algae i hate u forever

azhael said:
Never really understood by people hate algae so much... I actually find perfectly cleaned aquariums to be ugly and non-natural... In my opinion a nice, natural, settled aquarium needs algae...
Unless it´s an invasion of course....they can kill you other plants and some times are bad for the aquarium...but a reasonable amount of algae is a friend of the aquarium hehe...
Click to expand...


Very true and a good source of food and shelter for other usefull organisms as well but in cases as such where they might not really be a algae but a bacteria like red slime in a reef tank, its not that great to keep around.
 
happy happy joy joy

good news everyone! (i sound like proffesor farnsworth)
algea has slowed dramatically and now stopped (i think), i put loads more duckweed in and the magic mossball suggested (part of me really believes in the magic coz it stopped as soon as the moss ball went in) even more elodea and just kept changing the water, and yea i also think it was just to do with cycling it proper after the move, its been like nearly a month since i re-set it up, anyway, joy to the world, next,, my 30 gallon tank,,,, for,,,,,,,,,, paramesotriton hongkongensis
 
Hey,

I was wondering, was it in areas of lower flow/circulation?
 
ya know i had some unsightly bluish algea that was really slimey coving the java moss on the angled part of my turtle dock, wonder if it was the same stuff....anyways what i did was remove all the junk and then i took the light off my newt tank and it seemed to go away/keep it at bay
 
This is not a type of Algae, it is a bacteria that can often look like algae. It starts with a over abundance of nutrients plus a over abundance of detritus building up. Do to this fact you usually find it in spots where there is less flow than usual along with poor mechanical filtration and the detritus can build up.


This is most common in SALT WATER REEF Tanks where nutrients are needed but at a sustained level. The cure in these cases is usually better flow more frequent water changes with better mechanical gravel vacing, and in the worst case scenario, antibiotics, a lesser of two evils that will in turn depleat some of your bio filtration.


Seeing on how we don't need most of these nutrients as much as reef tanks we can handle it by just taking note to the areas of low flow and do a better job at mechanicaly filtering the waste our self with a good siphon alot more often. Also, I don't recommend it cause in my case I have tons of live plants but you can cut back on lighting, one thing you really cant do in a REEF Tank.
 
Actually cyanobacteria are also very common in freshwater aquaria (and freshwater enviroments). As long as phosphate is available (which is very common in fresh water aquaria), blue green algae can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere so even keeping nitrates under control doesn't mean that this will prevent the blue green algae from growing in the tank.

I do not recommend the use of an antibiotic in the aquaria as this will wipe out the biological filter and require the tank to recycle.

Reducing the level of phosphate in the aquaria will often bring this problem under control.

Ed
 
Not to say you are wrong but for the years I have worked around and kept fresh water I have never seen it as common as in salt water, seen it here and there yes but never as much as saltwater, and in elaborate terrariums like some of ours phosphates can be hard to control with it leaching into the water from some substrates. And in fact every time "I" came across this problem and any of my customers have it was because of poor circulation and mechanical filtration.

In any case I just thought I would give my own .2 cents based on my experience.
 
It can be more apparent in salt water systems as it colonizes and forms the thick heavy sheets in low flow areas as this is where organic particulates settle causing a higher nutrient density of phosphate and nitrate in what typically is an nutrient poor system (or should be) (but keep in mind that these are also typically different species than those seen in freshwater systems). While phosphates can be released from some substrates, this is not as common in freshwater systems as the main import of phosphate is from food/animals/activated carbon. (for a really good discussion on the role of phosphate in freshwater see Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, Echinodorus Press).

Often in freshwater systems, cyanobacteria are part of a community of algaes (at least in more modern aquaria, if you go back through the literature into the pre-1960s, it was a predominate algae when anything that grew was to be encouraged) in fresh water aquaria. In freshwater aquaris it can form part of the underlayer of the algal community. (there is a good example of freshwater turf algae in Adley and Loveland, The Dynamic Aquaria). In these situations, the presence can be masked unless the person is actually looking for the presence of the cyanobacteria but it can be detected if you have a microscope (and in sufficient numbers a sensitive nose). Its presence should be of at least some concern as there are at least anecdotal reports of problems and toxicity in some fish due to the secretion of allopathic chemicals from the bluegreen algae (see Ecology of the Planted Aquarium) and there are documented cases of toxicity in the case of freshwater blooms see http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1513208 )

It can be found in areas of high flow as shown by its presence in algae turf scrubber (Adley and Loveland) as well as lower slower flow areas. (I have seen it grow on the inside walls of magnum 350 filters as an example of a personal observation in a high flow area).

some comments,

Ed
 
Wow, thats some amazing information, I figured it would be difrenet species which is why it actually apears as blue green in a fresh water, not? And I do agree it can be found in higher flow but does that not occure when the nutrients it lives on is more abundent for a better growth?


Thanks for the info, as I said I was just filling in with some of my experience I also wanted to add it to what he had explained in his situation but again, I feel alot smarter now. I honestly do.:happy:

Thanks for sharing that info,

Jay
 
In fresh water systems I have seen cyanobacteria that under some conditions be almost black in color but when the lighting was increased lighten to the "classic" blue green pigmentation. It can be a function of the lighting and if living in conjunction with other algae a different color of green.

(I had my first freshwater tank to care for somewhere around 35 years ago...) (I had my first nanoreef tank almost 19 years ago (a ten gallon All glass show tank... (so I've been doing some of this a long time as well although I have to say it wasn't until about 20-25 years ago that I started to understand the processes behind some of it and I'm still learning (but that's enough off topic))

Ed
 
Wow 19 years ago, from what I have understood ( I have just turned 27 ) that was blasphemy in those days.

I agree...lol no more off topic.:D
 
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