What does algae do?

Igor The Cat

Igor The Cat

Superstar Fish
#4
Jul 14, 2003
1,678
6
0
32
Seattle, Washington
#4
okay, Hixen it doesnt steal O2 from the water, it instead removes CO2 fromt the water column. in a non-planted tank, most species of algae will undermin the nutrients of the plants and cause the intentionally planted plants to suffer.

GIS: there are no toxic freshwater algaes, but some Cyano-Bacterias are.

cheers

-Java
 

Lonewolfblue

Lonewolfblue

Superstar Fish
#5
Jun 5, 2006
1,283
8
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57
Wenatchee, WA
www.nw-wolf.com
#5
Some say that severe algae can suffocate fish. That is true. If you have so much algae in a tank, it does take up O2 at night, just like plants do, and can cause lower O2 levels. But you really have to have a lot of algae to do that. Plants will take up more O2 than the algae, so you really need a combo to hurt the fish if you have no surface aggitation, and this will only occur at night when the lights are off.
 

'-JIN-'

'-JIN-'

Large Fish
#6
Mar 21, 2006
393
1
0
Penang,Malaysia
#6
algae are just like plants,but they doesnt look nice at all.In planted tanks,it is just like a parasite to the plants,they take minerals and co2 that u provide for your plants.Dr.long beard is a kind of long and brown in colour it maybe poisonous,im not sure
 

THUNDER

THUNDER

Banned
#8
Jul 22, 2006
567
4
0
#8
Brown alage is like a curse. They seem to follow each tanks I have. I could never have any green alage and I do not know why. What I would do, is get an alage eater from WalMart and it cleans up the tank very quickly. They always die after all the alage is gone. Ill never forget that experience in the past, buying alage eater from time to time, just for cleaning up the tank.

Thunder
 

SANND

SANND

Large Fish
#11
Jul 20, 2005
627
4
0
56
Washington, DC
#11
I don't mind a little green algae on some of the rocks and wood but I keep it off the glass. I use a toothbrush to keep it in check on the rocks and wood. I had beard algae once on most of my plants and ended up just tossing them and starting over. :(
 

Igor The Cat

Igor The Cat

Superstar Fish
#13
Jul 14, 2003
1,678
6
0
32
Seattle, Washington
#13
ive also never had much notriceable algae (a few times i have a little bit of spot algae, but i fixed this by slightly correcting the light) and i always have to fee my otocinculi extra blanched vegetables (they really like SUER soft cucumber, even softer than you would do for a Pl*co) i think a lot of people have problems with algae beacuse either the lighting is slightly off, or they are over feeding (though in a planted tank it could be from unbalenced fertalization.

one more tip; to remove the most common cyano-bacteria (blue-green algae) i have found that the complete blackout methods dont work. what you must do is remove all the cyanobacteria (dont forget about if you have a clear HOB, it will growin there too!) then USE A TIMER and set the lights to have VERY short hours. like say 3 hours everyday and do this for about a month. then you can start replanting (if you want plants that is) with NEW plants, dont use cleaned off old ones, the cyano bacteria can sprout off those again. while you are planting you can slowly raise the hours and try to stabilize it at some point. this technique also works on tanks that are setup next to a window.

cheers

-Java
 

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