ALGAECIDES in planted Fig8 tank! Please help!

[Franco]

Hello folks,
I have a figure 8 puffer in a 15 gallon heavily planted tank with a SG of 1.008. Over the past few weeks hair algae has just gone nuts in the tank and I cant clean it off fast enough. I was wondering if an algaecide like Algae Destroyer Advanced would hurt either the puffer or my plants. It says that it is safe to use with fish and live plants in the aquarium but I don't trust anything until I've heard from other people that it wont do more harm than good.

The tank was running just fine with no algae problems except for a little bit of diatoms for about 4 months and then boom.

Has anyone ever used Algae Destroyer Advanced to treat algae problems in a planted puffer tank?

The aquascaping in the tank is so pretty and my puffer Paul is so happy and healthy I wouldn't want to kill either of them while trying to get rid of algae.

Please let me hear any of your input.

Thanks,
Franco

[crazedpuffer]

Chances are it won't harm either, but maybe someone who has used it could help you out.

[mikeosoft]

Are you using any supplements? Are you dosing CO2 in any way? If not, I'm willing to bet that you are just starving the plants, which is allowing the algae to out-compete them. Seachem makes a couple products called Flourish and Flourish Excel. If you're not already dosing, I would recommend adding both, especially the Excel.

[yunachin]

I have used Barley Extract for hair algae before and it has done very well. Hair algae drives me bonkers!

[Pufferpunk]

I would NEVER add any kind of algecide to a tank.

[my name is mike]

i am currently in a hair algae battle with my 2 figure 8 tanks -- one of them i dose with flourish and excel and iron -- the other is more low wattage, so i dont use supplements often -- i have fast growing vals and hornwort in both tanks

i have tried a 4 day black out period -- that worked somewhat, but as soon as the lights came back on, the alage came back as stong as ever

twirling it around a toothbrush to manually remove it is all i can figure out -- but i have to do that weekly

ive read that hair alage can be a result of excess phospates but i have not tested for that

adding a real CO2 system, and not just liquid carbon may be the only option -- i feel your pain

YUACHIN -- how do you "use" the barley extract ? just add it to the water column ? is it readilly avail through the net ? i'm excited for something else to try!

[Pufferpunk]

It's called Algone.

[my name is mike]

PP - is that considered an algaecide ? or is it more organic, and therefore ok to use on a puffer tank ???

[Pufferpunk]

All it contains is pieces of some kind of hay to absorb phosphates. Totally organic & overpriced.

[my name is mike]

so, you dont think its worth a shot -- ??? but, it is safe (and pricy) ???

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, safe & pricy. It did help though.

[Franco]

Thanks for the help. I havent been dosing any ferts because the plants grow like crazy anyway--at least they did until the algae started. Only newly added plants are growing well now. I have some FloraPride on hand so I will try dosing that and see if the plants start beating back the algae.

I don't know a whole lot about aquatic plants so I haven't really invested much money into ferts or supplements. I have Egeria densa, Elodea nuttallii, a java fern, some hornwort, an anubias, and some weird lily type plants that I cannot ID.

Would adding a DIY CO2 system really help out? I could probably build one over the weekend. Should I try using the algae destroyer advanced at half dose to see if it bothers the puffer at all?

[Pufferpunk]

I wouldn't ever use any algae-removing chemicals in my tank.

[spoot]

Make sure you know your levels before you dose. Never dose a tank blindly.

If phosphates are your problem, you could try phosphate sponges like rowaphos etc.

[mikeosoft]

I DIY fermentation CO2 system would work great in a tank that size, I'm willing to bet it would help a ton with your algae problem.