The Puffer Forum

RTR wrote:Huge +1 to bertie's comment. Very often, an algae bloom is self-inflicted wound - folks get busy and do not test or do not partial the water or both. Diatom filtration will remove algae from the water column and from the system. Whatever you do, do not add any agent to kill the algae. Live algae is generally rell]atively harmless. Dead algae in mass can crash the tank by overloading the biofilter. Physical removal first and then check and correct any water issues.

FYI: an algae bloom can go from barely visible to opaque in 12 hours, 24 hours is common, 72 hours is pretty slow.

Hello RTR, I'm a bit confused here (sorry, I'm still new at this), but you are basically saying that those commercially advertised algae-cides should not be used to kill the algae? Will using such chemicals be detrimental to the health of the tank in the long run? Because for myself, I'm considering using Seachem's Flourish Excel to dose my planted tank for additional nutrients (I do not have visible algae in my tank atm, but I have read that Flourish Excel has a side effect of killing algae). I will be very interested to hear of your opinion in this matter.

Excel is not an algae killer as such. It provides carbon amongst other things which will give your plants an advantage to out compete algae for nutrients, thus hindering algae growth. It's brilliant stuff.

Excel does kill algae. Though not its primary function. Its used as spot treatment for bba etc. And when applied directly on certain kind of moss, it actually turns them brown and kills them eventually.

To the new cat lady, moss ball=algae. Douse the excel away from it.

Aight, thanks for the confirmation, guys. Looks like the Marimo will have to go when I use Flourish Excel. Duly noted.

But what about algaecides (chemical specifically meant to kill algae)? Are they good for use when taking in consideration of the health of the tank in the long run? Or is it still better to use the old fashioned approach, i.e. lots of PWCs, manually getting rid of/scrubbing out all the algae in plain sight, monitoring the water conditions, etc? I'm asking this out of curiosity, so I will have a better understanding on how best to deal with this problem (sounds like every planted tank keeper will eventually encounter this) when it crops up for me.

paws_bells wrote:Aight, thanks for the confirmation, guys. Looks like the Marimo will have to go when I use Flourish Excel. Duly noted.

I don't see a reason to remove them if you dose per what the bottle says, it kills algae yes, but mostly when you spot treat them, which means that you shouldnt use a syringe with Excel and unload on the Marimo ball .

This is my experience anyway. I would leave them in, can always remove them if the colour goes bad anyway. Should dose Excel for your plants to supply them with what they need, not to kill algae. Though I would recommend a CO2 kit for that.

Adding chemicals to combat a problem is not the answer. Find the source.

Tim wrote:

paws_bells wrote:Aight, thanks for the confirmation, guys. Looks like the Marimo will have to go when I use Flourish Excel. Duly noted.

I don't see a reason to remove them if you dose per what the bottle says, it kills algae yes, but mostly when you spot treat them, which means that you shouldnt use a syringe with Excel and unload on the Marimo ball .

This is my experience anyway. I would leave them in, can always remove them if the colour goes bad anyway. Should dose Excel for your plants to supply them with what they need, not to kill algae. Though I would recommend a CO2 kit for that.

+1. Exactly what I meant. Douse away from it..

Thanks; you guys have just saved me from a lot of future misunderstandings and unnecessary headaches. =)

RTR wrote:Huge +1 to bertie's comment. Very often, an algae bloom is self-inflicted wound - folks get busy and do not test or do not partial the water or both. Diatom filtration will remove algae from the water column and from the system. Whatever you do, do not add any agent to kill the algae. Live algae is generally rell]atively harmless. Dead algae in mass can crash the tank by overloading the biofilter. Physical removal first and then check and correct any water issues.

FYI: an algae bloom can go from barely visible to opaque in 12 hours, 24 hours is common, 72 hours is pretty slow.

What is diatom filtration? And what do you mean by partial the water. .. I'm understanding i need to do a water change and change behavior. The only thing i can see me doing wrong is excessive food due to the smaller fish not eating their food and i have my lights on too long. Ill be testing my water in a bit. I'm removing the water now

Partial water changes.

I work over 12 hour shifts multiple times a week. I can hardly have time to do partial water changes now would it be okay if I filled my jugs with tap water and let it sit there with the chlorine treatment would that be suitable for the partial water changes? I hope so because going to the local fish store isn't as easy when you work those hours. Every 7 days I change 60 percent of the water.

If you add Prime directly to the tank before refilling, it's way easier.

Okay live progress. I'm about to add the fresh water and s bunch of plants. Its surprisingly entertaining to do this while listening to heavy metal.

defool89 wrote:Okay live progress. I'm about to add the fresh water and s bunch of plants. Its surprisingly entertaining to do this while listening to heavy metal.

That's an interesting aquarium background

Okay i just changed the water. Its better but not great. I got some co2 booster as well. Am testing the old water shortly.