unconventional Alge control

[epsolon77]

Ok, I'm getting big into all natural fish tanks here. I started a 10 gallon tank with some guppies, heavily planted and lit, and with a TON of filtration and it ran for almost a year without much hands on work at all. Ammonia was non existent and plant growth is TREMENDOUS (I'm gonna have one great garden next year from all the plant material going to my compost pile!). I've had to add water to the tank, but in a year I've probably only drained about 10 gallons from the tank.

So I took these lessons and have been transforming my 55 gallon in a similar way. Again plant growth is wonderful, snails work as a great clean up crew along with some loaches and 7 otto's. I have 2 angel fish that happily cruise around with a very skiddish bunch of black neon tetra and a sorority of betta females that more or less coexist happily. I've had to do a bunch of water changes because I'm getting green water alge, you know, the type where your water turns green. I know how to get rid of the alge with water changes and cutting back on light, ect, but does anyone have any suggestions on natural ways to kill it, other than making my hornwort starve the stuff of nitrate. I thought about getting some daphnia cultures, but I'm concerned the fish will eat them and it will be a wasted 20 bucks. Any thoughts?

 

[Blueiz]

Water changes and adjusting the light are natural ways to get rid of algae. In the wild, you have rain to refresh streams, rivers, lakes, etc. And mother nature does a great job of keeping the light steady, while the plants take up where the conditions are right for them. In home aquaria, they don't have a choice where to grow, even if the conditions aren't ideal for them because we put them there. Therefore, we have to play mother nature and make the conditions right for the plants and the fish..

Not doing water changes is a very bad idea. While nitrate is a good way to determine how much water you need to change, with planted systems you can't always use that to go by. Water changes remove more than nitrates, they remove the tds that can't be tested for as well as fish hormones, and also replenish minerals and nutrients in the water. You're asking for old tank syndrome by not doing them.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Yeah wrap the tank in a blanket for 3 days, all algae will be gone.


naturally you need alot of things in there to eat and break it down. daphnia, other copopods and planktons, fry and snails, oto's are also great. but naturally you need a fish that eats the algae without prejudice. TRUE SAE's are the only ones I know that eat any and all types of FW algae.

 

[epsolon77]

You bring up a great point about "old tank syndrome" and additional minerals left behind by not dumping water. I will have to do some more research into where those minerals are going in my tanks... I do monthly small water changes including sucking as much loose material out of the substrate as possible, and cycle the filter media to help as well. I know where my nitrogen is going though, and that's the plants for sure. Every week I get about a softball sized mass of plant out of the 55. I am very cautious to check PH and ammonia and nitrate levels. Nitrate levels might be a little high at around 20ppm, but ammonia is always next to nothing.

Maybe my trick in the 10 gallon is the guppies. Like whitedevil suggests their fry are always nibbling at the plants, possibly getting rid of alge. I do have a TON of snails in there, and am trying to move from the pond snails to Malaysian trumpets, but I don't want to risk any of my Malaysian trumpets until I see how the dojo loahes do with the pond snails (not that I don't have millions of MTS's, but I'd rather use the pond snail as the sacrificial lambs). I am concerned that killing light from the tank for a few days will cause the nitrates to move too high because the other plants would not be able to grow then. I guess I will need to go with the daphnia, and keep a spare culture going incase they are eaten.

The other thought I had was to pass most of the filtered water over some java moss or hornwart to suck most of the nitrate out before the water reenters the aquarium, but I'm not sure how that would work with my setup...

 

[WhiteDevil]

When I do blackouts I use an air pump still, gets O2 into the water when plants use it the most( dark)