Tropical Fish Forums

[Senor]

[andrenitro]

hi ...

without knowing what to make to control or to kill algae, that they did not stop to increase I had that to take a step that did not please me. I started a treatment today the base of five days of total blackout. I was knowing that without high light and pH algae would go to die. Then I made this. The problem is that the plants too will suffer very with this. But I did not have much choice. If this experience to give certain writes here for all as a form of aid in the same problem.
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My Planted - http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=39494
My cichlid - http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=240150#240150

[fzthomas]

Hi,

A few tips to control your algae that worked great for me. They prevent and control algae, they are not a real measure against an alrdy present algae problem.

1. get a timer on your aquarium light and use the following scheme: lights on at 8am till 1pm then out and back on from 3pm till 8pm. This gives your plants a total of 10hours light, which is more than enough (everything more causes algae growth anyway) and you have a 2 hours break which is a real kill for your algae (scientific experiments proved this is the best light scheme to prevent algae boosts).
and because it is the middle of daytime, there will be light in the aquarium from your windows and stuff, so the fish and plants won't be in total darkness for 2 hours.

2. get some shrimps to clean up hair algae and other small algae on the plants. I have 2 amano shrimps and 2 rednose rudolph shrimps and they do a hell of a great job. Constantly eating and searching for little algae on the rocks, wood and plants without harming the plants.

3. get an ancistrus (or a pair depending on the tank size) to clean up algae on the glass, rock and wood. They only grow to about 10cm and do a very good job together with the shrimps. This because shrimps don't clean the glass.

4. get 3 or 4 corydoras aeneus or some apple snails to clean up left over fish food and dead plant matter. Left over fish food and dead plant matter are direct nutritients for algae. When going for the apple snails, make sur to get the Bridgesii variant because this variant does not eat healthy plants. More info on the spieces and their differences can be found on www.applesnail.net. If you choose the funny and active corydoras, make sure to keep them with 3 of more - they need their own kind to be happy.


I myself got 1 ancistrus, 4 shrimps, 3 apple snail bridgesii and 3 albino corydoras. Their activities and my lightning scheme keep the algae in control. To be honest, I never had any real algae issue. Only at the start up in the first week before I added my fish. But once I got them all in the tank, I never had algae problems.

goodluck.
and by the way: don't use chemicals to fight algae.

[RaiderFan92]

Whooooooooo! don't be so eager to get a chinese algae eater! Theyre spunky little fish that get a little smaller then a full grown size siamese algae eater, but unlike the siamese algae eater, they get aggresive and when mature, won't eat algae. They just give algae up most of the time, and clean the bottom of your tank for flake scraps. There a great scavanger for tanks with aggresive fish, but not with neons or other tiny fish like that.

But they do have a lot of personality!

[andrenitro]

Hi to All

After some time without showing evolutions, I very come happy to say that I killed all algae. The aquarium passed for some phases and modifications. The layout and plants had been also modified. Now I am without cam photographic to take off the photos, but tomorrow with certainty I go to bring up to date with photos.


Thank.....
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My Planted - http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=39494
My cichlid - http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=240150#240150

[Kit-Kat]

waht is your tank stocked with?
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Lifes short, so waste it wisely, and eat dessert first!!