Algae removal for plants

[cheefw]

Hi, any bros here have used any algae removal (soloution) for plants before. Found this in the fish shop near my house and they said it works and it is not harmful to plants. Pls give your advise. Thanks

[hwchoy]

where got such big toad jumping around the street?

[budak]

i thought this toad was roadkill several times over.....

[sherchoo]

If it kills algae, it will harm plants (in most cases).

[nbk3]

Best combo i feel would be cardina japonica , ottocinclus affinis , crosscheilus siamensis [] all quite good , but if u feed em too much fish food , they will get lazy , starve em for a while and wild instincts take over

[sherchoo]

I would rather go for better nutrient management to rid of algae.

[Plantbrain]

All algae killers, solutions, snake oils, toad thumpers and other concoctions fail to cure algae problems for one simple reason, they do not grow plants.

If it does not help grow plants, eg a plant nutrient, then you should not add it to the tank. When the plants do NOT grow, something else will, algae. So work on growing the plants, not killing algae. Killing algae is not one of your foci or goals, growing healthy plants is.

Poor plant growth is why you have algae. When the plants grow well, the algae does not.

It's that simple.

You need to trim off the algae(remove infected leaves), manually remove it, vacuum off the dirt, clean filter etc, black out the tank 3 days etc to kill the algae or remove what's there now.

Then you need to add the nutrients to the tank and maintain the nutrient levels to provide good plant growth.
This is the cure, not some snake oil. And it doesn't cost you anything

Regards,
Tom Barr

[bttay]

Yes. One good lesson I've leanrt: To control algae, work on plant growth. Once you can keep your plant healthy and growing fast, algae will disappear.

Cheefw: If you have not yet try on well balanced fertilizer for your plants, look for info on how to dose NO3, PO4, Fe and other trace elements. On top of that, more frequent water change (1 to 2 times a week) also helps to control algae.

[CT]

Is it neccessary to dose NO3 and PO4 to acheive the nutrient balanced you all are talking about?

[bttay]

CT: I think the best way to answer your question is to test your tank for NO3 and PO4. A bit costly for the test kit though but worth the money and efforts. If you have strong light, CO2 injection and low bioload, most probably you need to add those nuitrients.

Widely recommended: NO3 - 5ppm, PO4 0.5 to 1ppm.

[limsteel]

Very true! I got some algae infected floating plants from my pal. I was planning to do a Chlorine dip treatment. but instead threw it into the tank...[:0]

I can see thread Algae drifting about in the current... after a few days, the thread algae disappear! meaning I got a good balance in my tank! []

But how come no BUBBLING effect!

[loupgarou]

some other theories that need testing: (no means to)

a) oxygen tablets (ie: JBL oxygen tablets)
b) use of ozone.

reference:
http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plant.../msg00118.html

[cheefw]

Wow, thanks for the overwhelming respond and I’ll try my best to “digest” it (u know..very cheam, I'm only a newbie”. Many thanks.

[cheefw]

Oops, by the way can I feed CO2 directly into the tanks using rubber hose and bypass the reactor because the water in the reactor always being drain out within 2 hrs.

[PeterGwee]

Long term solution...grow plants well. Lots of CO2 and enough N,P,K and traces should give you good results.

[cheefw]

How about feeding CO2 directly into the tank and not using CO2 reactor. Can I achieve the same result as if I’m using the CO2 reactor? Like that I can save some money and buy other stuff.

[PeterGwee]

What other stuff are you getting? ...Slack on the CO2 and nothing will work (Pumping CO2 bubbles into the tank directly is not going to do for your 4ft tank..its the least effective method. Maybe you can get a small powerhead and feed the bubble into the intake side instead.

Woah..relax..don't need to press the submit button so many time.

[cheefw]

Can I feed CO2 directly into the tank and having the same result as using a reactor?

[cheefw]

"Kan cheong" mah, I still have this PH level problem that really puzzle me!!! My plants are pearling very well and the CO2 indicator shows that I have too much of CO2 in the tank. But if I based on the PH level 7.6 and 4dKH , I should be having insufficient CO2 within the tank. So same question, if everything are fine (plants & fishes), can I leave the PH level alone…tired of trying already. Cheers.

[PeterGwee]

What are you using to measure your pH? Hopefully not the CO2 indicator reading chart.