FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I've been having some problems with very long thread algae as well as some green algae on my decorations and some of my plants. What I'd like to do is remove some of these decorations and place them in some sort of algaecide bath and scrub them. So here are a few questions regarding that. Are there any products out there that are better than others? There are some amano shrimp and lots of little pond snails in the tank, I know most of the algaecides contain chemicals that are harmful to these inverts. I don't care so much about the snails getting hurt but I don't want a bunch of rotting snails in there either. If I do this bath and then soak everything in water for a while, will this get rid of the harmful chemicals? Can I use something like a double recommended dose?

Chlorine bleach should work well. Especially if you have mostly stone and plastic plants. I don't know if it would discolor driftwood.

><>

With the plants it might work out cheaper and safer to toss them out and buy new plants. With the rocks just give them a very good scrubbing or use a pressure hose then leave them in the sun for few days. No chemicals no problems.

The other problem you must fix the algae problem or other wise you will always be having algae problems.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I got a gold snail recently, I watched him eat some of my long hair algae that was growing on my rainbow rock. Do you have any of those kinds of snails? Also other options is get Cherry Shrimp, Otos, and algae eating plecos. Some plecos are more carnivorous and will still eat algae, but not much, so research on pleco.

the tank is 38 gallons and all the plants are live. There are 4 otos and a florida flag fish in the tank already along with 4 amano shrimp. I've reduced the amount of time I leave the light on, added CO2 and dosed with a phosphate remover and nothing has really seemed to help. The only other thing I can think of at this point is to take everything out and dunk it in something or to do a small WC every day for a while.

Something else that I've been thinking out is my filter might be too large for a planted 38g tank. I'm running a penguin 350 on it right now and it gets lots and lots of flow. My theory here is that there could be too much oxygen in the water and not enough CO2. Could a possible solution be to step down to a penguin 200? The 200 even uses the same filter cartidges so I wouldn't have to worry about a mini-cycle.

What about leaving your lights off for a week??
Also, isnt algae problems caused by excess nutrients, from either over feeding or over fertilising? are you doing either of these?

I'm pretty sure I'm not overfeeding, I skip a day of feeding here and there. The only ferts I'm doing are 3 sticks under the gravel.

If there is a lot of surface agitation then yes you are loosing CO2, I would reduce the water flow on your filter. On my AQ i can reduce the flow by moving the intake tube. See if you have that ability. Also the algae wont go away over night also. How long has it been since you added the flag fish, ottos and shrimp?

I wouldn't suggest doing a dunk. It wouldn't be worth the loss. If anything try cleaning the plants manually to reduce the amount of algae. Is the tank near any windows?

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

There could be several concerns causing your problem with the algae. I would think the Co2 is not working correctly with all the surface movement. Feeding would contribute as well. The filter will only be a problem if it causes too much water suface movement and it is not working corectly. The lighting what type and how many hrs per day also is it on a timer?.
Is the tank in a situation where it is getting any direct sunlight?

I also think you should get a full water peramiters done and only then will you be able to adjust any of your ferts. Just turning the lights off even for two weeks will not solve the problem unless you fix the cause of the problem.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

A blackout of 3-5 days is helpful for immeadiate relief. Afterwards, if any bad algae spots remain on a plant or rock you can do a bleach dip. 1 part bleach to 19 parts water. Most thin leaved plants will tolerate a minute or two and then a gentle scrub in clean water followed by a soak in clean water treated with a double dose of dechlorinator. A thick leaved plant (anubias) can take a few minutes longer.

How much light do you have? Since you don't really fertilize, your plants won't need much and the algae will only benefit from good quality light. Have you considered liquid or dry fertilizing? That could give your plants an edge over the algae. Are your sticks specifically for aquarium use? Regular plant sticks can pollute the tank and will definetly contribute to algae.

Also, my otos have never touched the thread type algaes.

I have 59 watts over a 38 gallon tank so I'm right around 1.5wpg. 17 watts are on for 8 hours and 42 watts shut off an hour earlier so they're on for 7 hours. The sticks I used are for aquarium use and are made by hagen here's a link. I've considered some liquid ferts but I'm not really sure what to use. I run the carbon filters in my penguin filter if that matters at all.

Could it help if I threw in a couple bunches of floating anacharis?