[jones57742]

Blue:

You must have spent a ton of time but you put together an excellent treatise on algae and I have added it to my list of "research threads"!

I have several comments which might be of some benefit and have placed them in this thread.

These comments are based on my experience from "becoming more than a newbie at fighting algae" due to tank conditions which "I inflicted on myself" several months ago .

These conditions included but were not limited to
a) Diatom/radiolaria colonies occupying approximately 30% of the tank walls,
b) Heavy covering of the remainder of the tank walls with green algae,
c) Hair algae growing on the wood, rocks and plants and
d) An algae bloom (green water in your post).

These conditions sprang into full bloom (no pun intended) in just a week and I believe that this was due to the nutrients for the algae reaching critical mass.

These conditions were principally caused by:
1) Overfeeding
2) Over lighting
3) Lack of good maintenance procedures
4) Lack of adequate biological filtration

1) Overfeeding
As I have indicated in other posts I overfeed (or right feed) as I am raising mostly juvies and I enjoy watching them grow but I was way, way overfeeding.
I discontinued this practice.
Even though I now feed extensive quantities of the foods set forth in
http://www.fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=27163&highlight=#27163
when I observe that excess food is present I feed flakes until the excess food is consumed.

2) Lighting
Part A
I had two blue actinic bulbs and two white bulbs in my two compact lighting units.
I replaced one blue actinic bulb with one white bulb.
Part B
I had been lighting the tank for a period of 10 to 12 hours.
I now light the tank for a period of 8 to 10 hours.

3) Lack of good maintenance procedures
Part A
I did not know that gunk would build up on the bottom of my 30 deep, planted tank which I could not observe.
I now vacuum the tank bottom, including areas which cannot be observed, at least once a month.
(The vacuuming is done with a Python with a 30 tube attached.)
Part B
I did not know that gunk would accumulate under the bioballs in my wet/dry filtration system.
I now thoroughly clean the sump area at least once a month.
(The cleaning is done with a Python without a tube attached.)

4) Lack of adequate biological filtration
I had no idea that 2.5 Cubic Feet of bioballs would not provide adequate filtration (Tenecor published this tank to be marine ready),
I now have porous glass and ceramic cylinders under the bioballs in the 1st chamber of my sump as well as ceramic cylinders along the underflow from the 1st chamber to the 2nd chamber of my sump.


Additional Items

The use of daphnia can be done(without the fish, of course ). Blackout and installation of UV sterilizers will often help.
Another method is the use of barley. they can help absorb the green algae out of the tanks or ponds.

Believe it or not fine filtration media will also help (ie. 50Mu, 100Mu or quilt batting).

There's one catfish which is oftne use to eliminate algae: Chinese Algae Eater. As juvenile, it does consume algae. but on the negative side, as CAEs mature, they lose the taste for algae and will eventually harass your other fish. In large tanks, they can be a trouble to catch and that may require you complete strip down of tanks

After a review of the literature I decided to purchase Siamese Algae Eaters. Even though now 3 to 4.5 in length they are not aggressive and are still consuming algae.
I am also anticipating purchasing several Otocinclus in the near future.

TR

 

[Lupin]

Ron! :shock2: I've been wondering why you've been taking too long to finished posting.:bluelaugh:
Excellent thread.:thumbsup: Oooh..You made my day with a new well-deserved thread for a sticky.:brow: Got to connect it to the sticky list.

 

[Derek-M]

Great piece of work!!! :thankyou:

 

[jones57742]

Thank you very much folks.

Coming from yall that is a real compliment!!

As I said after a BB post I will "need to grease my ears to get my head through a door".

TR

 

[fish_4_all]

One big thing to add about green algae and slime algae. In what someone would consider a well established tank, the presence of green or slime algae can also be an indicator of ammonia. This assumes proper dosing, CO2 levels if injected and everything else. The thing to remember about this is that the algae will thrive on ammonia and it is almost impossbile to detect that there is any ammonia because the algae is using it as fast as it can. This is usually caused by dead spots that don't have proper circulation or in area of sand or really any substrate that has been missed one too many times when doing a gravel vac That and for those that keep digging species like eels and some loaches, it could be an indicator that one of our dearly beloved has died under the gravel or in an ornament. MTS dying in mass numbers can cause this also. Ammonia can also be blamed for some green water again assuming that all other parameters are in line and the tank gets no direct sunlight.