Hi Bros,
When I started my 2 planted tanks about a year ago I had all kinds of algae issue. I did lots of research and tried all methods like putting in algae eaters, controlling CO2, lighting,... sharing below for personally tested methods (and all without using any chemicals) -
1. Regular water change (when doing this, get hose to suck up the fish wastes from the top soil. It is these wastes that most algae thrive on)
2. Lighting timing (I started setting my lights on a 4 hour per day cycle. Now I am on a twice 4 hourly cycle - ie turn on 4 hours, off 4 hours, turn on again for another 4 hours)
3. Limit the nutrients that the algae is getting. As long as the plants in your tank can get to the nutrients and light faster, they will out compete the algae and the algae will fight a losing battle. This including feeding your fish less (only once a day and remove any unfinished food after).
4. Algae eaters (ottos, SAE, shrimps, black mollies, etc) However we should all know that these do not work magic. They eat up only very little and you cant really expect them to win the war against any algae bloom. If you wish to know what eat what type of algae, just google it.
Imagine the satisfaction I got - for weeks my tank has all kinds of algae - green spots on glass, green patches on grass, hair algae, blue green algae (we know this is bacteria and ya I had them), string algae, staghorns, etc etc. Was pulling out my hair. Then one fine day when I returned home from work, there are big parts of the glass that had no more algae - like clear and no more algae. The next day all no more. Then after a few days, no more string or whatsoever algae. Just wonderful.
For the Blue Green Algae, these are usually introduced due to uncleaned materials in the tank/foreign object (like I took sand from the beach and put it into the aquarium). Immediately remove as soon as you see small patches. It took me quite a few days to keep removing them until no more.
When setting up new tanks, be patient. Give 3-4 weeks for the plants to thrive first and stabilise before introducing any fish and only very small quantities. This way the plants will consume the fish wastes (out compete) and not let the algae have any chance.
Just wish to share. Not saying I am a pro though but somehow things are working out for my tanks.
Cheers.
very tempted to try algexit ... actually took a bottle at C328 and put on the table, but later decided not to use it...
after reading this thread, makes me feel like taking the bottle and pay...:P
after looking at the post above, (Wilsonid 's posting) I don't feel like getting it again... :P
btw, does orange molly works the same as black molly?
algexit definitely works to a decent extent. noticed some BBA appearing in my low tech nano tank after missing a few water changes. dosed algexit accordingly (mind you, it's 2ml for 20L). two days later, the BBA is now turning red/purple, basically the colour that it shows when it's starting to break down. then my RCS can handle it later
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will algexit affect other plants? how about shrimps?
I tried dosing excel on BBA and it works. Tried Excel on MC , the place that has concentrate amount most of the MC turns yellow and dying, but during then I have a change of light and no CO2 dosing... wonder that contribute to the yellowing or not...
Last edited by fireblade; 24th Apr 2015 at 10:01.
that's a good question, which might have been discussed before but I can't rmb off the top of my head. though, excel is well-known to affect some plants, including crypts, mini pellia (I felt them both!) can google for more bad experiences. I think theplantedtank has quite a long thread on it
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Excel is very effective at killing algae when spot dosed in higher concentrations... but it will also damage plants in the process too, so its a last resort type of method.
On the otherhand, AlgExit is designed to gradually weaken and inhibit the algae, so it requires a period of time to work (not immediate effect), but it is safe for use with plants and livestock.
Fireblade, I personally observed black mollies are whole lot more aggressive in consuming algae than red or orange mollies.
Does UV Sterilizer helps in controlling algae? I keep having this green dust algae (look green n dusty on my tank walls), especially if i decide to lift up my blind for the tank to get some sunlight (plus my tank lights).
Got a friend who was into marine tank last time and have this UV thingy that he say want to give me (than to leave it in the storeroom - decom tank).
UV is only good for green water... for your type of algea, I think it won't help much..
Thanks fireblade! Guess i need to find more plants to plant! :P
I have green algae(Blue Green Algae?) on some parts of my substrate that is also occupied by HC. How do you "spot dose" Excel to the desired area?Originally Posted by Urban Aquaria
Resistance is futile, you will be administrated!
Get a syringe from any pharmacy, without needle. Load it up and squirt on the BGA. Turn off filters, etc so that the Excel does not get "blown away" and diluted. Avoid squirting on fish, shrimp, snails. Wait 15 mins before turning on filters, etc again. Do not overdose. Expect some of the plants at the spot might die too.
Alternatively, try Easylife Blue Exit. I haven't tried it myself, though. Seen it at C328 LFSes. Another alternative is API E.M. Erythromycin powder. Also can find at the C328 shops.
I last used API E.M. Erythromycin and succeeded, but its quite troublesome (daily water change) and quite expensive for a large tank.
If I ever have to treat BGA again, I'll try Blue Exit first.
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Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
Actually Algexit is killing my nerite snail. Not sure what happen too.
Resistance is futile, you will be administrated!
Hmmm... I've never had good success with Nerite snails, usually never live more than a few months. My last try in new but stable tank, about 10 of them all died one by one over a few weeks. No Algexit involved.
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Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
pH? too acidic pH will degrade their shells, exposing their soft bodies. it's probably a common issue with everyone keeping acidic water tanks
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Strangely, i got two tank, one with algaexit, one without. The one with algexit all my nerite snail die. The other tank all surviving and had with me like 5 month liao.
Resistance is futile, you will be administrated!
That is good to know. Any other details? Like how soon after you started dosing that they started dying?
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Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
The next day.
Not sure if Excel has a significant effect on BGA, but i guess you can try spot dosing using a syringe (can get from pharmacy) or a pipette (can get from hardware shops or Daiso). If you are spot dosing Excel on areas with delicate plants like HC, do be prepared to see most of those plants melting too.
Last edited by Urban Aquaria; 29th Apr 2015 at 11:59.
It could be due to some reaction of the AlgExit in the tank that is affecting your nerite snails... so far i've personally not encountered any of my nerite snails dying when dosing AlgExit before (i've even double dosed it in a quarantine tank with algae eaters like shrimps and nerites without issues), so can't really know for sure the exact cause though.
That being said, i've done pH tests on tanks with AlgExit dosed and noticed that there is a slight pH drop during the treatments (ie. 6.5 to 6.2), especially for smaller tanks (the pH drop is greater in smaller water volumes, ie. 6.5 to 5.8 ). This could be due to the active ingredient in AlgExit being Salicylic acid. Not sure if the drop in pH is enough to affect sensitive livestock though.
I guess for smaller tanks, it might be better to dose it in smaller amounts in stages, split the weekly dosage over the span of a few days, so that the effects and any parameter changes are gradual and spread out.
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