Severe Persistent Algae Blooms -- ANY ADVICE?

[AmateurAquarist]

Originally Posted by pyealands

Ok newbie 14 months ,
In New Zealand shrimp are illegal so im totally jealous ,

I'm happy to report over the past few weeks the algae has HUGELY subsided (more than 90%).

I realized, among other factors, the primary influencing issues were (1) having no snails of any kind (which I've never done before) in the tank, and (2) really being over-generous with the fert and bacteria dosing, which caused the bloom due to the plants not being able to utilize nutrients completely.

After many water changes, a good amount of time, cleanings, and adding in some Algone and brand new Chemipure Green... the aquarium is now the perfect mix of pristine and still natural (you don't want to eradicate all biofilm)!

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by AmateurAquarist

I'm happy to report over the past few weeks the algae has HUGELY subsided (more than 90%).



I realized, among other factors, the primary influencing issues were (1) having no snails of any kind (which I've never done before) in the tank, and (2) really being over-generous with the fert and bacteria dosing, which caused the bloom due to the plants not being able to utilize nutrients completely.



After many water changes, a good amount of time, cleanings, and adding in some Algone and brand new Chemipure Green... the aquarium is now the perfect mix of pristine and still natural (you don't want to eradicate all biofilm)!

I’m glad the algae has subsided but be careful about making assumptions about causation

For example, you say that you believe the reason for algae was too much fertiliser and lack of snails (or at least the primary influencers) but then also go on to list a large number of other changes you have made

1. Water changes
2. Patience
3. Cleaning
4. Algone
5. Chemipure

So was it the cleaner water, time, removal of dissolved organics, higher oxygen, less ferts, direct nuking of spores etc etc.

It’s really difficult to know what was causing the algae. If you would have just added some snails and the algae went away then we can say snails eradicated the algae. Or if you just significantly reduced fertilisers we could say reducing fertilisers got rid of the algae. But there are so many other factors at play. It could well be a mixture of all of these things that have helped but we can’t say with any degree of certainty why the algae was there.

I’m really not trying to be smart or clever here. I’m just trying to illustrate how easy it is to make links that may not be entirely correct because I’ve done this myself numerous times (and still do) in order to half prove cause and effect you have to make one change at a time and then wait long enough to see.

[AmateurAquarist]

Originally Posted by Caliban07

I’m glad the algae has subsided but be careful about making assumptions about causation

Great point, it was definitely a synergy of all the measures I'm sure. It's always fascinating to me how I can use the same ro water, have the same livestock, and do my best to equally distribute fertilizer across two or more aquariums, yet they won't be identical in appearance/growth/algae etc.

Any sunlight, temp fluctuations, snail blooms (or die-offs), and plant life/maturity are all big factors that create pendulum swings all the time... I guess that's why it's a hobby, there's always something to enhance or experiment with! Thanks

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by AmateurAquarist

Great point, it was definitely a synergy of all the measures I'm sure. It's always fascinating to me how I can use the same ro water, have the same livestock, and do my best to equally distribute fertilizer across two or more aquariums, yet they won't be identical in appearance/growth/algae etc.



Any sunlight, temp fluctuations, snail blooms (or die-offs), and plant life/maturity are all big factors that create pendulum swings all the time... I guess that's why it's a hobby, there's always something to enhance or experiment with! Thanks

Perfect. This is exactly it.

I can come across as a know it all most of the time and I’m very aware of that fact but when I say something, or give advice it’s because I’ve been there and I’ve actually seen what I’m talking about with my own eyes.

I’ve taken advice and challenged that advice. I have run many different setups and I can say that certain things will happen for sure with great repeatability yet one of the biggest things I have to my advantage is an open mind and I’m very careful about making assumptions because I’ve been bitten many many times.

If someone say’s something, try to prove it or disprove it. Ask the whys. Many many people never do this. They read and read then take everything they read as gospel. Then go out giving the same information. I’ve done this. But the last 3-4 years for me has been about going back to the drawing board and checking things out for myself and it’s a great feeling.

[AmateurAquarist]

Originally Posted by Caliban07

I’ve taken advice and challenged that advice.

If someone say’s something, try to prove it or disprove it. Ask the whys. Many many people never do this. They read and read then take everything they read as gospel. Then go out giving the same information. I’ve done this. But the last 3-4 years for me has been about going back to the drawing board and checking things out for myself and it’s a great feeling.

This is one of the best replies and overall philosophies I've ever read online in any forum or website. SO many people, without a doubt the overwhelming majority, will form their conclusions based on their opinions. This is known as confirmation bias, as an official term used in debate and/or the void of the scientific method being followed rigorously.

At some point, who knows how long ago, humans started forfeiting their autonomy by the appeal to authority complex, either deferring to a personality figure as an intellectual deity (and thus removing the burden of proof and observation from themselves), or they merely go with the crowd for lack of care or abundance of apathy (parents, teachers, radio show hosts, etc. share their life lens for them).

The dispassionate adherence to weighing out fact from fiction via repeatable demonstrable and measurable efforts is the only key that unlocks any mystery, and should always be applied in equal measures with a skeptical mind that isn't seeking to derive or arrive at any predetermined supposition.

Of course this is a method of self and intellectual conduct that expands far beyond the aquarium hobby, and has been the single biggest springboard toward success and wisdom in my life overall. Knowing that truth doesn't fear investigation, a quote I live by, is a safe albeit precarious way to live -- because once you encounter someone with concrete opinionation they present as fact or truth, emotions cloud the evidence.

As interesting as this is, and we don't have the time to do this full subject justice, but as one small proof positive of the total abandonment from the classical and unchanged scientific theory, by way of a food-for-thought exercise only (without making or assuming origins or conclusions) there are countless things we 'believe' on faith, that have been cleverly crafted into fact, yet don't withstand the rigors of forensic and empirical data. One such example is the motion and shape of the earth. Again, this is merely for illustrative purposes, however it highlights in the most overt way, our collective (as a species) willingness to accept man's word, absent from verifiable proof, that we're on a tilted, rotating, oblate globular spheroid, shooting through an expanse of space at more than 60,000mph.

These claims have become 'settled science' since Copernican theory was submitted just over 500 years ago, and believe it or not, in all those centuries countless tests and experiments from archaic to hyper-modern (lasers, refraction, light speed tests, etc.) have never once, in any capacity large or small, measured, detected, or even provided a shred of evidence that the 70%+ oceans curve around a spheroid, and/or that we're spinning and shooting at fantastic velocities through an infinite vacuum void.

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by AmateurAquarist

This is one of the best replies and overall philosophies I've ever read online in any forum or website. SO many people, without a doubt the overwhelming majority, will form their conclusions based on their opinions. This is known as confirmation bias, as an official term used in debate and/or the void of the scientific method being followed rigorously.



At some point, who knows how long ago, humans started forfeiting their autonomy by the appeal to authority complex, either deferring to a personality figure as an intellectual deity (and thus removing the burden of proof and observation from themselves), or they merely go with the crowd for lack of care or abundance of apathy (parents, teachers, radio show hosts, etc. share their life lens for them).



The dispassionate adherence to weighing out fact from fiction via repeatable demonstrable and measurable efforts is the only key that unlocks any mystery, and should always be applied in equal measures with a skeptical mind that isn't seeking to derive or arrive at any predetermined supposition.



Of course this is a method of self and intellectual conduct that expands far beyond the aquarium hobby, and has been the single biggest springboard toward success and wisdom in my life overall. Knowing that truth doesn't fear investigation, a quote I live by, is a safe albeit precarious way to live -- because once you encounter someone with concrete opinionation they present as fact or truth, emotions cloud the evidence.



As interesting as this is, and we don't have the time to do this full subject justice, but as one small proof positive of the total abandonment from the classical and unchanged scientific theory, by way of a food-for-thought exercise only (without making or assuming origins or conclusions) there are countless things we 'believe' on faith, that have been cleverly crafted into fact, yet don't withstand the rigors of forensic and empirical data. One such example is the motion and shape of the earth. Again, this is merely for illustrative purposes, however it highlights in the most overt way, our collective (as a species) willingness to accept man's word, absent from verifiable proof, that we're on a tilted, rotating, oblate globular spheroid, shooting through an expanse of space at more than 60,000mph.



These claims have become 'settled science' since Copernican theory was submitted just over 500 years ago, and believe it or not, in all those centuries countless tests and experiments from archaic to hyper-modern (lasers, refraction, light speed tests, etc.) have never once, in any capacity large or small, measured, detected, or even provided a shred of evidence that the 70%+ oceans curve around a spheroid, and/or that we're spinning and shooting at fantastic velocities through an infinite vacuum void.

I can’t speak for the flat earth society but I know that you can bury the rhizomes of Anubias and they will be just fine

[AmateurAquarist]

Originally Posted by Caliban07

I can’t speak for the flat earth society but I know that you can bury the rhizomes of Anubias and they will be just fine

Ha! We all have our own pigeonhole of passion and wheelhouse of wonder.

I don't know what, nor have ever read or been a part of or even deferred to a flat earth society, but it's interesting that while I insulated my post with disclaimers and demonstrable evidences, the focus through the vast data I shared was ultimately distilled to a flat earth society.

That's not a slight against your intellectualism or character of course, but I often start my seminars and public speaking with that example as a revelatory enlightenment of our silent and subconscious programming and indoctrination as the citizenry in the 21st century.