Recently have used scrubber on the glass to remove the algae and ever since I can see the loose algae like dusts in the tank. Seemed that they are too fine to be removed by normal filter? TurnEd on ionizer for 30mins for three days and saw one gold fish dead,hence stopped. Have changed to a new normal white filter but don't seem to be helping.. any advise? Thanks
I would suggest multiple 50% water changes spread out across a few days. But theoretically you won't be able to remove all algae particles this way. Some sort of ultra fine filtration device would be best but I have no experience owning them or know if they exist. Perhaps more seasoned veterans could help better?
Sorry for your loss. A part of me dies when retrieving dead pets from a tank.
Shrimps... they gladly eat up the loose algae that are scraped off tank glass and they will spend the whole day hunting down each tiny particle to consume, its like a bonus algae buffet for them.
But my goldfish, red platy, tiger stripes might have sumptuous meal frm the shrimps?
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True... the shrimps will probably become tasty treats for those fishes.Originally Posted by huffie
It'll be good to have clean-up crew in the tank to help eat the algae though, maybe try ramshorn snails? They eat algae and leftover food too, and most fishes usually leave them alone. They come in nice red or blue colors too.
Btw, you mentioned "ionizer" in your first post, what is that? a UV sterilizer? or those negative ion generators?
Confirm chop the shrimps will be gold fish food. Get the bigger yamato and SAE if 2ft tank about 2 yamato and 4 SAE will be great!
Understand that snails may end up crawling out and afraid my kids may end up eating them...LOL.
Sorry it's actually ozonizer that generates ozone thRu a machine and pumped through the bubble stones
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Actually I had 2 dwarf otocinclus but one died. Previously had sae but dun see them as good as dwarf. Was actually thinking of getting fresh water clams but dun see any at C328
On second thought, will 3 marimos cause algae bloom too?
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Try Aquatic Avenue? I saw some clams a few weeks back... Give them a call to avoid disappointment ya.
I guess you read about nerite snails that occasionally climb out of tank to explore, those are tidal snails so its part of their natural behaviour.
On the otherhand, ramshorn snails don't climb out of tanks, they are fully aquatic, at most they float or crawl to the water surface to take a breath, then crawl back down to resume grazing.
Ramshorn snails do breed quite easily if conditions are good and there is ample food, so its easy maintain a self-sustaining population of clean up crew with those snails.
I see... i've used similar devices before as room air purifiers and deodorizers, but always wondered how those things work in aquarium environments (and whether they have any beneficial effects).
The marimo balls themselves wouldn't be the cause of algae issues, unless algae already hitchhike on them from other tanks... though they also don't really help much in soaking up nutrients to combat algae either (they have very low nutrient intake and slow growth rate).
If you have algae issues in the tank, it more likely due to excess nutrients or light (or both).
Urban Aquaria thank u once again for the indepth explanation. As for the ozonizer there has been some positive feedback that it works but I didn't use it that freq to see any effect. As for the light, I'm currrently using led lights and think I got "conned" from taobao that the lights are not emitting the wavelength that promotes algae growth ;p . Anyways, shall look into ramshorn snail and see if these would help.
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So in the mean time, how do I clear those loose algae? Or when I get the ramshorn snail, eventually the loose algae will decrease?
Well, i guess you just have to increase filter circulation so that more of the loose algae get suspended in the water column and drawn into it, and perhaps do more tank cleaning by using a tube and hose to siphon out the loose algae and waste material.
If the loose algae are settling on tank surfaces, algae eaters like snails will usually find and consume them, so that helps in reducing the amount of loose algae bits. Note that it'll be replaced with snail poop though, some of what goes in has to come out too.
Btw, if you have lots of algae growing in the tank, reducing excess nutrient production and reducing light sources will help alot more in managing the algae situation... especially since you are keeping goldfishes which are heavy waste producers.
almost missed out your reply, thanks will check out with them.
Pardon my ignorance, I'm currently using a 2ft dolphin overhead filter (non submerged), so how to increase filter circulation? Getting a more powerful pump?
Side track abit, any idea if possible to have fresh water clams in the tank without any substrate?
Yeah, for overhead filters, a more powerful pump will help to increase the overall amount of flow, though placement of the intake and outflow also makes a big difference.
Try different placements to find the best intake/outflow positions. What you want is the outflow current pushing as much of the algae, waste and debris as possible towards the intake to be drawn into the filter for processing.
Freshwater clams could live in a barebottom tank, though i've noticed that when i kept them in a sand based environment (just a thin layer of sand is enough, no need to be deep), the clams are able to use the sand as support and position themselves to better face the direction of flow for filter feeding, which helps improve their survival and growth rate.
You could try putting a thin 4-5mm layer of sand in a very shallow tray, place it in an area with high water flow, and then put the clams in it. It'll be sort of like a mobile sand bed for the clams.
Here was an example from one of my tanks:
More details on them in this thread post: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...890#post769890
Thanks urban aquaria for sharing
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