Algae Versus Java Moss

[geoffrey]

Hi All,

Something I like to share. I have a piece of rock binded with Java Moss that I placed in my tank and was subsequently overwhelmed by algae.

I took out the rock with the Moss and all, place it in a container with fresh tap-water and cover them in an empty shoe-box for one week.

Guess who lost in the black-out battle? Neither. Java Moss shows no sign of chlorosis and algae were still around! So does black-out exactly work?

Comments please.

[geoffrey]

Hi All,

Something I like to share. I have a piece of rock binded with Java Moss that I placed in my tank and was subsequently overwhelmed by algae.

I took out the rock with the Moss and all, place it in a container with fresh tap-water and cover them in an empty shoe-box for one week.

Guess who lost in the black-out battle? Neither. Java Moss shows no sign of chlorosis and algae were still around! So does black-out exactly work?

Comments please.

[geoffrey]

Hi All,

Something I like to share. I have a piece of rock binded with Java Moss that I placed in my tank and was subsequently overwhelmed by algae.

I took out the rock with the Moss and all, place it in a container with fresh tap-water and cover them in an empty shoe-box for one week.

Guess who lost in the black-out battle? Neither. Java Moss shows no sign of chlorosis and algae were still around! So does black-out exactly work?

Comments please.

[geoffrey]

Hi All,

Something I like to share. I have a piece of rock binded with Java Moss that I placed in my tank and was subsequently overwhelmed by algae.

I took out the rock with the Moss and all, place it in a container with fresh tap-water and cover them in an empty shoe-box for one week.

Guess who lost in the black-out battle? Neither. Java Moss shows no sign of chlorosis and algae were still around! So does black-out exactly work?

Comments please.

[loupgarou]

how about putting in some h2o2 and see.

[geoffrey]

What is h2o2?

[vinz]

Geoffrey,

Which alga is it? Some algae are not affected by blackout.

As for the moss... it can survive almost unscath as higher plants can store food. Since there is no light, the moss will not absorb nutrients from the water, which is then available to the alga.

Where the nutrients come from? Stuff stuck under/in your moss/alga, on the rocks, etc. Some trace nutrients from the fresh tap water. Bacteria growing on your plant and rocks as a microscopic layer decomposes dead organic material into nutrients.

[vinz]

BTW, my reply above is mostly an 'informed guesstimate'...

[geoffrey]

Hi Vinz,

The algae are fine green hair like that covers the Moss. Bubbles are always trapped between them and the Moss.

Hmmm...black-out is race of endurance between the algae and plants then. But without light, should the algae stop taking up nutrient too? Since they are plants too, though a lower form?

[bclee]

IMO, blackout is not so effective against green algae, especially hair algae type. They will probably still be around after the blackout.

Blackout probably is best for diatoms.

BC

[hwchoy]

oh, hairy stuff on moss. I kena before. did a 7-day blackout with pencilfish. One week later absolutely no trace of algae

[geoffrey]

Since algae are our biggest challenge, it would be nice to know what has work for some and what has not. It is my intention, hopefully for others who look into this thread, learn and help create sort of a simply database, within this thread, of the methods that we have tried and their results.

I should probably start.

Snails - good with algaes that are brownish and often found on the higher level of the tanks, especially sucker-cups used to hold hoses. Algaes on leaves too. Wouldn't touch BBA.

Otos and SAE - don't seem to be effective at all after 1 week of no feeding.

Yamato shrimps - not effective too. But helpful in bring my snails population in control.

Using black-out in a controlled experience between green-hairy algae and Java Moss for 1 week. No loser.

Currently using aerial advantage of plants.....results akan datang... will let all know soon.

Algaecide - ??

American Flagfish - ??

Lighting control - ??

Water change - ??

Nutrient control - ??

etc...

Hopefully everyone can chip in his/her method and so that a common effective strategy to deal with each type of algae can be identified.

[vinz]

Otos supposedly good for brown algae. I think they do work, but not as a cure but as a prevention... i.e. their constant grazing keeps their target algae at bay.

SAEs... unreliable if they are already spoilt on fish food.

Snails... same as otos

Yamatos (or other algae shrimps)... prevention. A cure only in large numbers. But numbers must be reduced else they'll feed on plants once the algae is gone.

Nutrient control... mainly a prevention but important part of a 'cure'. Example: you could use black out method to wipe out green water, but if the nutrients are still not balanced, the green water will come back again. So you still need to control your nutrients so that the algae does not come back.

Ultimately, I think nutrient control is the key to a mostly algae free tank. During infestations, nutrient control will limit algae growth, while algae ridding methods (i.e. algae eaters, blackoout, etc) remove the algae.

[benetay]

Yes i agree with Vinz nutrient control is very important to battle the algae, there are many more algae eating machines out there but if you're to close an eye on your nutrients then adding more algae eaters wun help.

Oto does eat softer algae like brown to green while SAE i've never get them since i know they'll soon be pampered with Fish food.

for the hair algae on your moss you can try getting pencil fish , the three line pencil should work if you too control the amount of left over fish food.

Currently in my 2ft cube tank i've face the same problem with you but only moss that are closer to the light surface, dump in 10 rocket pencil, can see only 1-2 working the others just simpily ignore the algae even when i don't feed the tank at all cos i don't have any fishes inside .

in my 6footer hair algae bloom with my MH directly above it took out all the mosses and tie it to wood and put into the 2ft cube which i too manually remove the hair algae.

i wonder if temp aslo affects having more hair algae