Openbrain
Aquarium Advice Activist
- Joined
- May 9, 2012
- Messages
- 156
Ok a friend has an aquarium that is having a major algae bloom.
Should i use/try api em erythromycin or algicide?
Should i use/try api em erythromycin or algicide?
spoonman said:First you should find out the cause of the algae. Too much light, too much food or too much nitrate or phosphate. Fix the problem and the algae will go away with water changes and syphoning.
spoonman said:What are the readings? Good is pretty vague. Algae feeds off excess nutrients in the tank. Need to find out what it is. Better to solve the cause than dump chemicals in the tank.
Should i use/try api em erythromycin or algicide?
melosu58 said:You dont want to do anything anti bacterial as it will kill your nitrifying bacteria and you wont have any to complete the cycle.
melosu58 said:You dont want to do anything anti bacterial as it will kill your nitrifying bacteria and you wont have any to complete the cycle.
Flreefer said:Looks like both, Cyanobacteria and hair algea.
Flreefer said:Old bulbs will definitely make an algea issue worse. I would definitely change them out, if you think they are older than 12 months.
If your only feeding a small amount, and your source water is pure, the only thing I could suggest is maybe a GFO reactor. I don't have one myself, but have heard of great results reducing an algea problem with one.
Best of luck getting it under control.
I can't comment on the erythromycin, as I've never used it.
Flreefer said:GFO is granulated ferric oxide. It's a phosphate remover, phosphate being one of the main contributing factors to algea outbreaks, along with nitrates. GFO won't help with the algea already present, but it will help retard any more growth. In a clean system, GFO will help keep outbreaks from occurring.
Then why do they sell this stuff??
melosu58 said:They sell it for you to dose in a another tank to treat your livestock. You never treat your main tank with that. You really want to keep track of your tank now as you probably killed alot of your beneficial bacteria. You`ll probably see an ammonia spike soon. Be ready to do PWC`s if needed.