Scienceman Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 This comes up occassionally and I thought I would put some positive results I have had recently. Over the past 12 months I have had first a problem with blue/green algae and then over winter, brush algae (short, brown and furry). The blue/green eventually went away after summer probably due to lower light levels in winter as our house loses the sun for ~4 months due to a hill behind us. But during winter the brush algae took off. Initially I treated with a product called Brush Magic which slowly killed most of it off. Then on recommendation from my LFS I upped the concentration of buffers / salts to those suggested on the Seachem bottles. At the same time I used a phosphate/nitrate absorber to try and take care of any extra nutrients released by the dying algae and to keep the phosphate low to retard regrowth. My tank has now been 95% algae free for the past few months. For the record I do 50% water changes every 2 weeks and have the tank pretty heavily stocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[RK] Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Do you keep plants? Its harder for me cause i have plants, and i dont want to take away nitrates and phosphates because the plants need that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkap Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Any good suggestions for handling black algae. It pretty much decimated my plants in my previous tank set up. Algae killing agents did nothing to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuong Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 My 6' tank used to have a algae problem. I was on holidays at the time, thus with lots of time spare. I scrubbed down the tank and did 40% water changes every second day for two weeks. The water changes help remove the extra phosphate and nitrate that used to promote the blooms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[RK] Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Any good suggestions for handling black algae. It pretty much decimated my plants in my previous tank set up. Algae killing agents did nothing to it. ← If its black brush algae. use Flourish Excel. There is a thread on another website that tells you how. But i dont think im allowed to post links of other aquarium related sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbeer Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Parkap, The fish store in behind magnet mart at Albion park has the true siamese algae eaters in there tanks named as flying fox - good price too. These are brilliant with brush algae and three took care of my four foot tank for me. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sycho zebra Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 In my experience i have just put 2 sailfins in and that has sorted it out for the last 12 month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkap Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Parkap, The fish store in behind magnet mart at Albion park has the true siamese algae eaters in there tanks named as flying fox - good price too. These are brilliant with brush algae and three took care of my four foot tank for me. Steve ← Thanks Steve. They have ok and some different fish there every now and again in there but most seem to be no bigger than fry whenever I go in to check out what they have in stock. I've actually got some authentic flying foxes (6) in my tank now. Am keeping an eye on how they go. There's not much black algae left since my recent refurb of my tank but I've noticed small bits growing on the driftwood which they seem to have missed so far. p. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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