String algae

[celestialdude]

String algae is indeed a problem! I don’t want to use chemicals that will harm my snails. Apparently the Chinese Algae Eater doesn’t really eat algae especially when it matures. Cory Cat doesn’t do it either. Anybody has a good, natural solution? Please share your thoughts…

[chr15_8]

i have thread algea in my breeding tank and love it at the moment however its not pretty.

if its for your breeding tank (if your trying to breed them that is) i wouldnt put any ‘algea eating’ fish in there as im sure they will eat the eggs aswell when sifting though the plants etc

but thats not answerd your question

in my planted tank i had a big algea bloom of thread/string (mainly by the filter outlet) a few days ago i added moss balls/ Marimo balls and this morning i noticed that all my thread algea has started to die off.

not sure if it was the moss balls or not but i know moss balls are actually a type of algea so it might of starved the thread/string algea of netriants. might be worth having a little loook into it

chris
sorry for the story

[celestialdude]

Neatoes, thanks for the tip Chris, I’ll try that. Stories are good, keep them coming!

I will be upgrading to a bigger tank hopefully soon…

[chr15_8]

@celestialdude wrote:

Neatoes, thanks for the tip Chris, I’ll try that. Stories are good, keep them coming!

I will be upgrading to a bigger tank hopefully soon…

im not sure if it works or not it might of just be a coinsedance but thought i’d share

chris

[zzyzx]

I’ve got the same problem in my breeding tank. Have tried using a chemical “anti-hair algae” for the last 3 weeks (from Interpet) but it doesnt’ seem to be doing anything, and I’m having to go in and remove the worst of it with my fingers, plucking it off my other live plants.

My local tap water is naturally high in nitrates, so I’ve been adding a nitrogen-reducing chemical (NitrateMinus from Tetra), which does seem to be lowering the nitrate levels in the tank to near zero, but I still get the algae quite badly.

I went the shrimp route thinking this might work, but I noticed that the steady growth in numbers of fry I’d had up until I added them had levelled off (and for a few days thought my fry numbers was decreasing), so I was worried that the shrimp might have been eating the fry/eggs and moved them to another tank (and my fry numbers are again increasing, which lends support to the idea that the shrimp may eat CPD eggs/fry.)

[chr15_8]

the main reason for algea is not enough plant levels

if you was to cover half your tank with Hygrophila polysperma within 3 weeks i would of thought you would have limited algea.

however if it was for a breeding tank and you wont to tank the fry out it could cause a few problems

if you want to leave the fry in it would help to increase hiding spaces

chris

[celestialdude]

Here’s the irony… in my tank I also have Hygrophila polysperma… but it’s not doing well because it’s being “taken over” by the string algae. It’s a small tank and the lighting is quite strong. Will try the moss ball solution after I move to a bigger tank.

[chr15_8]

@celestialdude wrote:

Here’s the irony… in my tank I also have Hygrophila polysperma… but it’s not doing well because it’s being “taken over” by the string algae. It’s a small tank and the lighting is quite strong. Will try the moss ball solution after I move to a bigger tank.

mmmmm. do you have any substrate at all?
or use any ferts?

chris

[celestialdude]

No fertilization, all-natural.

Substrate is medium gravel.

There’s also third plant species in there, don’t know what it’s called, looks like “hydrilla” but with fine needle-like leaves, grows very quickly.

[chr15_8]

i think hydrilla looks nice (i want some but carnt find any localy)

when you do your bigger/new tank i would consider adding a good substrate like tropica’s aqua soil or something like tetra complete (if you have these over there)

ive got tropica aqua soil and 1.5 wpg and my polysperma is starting to take over (has taken a month but with no ferts/co2

chris

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