimal light, java fern is not a fast grower. It will not win the algae battle, based on my experience.
A problem with java moss is that it has a tendency to grow hair algae. It is also harder to establish, though grows great once established.

The plants absorb them more and faster..leaving little to none for the algae..and it will slack off, retreat, and then all but dissapear. Plants also harbor planeria..which appear to eat algae.

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This is quite true, but again java fern and java moss will not do this effectively. What is needed are fast-growing plants like anacharis and wisteria, or other fast growers that will do well with your lighting. They will grow well if wattage is increased to 2.00, and can possibly grow with the tank's current lightning conditions, though the growth won't be best. But I can't suggest any other plant types until Elise gives me her lighting specifications.

Ammonia breaks down into NitrItes which breaks down into NitrAtes. NitrAte is what plants need to grow, along with light.
You can also try getting a timer (like you use for xmas lights) and putting your hood on that..and set it for 8 hours on then have it leave the lights off the other 16. Limited light limits algea.

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Plants also need CO2, but I'm sure everybody knows that. As for timed lights, that is an excellent point, which I mentioned earlier. But what will really throw algae for a loop is to alternate on and off periods as I mentioned in my first post. Algae really hates that, though the higher plants see right through this trick. 8 hours is not sufficient for plant photosynthesis, the ideal is 12. And yes, the higher plants will perceive 12 hours of light, though there is a two hour "siesta", as long as there is at least 5 hours before and after.

 

[SRC]

I used java fern to get rid of the algea prblem I had in my community tank (the green kind that grows on the tank walls and decorations). I put about 6 sprigs in there, I've since got lots of babies that I've transplanted to other sopts in teh aquarium. It hates alot of light..if I leave the light on longer then 8 hours it turns brown. Of course..I have (2) 25 watt plant grow bulbs in my hood though.

I tried other plants but they all died lol...java fern just makes more sense to me..as even though they may not grow as fast as other plants (which mine has grown very well in the 5 months I'e had it) they will still absorb the nitrates...or they did for me anyways (and it's easy to keep alive in my case lol).

Different results for different setups though I suppose.