Algee

[snige]

I have had my brakish tank for some time and and with that algee. I skrub it it off but it comes back cweakly. I want to use an algee killer liquid stuff to kill algee. But I can't find one for brakish water ,can I use a fresh water or salt water solution, so what can I do.

 

[AMS]

Liquid supplements usually do little to combat freshwater algae, and will probably do even less in brackish waters. What specific gravity is your tank currently at? In short, there are no easy ways out or magic algae killer potions that rid your brackish tank of algae. You have a few options wich include:

• 1. Planting
• 2. Algae Magnets
• 3. Algae Eating Fish
• 4. A Good Old Fashioned Scrubbing

Planting your Brackish Tank is by far the most effective method of combating backish algaes.

Algae magnets are very useful for cleaning the glass of algae, but miss everything else. If there is a grain of sand stuck between the magnets it could scratch up your tank, especially if it is acrylic.

There are no brackish water Otocinclus or plecos (no naturally occuring brackish plecos to be more accurate) but there are some fish that do their fair share of algae eating. No brackish fish will strip an entire tank of algae. And your selection o fish depends n your SG. Amano shrimp are arguably the best for eating algae, but wont make good tankmates with puffers, knight gobies, some larger mollies, and possibly orange chromides. Mollies are quite good at algae eating, but usually only green algaes. Knight gobies will only nibble on algaes, so not the best choice for algae combating. Florida Flag Fish are IMHO are the best for algae, but these are a subtropical fish and wont tolerate temperatures of 75 degrees or higher.

A good scrubbing is a good way to clean algae. Get down there with your algae scrapper and scrape decor. Boiling decor is very effective as well. A good cleaning is often only short term in algae relief, but is under-rated by most aquarists.

 

[Stone Warior]

Mollies and plecos do the trick. For plecos you need to float the bag for 30 minutes, add a table spoon of the tank water into the bag, 30 minutes later do the same thing then relase it. and like magic youve converted a fresh water fish to brakish

 

[Seidge]

My mollies really dont take notice of the algea and all my catfish are lazy and dont give a crap either. I have had an algea problem for some time, it grows fast and almost every day every wall of the tank had been covered in it no matter what i did to it.

In the end i moved the tank to a dark corner and did a total clean, the algea is growing much much slower, my lfs has advised that i change the gravel as this is keeping the algea growth up since it has been allowed to settle in there.

 

[Flumpus]

I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear, but I consder my algae to be a nice natural background, and I think it looks nice on the rocks too. I do have a magfloat I use on the front and side glass, but other than that I don't worry about it. I used to really like the ultra clean tank look, but now it's not that important to me. As long as the fish are happy, and I can still see them, then I'm happy

 

[AMS]

For plecos you need to float the bag for 30 minutes, add a table spoon of the tank water into the bag, 30 minutes later do the same thing then relase it. and like magic youve converted a fresh water fish to brakish

Sure you may have temporarily converted a freshwater fish to slightly brackish water (I highly doubt any pleco could survive a conversation with an SG of 1.010 or more in under 30 minutes) but it will soon die. Unless you have Hypostomus ventromaculatus or Hypostomus watwata which chances are you dont, all plecos wont live in a brackish water aquarium for long.

I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear, but I consder my algae to be a nice natural background, and I think it looks nice on the rocks too. I do have a magfloat I use on the front and side glass, but other than that I don't worry about it. I used to really like the ultra clean tank look, but now it's not that important to me. As long as the fish are happy, and I can still see them, then I'm happy smile.gif

I like the natural look myself. I dont care if there is tons of algae (unless its on the glass then I have a problem) and plants are browning. It looks so much more natural. Think about it, go to any fresh or brackish body of water and take a look around. You wont see perfectly green plants, wide open areas of mud (not the dense forests of plants hobbyists think look "natural"), tons of algae and leaf litter, rotting wood, and other things not so pleasing to the human eye. Brackish water aquariums are the best for natural aquascaping, they are more like an aquatic vivarium than an aquarium.

 

[Stone Warior]

For plecos you need to float the bag for 30 minutes, add a table spoon of the tank water into the bag, 30 minutes later do the same thing then relase it. and like magic youve converted a fresh water fish to brakish

Sure you may have temporarily converted a freshwater fish to slightly brackish water (I highly doubt any pleco could survive a conversation with an SG of 1.010 or more in under 30 minutes) but it will soon die. Unless you have Hypostomus ventromaculatus or Hypostomus watwata which chances are you dont, all plecos wont live in a brackish water aquarium for long.
aquarium.

its been 1 year, Its not the Adverage Brackish its a tiny bit less

 

[AMS]

You are probably not use a marine salt mix then, probably "tonic" salt. Tonic salt is not used for brackish water. There is no "average" specific gravity of brackish water, it varies from 1.001 (which is basically freshwater) to 1.018 (which is near full marine). Different fish species require different SG's.