anyone had any suggestion on what is the best method to stop spot algae?
Spot algae on plants most likely due to strong lights on slow growing plants (eg. Anubias sp.). Have the plants shaded or use less lighting.
Spot algae on tank walls - can be easily scrubbed off using magnetic scrubber or phone card. In my case, I found that by lowering the trace element dosage, I was able to reduce the amount of algae on the tank walls.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
Check the CO2 first...make sure it is in good range during the photoperiod all the time. If CO2 is fine, dose a tad more PO4 along with your current routine.
Regards
Peter Gwee
[quote:91c6417926="PeterGwee"]Check the CO2 first...make sure it is in good range during the photoperiod all the time. If CO2 is fine, dose a tad more PO4 along with your current routine.
Regards
Peter Gwee
Right - PO4 is important too, if you have not been adding.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
roger tat think I dose a bit more on my PO2
Me, I reduce the amount of NO3 only. And there was a slight improvement.
Its interesting to know that reducing trace would help. Is that LushGRO Micro that juggler is using? Hmmz. I am thinking of switching to TMG (due to algae control).
colin | The Wilderness and Forest | FTS
Reduction in nutrients to control algae is not the way to go. Forget about the algae...work on the plant growth. As long as the nutrients do not run out (reducing nutrients might cause some important nutrients to bottom out and stunt plants.) and that the CO2 remains good throughout the photoperiod, things will go well. That is what I have seen in my tank...no algae...not even the spot ones.
Regards
Peter Gwee
Hi bros and Sistas,
I recommend that you attack algae on every angle.
1)Nutrient control (Nitrate+nitrite+Ammo),
2)Improve plants growth(add+Micros-fert-co2),
3)Add zebra snails(a few will do as they are easy to breed).
Zebra are well equip to remove those hard to scrap off algae on glass and rocks unlike their cousins. Bought mine from Y618.
Will zebra snails make holes on plants?
Hi bro padfoot,
It will eat dying leaves but leaves the healthy ones alone.
They are more specialize for scraping off spot algae and brown algae on wood and glass/rocks.
My tank walls are spotless all thanks to 3 generations of zebra snails.
You may want to learn about em first:
http://perso.infonie.be/pomacea/neri...alensis_uk.htm
I keep finding my zebra snail on the floor every 3 days after putting them back into the tank.
Is there anyway to keep them firmly in the tank before my wife start screaming?
They do keep the spot algae in check though.
Cheers
I only get spot algae when the CO2/PO4 are too low. So have many other people.
A friend has a lot of Anubias ina high light tank, 4w/gal etc right out in the center on wood up near the light, he had good CO2, so all he did was start adding some PO4 and the green spot went away quickly.
We both add lots of traces. That will not help reduce spot nor will low NO3.
You might think it does, but Reduce the PO4 and also try the same with the CO2 and see if green spot appears.
Work backwards to see if it does occur, not just assume the forward correlation to the cause. That will get you into trouble.
Few have trouble with green spot or any algae that use a good fert routine with good CO2.
The specifics of the algae is not important really, but they do tell what type of nutrient issue(s) is(are) occuring, many times it's more than one issue.
But GS is routinely dealt with successfully by adding PO4 in planted high light/CO2 tanks.
Regaerds,
Tom Barr
Bro Heuer,
How many snails do you have in your tank and how big is ur tank?Till now i only lost 2 zebra snails....both MIA.Not on floor nor filter.
i would suggest a netted cover to prevent em fom escaping.
Check on the algae progress.If you have a marauding army of yamatoes....the snails may starve which may explain em moving out.but i doubt that is the case.As they do also eat dead leaves and tank running out of algae is kinda impossible.
So for now just improvise a netted cover b4 the lady boss make noise.
Tom, what is the source for your PO4?
i always have green spot algae problem. my anubias look real bad because of them and my new ferns are in danger of attack.
"time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana"
What is PO4 ??? where to buy????
If you want to abandon me,
Dr Mallick's(sp?) sells it there in Singapore.
KH2PO4 is monobasic potassium phosphate
A small amount will last a very long time. I've had a kg for about 8 years.
Green spot was one of those algae we never thought a decade ago we'd ever find a cure for.
Today, we can add enough CO2 and PO4 and not have issues.
You can also use Fleet enama which is a liquid of sodium phosphate.
You can also use H3PO4, phosphoric acid 30%.
In general, a rice grain's worth per 80 liters every other day is plenty. You can add more, perhaps less. Not that critical, many dose to about 1 ppm or so.
The key to using it and KNO3: CO2
If that's good and high then you can add macro and micro nutrients fairly liberally and then a large weekly water change to re set the tank's levels.
Regards,
Tom Barr
[quote:c9354a2907="Irwan78"]Bro Heuer,
How many snails do you have in your tank and how big is ur tank?Till now i only lost 2 zebra snails....both MIA.Not on floor nor filter.
i would suggest a netted cover to prevent em fom escaping.
Check on the algae progress.If you have a marauding army of yamatoes....the snails may starve which may explain em moving out.but i doubt that is the case.As they do also eat dead leaves and tank running out of algae is kinda impossible.
So for now just improvise a netted cover b4 the lady boss make noise.
Hi Irwan,
I only have 1 in my 1 1/2 ft tank. my guess is that this snail must be hungry after clearing the algea. I have dump it into my 4ft now but it digs the gravel and destroy my HC.
will try to put a net but hopefully it will not starve to death.
Pardon my ignorance, but in a bid to get rid of spot algae, won't adding PO4 put ourselves at risk of getting BBA?
I mean, ok, like:
Hair/string algae - remedy: platys
BGA - remedy: black out method
Spot algae - remedy: add PO4
BBA - remedy: get rid of PO4 by balancing NPK... (oh I've gone cross-eye)...
Turn the question around:
Why would you assume that adding PO4 would cause BBA and not grow plants?
There is no evidence of any kind that PO4 levels and BBA are in anyway correlated.
We had BBA in 1.0 ppm planted tank
We had BBA in 0.0 ppm planted tank
Both tanks had it bad.
We upped the CO2 to 25-30ppm, the BBA stopped growing.
It was the low or variable CO2 concentration, not the PO4 that caused the problem.
People assume that a nutrient is the problem without isolating the system and making sure it is the cause.
Then you get a myth.
Many bro's and sisters in SG have gone pretty high with PO4 and not gotten any algae.
So if PO4 excess causes algae, why do they not have it?
Why did it appear in the tank without any measurable PO4?
Can you say that PO4 causes algae then?
Why have I been adding PO4 for close to 15 years but I have no algae issues at all for that time? When I had poor CO2, I got all kinds of algae including very bad BBA.
If you do isolate everything, get all the nutrient levels in good shape except for PO4, then add PO4 you will see the plants respond dramatically.
It'll take about 20-45 minutes.
Regards,
Tom Barr
[quote:496cfee9="Irwan78"]Hi bro padfoot,
It will eat dying leaves but leaves the healthy ones alone.
They are more specialize for scraping off spot algae and brown algae on wood and glass/rocks.
My tank walls are spotless all thanks to 3 generations of zebra snails.
You may want to learn about em first:
http://perso.infonie.be/pomacea/neri...alensis_uk.htm[/quote:496cfe
hi, recently i hv an explosion of snail population and some of them start making holes on my java fern [guess none of them are zebra cos spot algae still present on glass], so i put in a dwarf puffer and the snail is under control.
If i were to put in zebra snails to tackle the spot algae, would the puffer attack them...are they big enough so that the puffer not able to eat them?
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