How can I speed up algae growth?

dfbiggs

While people are complaining about having it..I am going to complain about not having enough.. okay my current experiment..I bought about 10 small pieces of PVC pipe and I am in the process of trying to grow algae on them and then I will move them to my tank for my RCS and Nerites to play and eat on. Currently they are sitting outside in a plastic container in direct sunlight everyday for about a month now and I have not any sign of algae..so last night I figured I should add something to the container that already has the spores. So I added a piece of algae covered cuttlebone to the PVC container. I will continue to be patient but does anyone have any other suggestions? Should I add plant food or something. I can't believe I am having this problem..seems to grow in my puppies pool just fine.

sik80

i had the same problem. Use water from your tank to start with rather than tapwater. I then added a little flourish comprehensive fert and some fish food flakes as a source of ammonia and now have good green water which i use to get algae on some rocks for my otos

dfbiggs

Darn it..wish I would have thought about this. I had the perfect water yesterday after my tank change of my dirty snails..prob would have been perfect.

Thanks so much!

redchigh

Actually, for algae you can just use miracle grow.

kitten_penang

hahaha better be sure the rcs like those or you'll be wasting your time lol

aunt kymmie

I'd be willing to bet that a small addition of some Flourish Excel would have you busting out in algae in no time.

amazon21

If you didn't use dechlorinator on your tap water, algae isn't going to grow

Inga

I have a couple of clay pots in my tank and I shine a clip light on them a few hours a day. They get algae and they act as a feeding station for my snails, Oto's and Rainbow Shark. They all come to the pots for a snack. They are just in my normal tank though and they get Flourish 2 times a week. Well, the plants do but they are in the water. lol

dfbiggs

Well if they dont I still have snails that will like to eat the algae and they also like snailing along smooth surfaces..

dfbiggs

Well I got some fast algae..by putting my algae covered cuttlebone in the water along with Aqueon plant food and some food pellets..figured it would grow like mold..just had to introduce the spores to make it go faster.

I was using dechlorinator from the start..figures if there is chlorine it will kill the bacteria.

Red- MG is a good idea..didn't think of it.

Thank you all for your help!