What algae can't you get rid of?

[Viper007]

I notice my riccia on mesh are infected by hair algae no thin that careful inspection is needed to see the algae. Put in 2 SAE, 3 Oto, 7 Yamato, 50 plus cherry shrimps also cannot get rid of it till I have to clear the hold mess.

Fortunate thing is Riccia is easy and fast growing.

[Aquaboyy]

Green spot... for me

very hard to scrub them off

[Storeman]

cant seem to get rid of brown algae on my glass, the amano shrimp only eat those on plants and occasionally eat from glass and i dont like to stick my hand into the tank too often to contaminate the water, i guess i learned to live with it

[razornova]

Otocinclus should clear brown algae easily.

[StanChung]

A hard plastic card[Visa/Master? ] is handy to scrape GSA[green spot algae], GDA[Green Dust Algae] and brown algae.
I use a 'Hard' Toothbrush for the silicone areas.

[feide]

having war with staghorn
manual remove, excel overdose, water change, increase flowrate.. tried all but still not improving...

[inque]

list of algae and what i do with it

1) hair - let it glow abit then pull out the clump manual
2) bba - remove affected portion and put in clinic tank
3) spot - manual removal, or leave it to the snails and shrimps


algae prevention routine/steps
1) dun over dose fert ..... find your tank's balance
2) use some floating plants, it helps
3) invest in your algae cleaning crew
4) i got a tub of moss floating in the tank also
5) do your WCs

[Gucci]

My malayans are still doing a great job on it i see some aglae gone already and with the help of excel it works doublely good thumbs up for my hard working malayans

[edwardchuajh]

After putting in 10 yamatos 2 otos and 2 SAEs, with 2 nerites and 2 red ramshorn, all my green and brown algae disappeared.

However, ever since the green algae appeared my SAEs stopped eating the BBA I have on my moss. (The first week they actually did tug at the BBA and consumed and cleared one patch of my moss)

So this afternoon, I took a syringe of 3ml Excel and spot-dosed the areas of BBA. I just checked them tonight and the BBA has turned this red colour and I believe its dying soon =) Shall observe for a few days more and continue dosage.

[minute_me]

I have 2 SAEs in my planted 2 foot but I noticed green and brown algae getting from bad to worse. I also noticed that my plants mainly anubias are covered with brown stuff. my rocks also slowly turning brown. I thougth my canister filter is ineffective and did maintenance once every 2 weeks.

I thought SAEs are supposed to clean the algae. In my other 1ft tank, I have 2 golden algae eater and the tank is spotless. So I decided to take one golden algae eater and introduced it into my 2ft planted. Wow!! within a few days, almost all the brown stuff on my tank, plants and rocks are gone! Still some green algae on the walls of the aquarium but it's under control.

Quite impressed that one golden algae eater can clean up the 2ft tank. I did not put it in earlier because sometimes it can harrass other fishes. But after oberserving for a while, I think it's doing more good than harm. So I leave it in my 2ft to do cleaning job.

[Plantbrain]

I've been able to rid every species that is bothersome.

Mostly lowering the light is the 1st step.
This reduces CO2/nutrient demands, and slows algae growth.

Algae are not CO2 or nutrient limited, they are light limited in aquariums.
So this is for the plant's mostly to reduce the stress on them, not to limit algae so much.

Dose good non limiting plant nutrients, this is easy to do.

Next is tweaking CO2 and providing good current to reduce CO2 stress and increase O2, which since respiration of fish is both the sum total of the O2 and the CO2, provides a much better margin or error, making management over time of CO2 much easier and less stressful to fish.

So low light, good CO2, good nutrients(sediments and water column), provide the best management practice(BMP's) for most aquarist.

Tropica suggest this also.

ADA's system is pretty much based on this, but leaner nutrients, but the light is relatively low, 40micromols is hardly the higher light one might predict.

So use less light, limit light, do not limit nutrients.

This is about the plants, and getting the most out of the system. You get the highest light use efficiency with good CO2, low light and good nutrients.
This also reduces the electric bills which cost far more than water bills etc.
And living in SG, this also reduces heat and evapoiration using less light and the rates of growth, slows everything down and makes things much more manageable,.

If algae still grows, you have more work to do.
However, with lower light, it also means less algae and each shrimp or otto cat will be able to clean more area than in a higher light aquarium.

So they(herbivores) have a higher use efficiency as well.

I'd focus more on light/CO2/current, less on nutrients, just add them, add some sediment like the ADA As or similar brands etc.
Do water changes, add Excel or generic equivalents etc.
Clean filters, trim etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[Navanod]

I have 2 SAEs in my planted 2 foot but I noticed green and brown algae getting from bad to worse. I also noticed that my plants mainly anubias are covered with brown stuff. my rocks also slowly turning brown. I thougth my canister filter is ineffective and did maintenance once every 2 weeks.

I thought SAEs are supposed to clean the algae. In my other 1ft tank, I have 2 golden algae eater and the tank is spotless. So I decided to take one golden algae eater and introduced it into my 2ft planted. Wow!! within a few days, almost all the brown stuff on my tank, plants and rocks are gone! Still some green algae on the walls of the aquarium but it's under control.

Quite impressed that one golden algae eater can clean up the 2ft tank. I did not put it in earlier because sometimes it can harrass other fishes. But after oberserving for a while, I think it's doing more good than harm. So I leave it in my 2ft to do cleaning job.

Are your SAE "real" ones?
You probably got the moss eating subspecie

[Navanod]

having war with staghorn
manual remove, excel overdose, water change, increase flowrate.. tried all but still not improving...

Spiky nerite snails cleared my staghorn quite rapidly

[StanChung]

Are your SAE "real" ones?
You probably got the moss eating subspecie

I haven't kept an SAE that doesn't eat moss.
Are you sure there's a sub-specie that doesn't?

[Navanod]

I haven't kept an SAE that doesn't eat moss.
Are you sure there's a sub-specie that doesn't?

My info is based on some web searches and a fair bit of observations.
Perhaps I should start a thread on this?

[StanChung]

I think there's a window in their young life when they wouldn't eat moss but once they are older they certainly will.

It's relatively easy to differentiate SAE and Flying Fox. By now most resellers know the difference and do not stock the 'fake' one purposely.

[Navanod]

I think there's a window in their young life when they wouldn't eat moss but once they are older they certainly will.

It's relatively easy to differentiate SAE and Flying Fox. By now most resellers know the difference and do not stock the 'fake' one purposely.

You may be very right about the moss eating portion. Perhaps even the BBA eating SAE will eat moss at some point in time.
However, I'm not referring to the common "fake" SAE like the flying foxes and chinese algae eaters.

I'm writing a very long thread on it...will post once done

[StanChung]

Can't wait to read it.

[Navanod]

Can't wait to read it.

Standby for wall of text
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...657#post517657

[TyroneGenade]

If you stand by the river long enough, you will see the bodies of your enemies float by.

Sun Tzu

For a long time I have been suffering with hair and staghorn algae. Some months ago I simply gave up trying to fight much more than remove the hair algae with a tooth brush now and then. I was so disenchanted that I even stopped bothering with my DIY CO2. Where I used to do water changes every week now I do it whenever... I put the cover glass back over the tank (I had removed it to let more light into the tank) so the light was reduced a bit. The "easy" plants have continued to grow: crypts, long-leaf Hygro etc... And, as these plants have grown the algae has gotten less and less. The staghorn has vanished as have the large green patches on the leaves of the Anubias. And as far as hair algae goes, it is still there but I now only remove a small ball every other week where previously I had removed handfuls. I am NOT fertilizing other than feeding the fish. When I eventually do a water change I add some DSD water hardening mix and that is that.

Whether the receding of the algae is because I have stopped messing with the tank, reduced the light or simply it decided it wasn't worth being a nuisance because I was not longer irritated I do not know. But I am thankful that my tank isn't as hideous any more. Maybe in another year I will be algae free.