Algae help needed: Do I need to take out the driftwood?

[nickky23]

Hi Experts
As you can see from the picture attached, do I need to take out the driftwood and scrap off the hair algae? I have also begun to see some BB algae

For now, I just take one step at a time. May I know what are the ways to kill the hair algae? I have read about Excel, H2O2 etc. But I am not really sure..

Excel - Co2 product. But it kills off algae??
H2O2 - Potent. Anyway, my whole driftwood now is full of the hair algae already

Can advise if I take it out of the tank and scrub it, is it of any use?


Thanks in advance for the advise!

[iak]

Yes, Excel works for me. But that's a big surface.
Scrubbing it will take a lot of effort.
You can bleach the whole wood before scrubbing. 20% bleach 80% water.

Do you have a algae crew ?
Such as SAE (eats BBA) Amano (eat hair algae ) nerite snail ( eat green spot) ?
If not you can try to purchase some at the LFS.

[wongce]

TO be honest, the algae is very nice!!!

its looks very natural, why remove it?

there is no need to KILL ALL ALGAE at sight, some algae actually helps to create the natural look + food for shrimps.. Have you ever seen a sparkling clear natural pond before? most naturally formed pond's water are slightly green due to algae, its natural!!

btw, do not introduce

• SAE as they will grow big + lose interest on BBA once it grow big
• Amano shrimp if you tank is new and plants are rooting, they will rip off your

plants

Try not to use any chemical as the residue might kill fauna especially chlorine, its hard to remove potent chlorine once its soaked into the dw.

If you really want to remove the algae in picture, spot dose some diluted excel, and it should go away after few weeks ( 1-2 dose per week)

[hann]

Spot dose with excel works for me. The bba turns pink after second to third day and eventually become white. The green algae really looks alright.

[mkt]

nerites will clean up the green stuffs though the speed may be different for each person.
I believe your tank may be "recently" setup?
BBA - perhaps manual removal or Excel helps.

[nickky23]

nerites will clean up the green stuffs though the speed may be different for each person.
I believe your tank may be "recently" setup?
BBA - perhaps manual removal or Excel helps.

yes, newly setup, less than 2 months. I have placed 1 zebra nerite snail. But maybe it needs time to adjust, because after 10+ hours its still sitting there moving little bit.. definitely not eating anything

[nickky23]

Dear all experts/veterans
May I know what is spot dosing? Is it dosing via syringe?
Actually this seachem Excel solution puzzles me. May I know if its available in C328? Or any other LFS?

[nickky23]

Yes, Excel works for me. But that's a big surface.
Scrubbing it will take a lot of effort.
You can bleach the whole wood before scrubbing. 20% bleach 80% water.

Do you have a algae crew ?
Such as SAE (eats BBA) Amano (eat hair algae ) nerite snail ( eat green spot) ?
If not you can try to purchase some at the LFS.

Yes, I have put in 10 yamatos in the 2ft tank. Nerite snail (1 only) is stil not eating anything. I will give them time though. Just added them to the tank 2 days ago.
Snail is not dead, but moving slowly. Not eating anything sigh

Did not have SAE. From what I read up in this forum and others, advice by wongce too, SAE seems to have this common issue of not eating BBA at some stage.

[David]

Hi Experts
As you can see from the picture attached, do I need to take out the driftwood and scrap off the hair algae? I have also begun to see some BB algae

For now, I just take one step at a time. May I know what are the ways to kill the hair algae? I have read about Excel, H2O2 etc. But I am not really sure..

Excel - Co2 product. But it kills off algae??
H2O2 - Potent. Anyway, my whole driftwood now is full of the hair algae already

Can advise if I take it out of the tank and scrub it, is it of any use?


Thanks in advance for the advise!

I don't see anything wrong with your wood...in fact it looks more natural with some of the green algae. As far as BBA is concern, before you start dumping in Excel or H2O2, may I suggest that you increase your CO2 in your water column and check if you are having a decent amount of water circulation.

[David]

another alternative, grow some high nutrient sucking stemmed plants....

[Urban Aquaria]

Thats more like green fuzz algae, very common growing on wood that is placed directly under light (alot of nutrients and nice surface for the algae to grow), its actually something that many people allow to grow to add some "character" to a scape.

Although i regularly get rid of every other type of algae (ie. hair/thread algae, BBA, GSA etc), i actually encourage those kind of nice green fuzz algae growing on drift wood... consider them like nice bright green accents that come with the wood, they make for excellent grazing areas for both otos and shrimps too (i always see lots of shrimplets hanging out and picking at the green fuzzy mats).

[Shadow]

It is fine if under control, if not ... wait until it grow at other place where you don't want it to grow

[nickky23]

ok, tonight I will go back and increase the CO2 to 3bps and see how it goes.. using a eheim 2073. i believe the output is slowed down by the chiller.
do not have a powerhead to boost the flow.

[nickky23]

Thats more like green fuzz algae, very common growing on wood that is placed directly under light (alot of nutrients and nice surface for the algae to grow), its actually something that many people allow to grow to add some "character" to a scape.

Although i regularly get rid of every other type of algae (ie. hair/thread algae, BBA, GSA etc), i actually encourage those kind of nice green fuzz algae growing on drift wood... consider them like nice bright green accents that come with the wood, they make for excellent grazing areas for both otos and shrimps too (i always see lots of shrimplets hanging out and picking at the green fuzzy mats).

oh is it! haha, I find it nice at first... then suddenly it exploded and cover more parts of the drift wood and got me worried..
have put in 10 yamatos but they are always at other places... seems like i going to put in 10 more.. pushing the bio load to the maximum

[Urban Aquaria]

oh is it! haha, I find it nice at first... then suddenly it exploded and cover more parts of the drift wood and got me worried..
have put in 10 yamatos but they are always at other places... seems like i going to put in 10 more.. pushing the bio load to the maximum

True that... looks nice in moderate quantities but if it becomes the dominant fauna in a tank it can become a tab bit overwhelming. Its growth rate seems very similiar to plants, if your plants are doing well, most likely it'll do well too.

That being said, i remember seeing some tanks that embrace this type of algae as part of the aquascape:



Source: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php/33693-Taiwanese-aquascape-%28creative-use-of-algae%29

[David]

Be careful on the notion of putting in more Amano shrimps. Once you get the balance right, once there is a shortage of algae, they will turn on your plants.

[Shadow]

oh is it! haha, I find it nice at first... then suddenly it exploded and cover more parts of the drift wood and got me worried..
have put in 10 yamatos but they are always at other places... seems like i going to put in 10 more.. pushing the bio load to the maximum

You need to starve them, that should force them to eat algae.

[nickky23]

You need to starve them, that should force them to eat algae.

will take up your advice. will stick to feed once a day, but much lesser

[nickky23]

Latest update for today. My driftwood is like this now.
I have increased the co2 rate to 3-4 bps for a week but seems like its of no use already. The yamato shrimps definitely not touching or helping out

I have bought the Seachem excel from C328. Should I follow the dosage stated on the bottle or any experts here can give me some advise?

I am quite worried about my little fishes and shrimps. Please do advise.
My routine weekly water changes (ard 20-30%) is on every Sunday. So any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[ConcaveLiNkiN]

will take up your advice. will stick to feed once a day, but much lesser

Fish food always taste nicer to the algae crew, if they are used to your feeding, they will stop working for you. I know it is kind of cruel not to feed them, but no choice, cannot spoil them.


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