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Posted by Scott on April 6, 2005, 2:34 pm
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I've been trying to work out wheather any of the changes that I have made to
my aquarium to help stop algae growth have been working. I have been doing
it by making a note of how long it takes before I have to clean the glass in
my aquarium.
at the moment it is taking a week and one day. could someone please tell me
weather that is a good sign?
thanks
Scott
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Posted by Edward Cowling London UK on April 7, 2005, 4:13 pm
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>I've been trying to work out wheather any of the changes that I have made to
>my aquarium to help stop algae growth have been working. I have been doing
>it by making a note of how long it takes before I have to clean the glass in
>my aquarium.
>
>at the moment it is taking a week and one day. could someone please tell me
>weather that is a good sign?
>
I have one of those razor blades on a stick devices and I run it over my
front glass once a week. You need a bit of Algae, as some fish like to
nibble at it.
Algae become a problem when it starts to coat the gravel and the plants,
to the point where it becomes a blanket. If you aren't cursing it, it's
not a problem :-)
--
Edward Cowling London UK
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Posted by Ozdude on April 10, 2005, 7:19 am
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> I've been trying to work out wheather any of the changes that I have made
> to my aquarium to help stop algae growth have been working. I have been
> doing it by making a note of how long it takes before I have to clean the
> glass in my aquarium.
>
> at the moment it is taking a week and one day. could someone please tell
> me weather that is a good sign?
I clean my side and front glass weekly on the water change, using an old
credit card. I leave the rear glass to build up (I am heavily planted) and
clean that about once per month, usually when I can't stand the build up any
longer. Even then I'll leave the bottom 1/3 so my snail and Swords have
something to peck on.
I find my algae build up is directly proportional to the amount of liquid
fertilizer I place into the tank. I used to do it daily but the algae got
out of control so fast it was a joke. I now do a liquid fertilizer about
once a week at half recommended dosage and the algae seems to be balanced
out.
Oz
--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith
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Posted by Scott on April 10, 2005, 8:12 am
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that's strange because I have been having to clean the glass in my tank once
a week since I brought it, but I have always had an algae problem on slow
growing, or plants that keep there leaves for longer than a month. my
Siamese algae eaters take care of a lot of types of algae, but cant get rid
of a layer of black algae that always gets left. I thought that once a week
must have be more often than normal.
I've tried using rowaphos to lower the phosphate from 1ppm to 0.4ppm, but
that had no effect. the nitrate is also 4ppm. I don't use plant food, but
all my plants seem to grow well some as much as an inch every couple of
days. and I have fully grown fast growing plants all along the back and
sides of my tank.
I cant work out what's going wrong. I have been thinking of maybe buying a
RO filter, but I don't like the idea of removing all the natural nutrients
from the water and then adding them artificially to it. and if that doesn't
work I will have still spent £150. I'm probably going to fully plant the
bottom at some point so hopefully the extra plants will do the trick.
thanks
Scott
>
>> I've been trying to work out wheather any of the changes that I have made
>> to my aquarium to help stop algae growth have been working. I have been
>> doing it by making a note of how long it takes before I have to clean the
>> glass in my aquarium.
>>
>> at the moment it is taking a week and one day. could someone please tell
>> me weather that is a good sign?
>
> I clean my side and front glass weekly on the water change, using an old
> credit card. I leave the rear glass to build up (I am heavily planted) and
> clean that about once per month, usually when I can't stand the build up
> any longer. Even then I'll leave the bottom 1/3 so my snail and Swords
> have something to peck on.
>
> I find my algae build up is directly proportional to the amount of liquid
> fertilizer I place into the tank. I used to do it daily but the algae got
> out of control so fast it was a joke. I now do a liquid fertilizer about
> once a week at half recommended dosage and the algae seems to be balanced
> out.
>
> Oz
>
> --
> My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith
>
>
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Posted by Ozdude on April 13, 2005, 11:24 am
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> I cant work out what's going wrong. I have been thinking of maybe buying a
> RO filter, but I don't like the idea of removing all the natural nutrients
> from the water and then adding them artificially to it. and if that
> doesn't work I will have still spent £150. I'm probably going to fully
> plant the bottom at some point so hopefully the extra plants will do the
> trick.
It sounds like your tank has all it needs naturally as far as fertilizer
goes. Light is the other factor which determines algae - lots of it causes
it build up quickly regardless. I have had it grow vigorously in dimly lit
clear PVC pipes going to and from my filter, and even growing inside the
canister head where there is no light.
You are thinking right though - the balance hasn't yet been struck in your
tank. I can only recommmend planting some more and being patient.
I trim any leaves on plants that get algae on them, but only after a couple
of weeks or so, mainly so the sword has something to pluck on. My Mystery
Snail takes care of the glass stuff when it's not belting for the fish food
proper - funny how it always seems to know when it's fish feeding time and
appears on the substrate below the feeding pack - very strange that ;)
I though I would never get the balance in my tank, but it appears for the
moment at least, the tank is in reasonable balance.
I consider a light growth on glass surfaces quite normal and the only reason
I really clean the side and front glass is because I want to look at the
tank through crystal clear glass, otherwise I'd leave it longer.
There are a lot of "nutrients" for plants in fish poo, but I vacuum the
gravel 2X per week, after a rather close brush with tank wide death from
insufficient gravel condition, and to counter that I have JBL Brand clay
slow release fertilizer balls placed right at the bottom of the substrate.
Occasionally I'll see the vacuum tube fill up cloudy and I know I'm hitting
the balls where they are breaking down, so I back off.
Since doing these things though every plant in the tank is growing at
unprecedented rates - at least 4cm per week on most things - and the Twisted
Val. which was having a hard time doing anything, is now multiplying like
rabbits and sending out runners, which are sending out runnners, so now I
have a Val. forrest happening, which is just as well because my other tank
is full of plant eating fish - but they won't touch Val. I don't like
artificial plants, so here's the opportunity ;)
The balance came about from patience and a bit of experimentation. As I said
I consider some algae in a planted tank to be absolutely normal. I never
thought a) I would have explosive plant growth and b) I'd ever find the
balance between plants. light, nutrients and fish comfort, but I seem to
have got it for now as all of my Tetras "dance" daily, either in territorial
or mating modes. I say "for now" too because I don't expect it stay
perminently in this state. The alage will come back with avengence, for
instance once the nutrients start petering out in the substrate, but that's
also a good thing because I'll know when it's time to re-fertilize ;)
Oz
--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith
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>my aquarium to help stop algae growth have been working. I have been doing
>it by making a note of how long it takes before I have to clean the glass in
>my aquarium.
>
>at the moment it is taking a week and one day. could someone please tell me
>weather that is a good sign?
>