# Algae fun!



## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

Hi, my name is Ghazanfar and I have an algae problem.

Actually, this is an algae I've been trying to get rid of for almost a year. It started right around the meeting at my house in April last year. Its a filamentous algae, bright green, long strands that are relativly soft, easy to break, slimy to touch. I think its a kind of Rhizoclonium. Anyway, I tried EVERYTHING known to man to get rid of it. Double dosing Excel, blackouts, low lights, low nutrients, high nutrients, high CO2, high K, peroxide, Amano shrimp wont touch it, barbs don't eat it. I actually broke this tank down this past November, and started with brand new plants, and it STILL came back - this is the Superman of algae.

Anyway, a couple of weekends ago, I was at NEC and had an opportunity to talk to Dr. Ole Pedersen from the Univ. of Copahagen. He was a guest speaker at the NEC and guess what the topic of his talk was - Algae. 
I told him of my plight, and he was actually quite intruiged and asked for a sample of this super algae. I did mail it to him - we'll see what he comes back with on it.

In the meantime, inspired by what I saw in his talk, I setup a little side by side experiement to see which concentrations of Excel work best. The results are interesting. So, instead of just telling you flat out, let's play a little game.

I used 2 sets of 5 jars for the experiment, to ensure that the results were somewhat scientific.
In the pictures below, the jars with the same label have the same concentration of Excel.
Concentration used were (in no particular order):

100% recommended dose
25% recommended dose
0% 
200% recommended dose
50% recommended dose

Here are the before and after pictures. 
Before:









After:









The jars are not particularly placed by order of concentration. Then again, maybe they are.

Guess the concentration of Excel used in the jars.

Example answer:

A: 0%
B: 25%
C: .. etc you get the idea.

I'll post the right answer in a day or two.


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## jmontee (Feb 7, 2008)

Might as well give it a try:

A- 50%
B- 25%
C- 200%
D- 100%
E- 0%

BTW how long was the treatment time?


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## Dryn (Sep 6, 2007)

A:25%
B:50%
C:100%
D:200%
E:0%

Do I get a cookie if I win? - my daughter would probably just eat it though. Even if it was in the mail for a few days.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Ghazanfar,

I thoroughly enjoyed your talk here at GSAS last January, and the dinner beforehand was a lot of fun! Did you get, our would you like, a copy of your talk? Inspired by your talk, I have some C. wendtii growing emerged for about two months now. 

Here are my guesses.
A: 50%
B: 25%
C: 100%
D: 200%
e: 0%

Thanks again, Roy


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

Ok, time to unveil the results.










E: 0% Excel
D: 25% recommended dose
C: 50% recommended dose
B: 100% recommended dose
A: 200% recommended dose

The results are surprising - showing that a smaller doses of Excel work better than larger doses - atleast in these jars.
Planted tanks are more complex than these glass jars - I'm not going to draw conclusions from this little experiment more than, in glass jars, a lower dose of Excel kills this algae better than higher concentrations.

Now, I will let you know - my tank is algae free!
Manual removal, followed by two weeks of healthy fertilization heavier on Phosphates (2 ppm), once a week 80% water changes, cut back on lighting intensity along with a 100% dose of Excel - and I've finally gotten rid of this super algae.


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## Pinto (Mar 22, 2008)

haha

Aww i didnt get to post... And my guess was very close too!


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

From your description, the alga sounds like it was _Spirogyra_


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

HeyPK said:


> From your description, the alga sounds like it was _Spirogyra_


Could very well be - when the strands got long, it did form this tight ribbon like spiral at the end 3-4 inches.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

I googled some images of Spirogyra and found this one:
http://www.dwe.nsw.gov.au/water/images/algal_fig12.jpg

Thats EXACTLY what this one looks like.


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Ghanzafar:

When you are referring to xxx% recommended dosing for Excel, which do you mean? The initial dosing of 5 mL per 10 gallon or daily dosing of 5 mL per 50 gallons.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/FlourishExcel.html


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

The jars were only dosed once. When I was dosing my aquarium - it was twice a week. Once after a water change, at 100% recommended initial dose. Then mid week - at 1/2 the recommended daily dose.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Wonderful experiment, Ghazanfar! The results are very surprising to me; why would 100% dose kill the algae, but not the 200% dose? :-k Very, very interesting.

-Dave


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

The algae has been ID'd as a Spirogyra species..


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## chester (Feb 22, 2005)

I haven't tried Excel but my war with Spirogyra lasts for a couple of months and I can say that only method was 7-days blackout. I can't take this for sure but a few weeks after turning light on there is no sign of the algae.


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## berniekooi (Jan 26, 2009)

So what is the best solutions? This algae has been pestering my tank now...its driving my crazy. It likes to cling onto my rotalas like no other. I know this is an older thread but I figured I would ask.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

The excel did kill it off, but it eventually came back. Then I got really busy with work, so I just removed all the plants and turned the lights off on the setup. When I finally got time to redo the tank, 2-3 months later, the algae was gone. It hasn't come back since.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Interesting that a higher dose didn't seem to turn the algae into nothing.

I like to play with cups too so here's my recent observation:

I was spot treating some heavy BBA in my tank. I'd just squirt 3 ml. of Excel directly over the BBA. On Day 2 the BBA would turn blood red but look perky. On Day 3 it would turn light grey and look very limp. Day 5 - snow white and falling off by itself. It would not return on that spot.

I did that in several areas of the tank. It always worked as described above. Every time same scenario.

Now here's what's interesting:
One day during spot treatment I pulled some BBA and put it in a plastic cup. I poured about 10% by volume of Excel in the cup. Let the cup sit on top of the tank. 4 days and nothing happened. The BBA was as healthy as it can. Meanwhile the spot treated area had gone through the usual transformation.

I added some more Excell to the cup. So the concentration of Excel in that cup was about 15% by volume. BBA still lived.

Only when I increased the Excel to 20% of the volume of the cup the BBA died. But very differently from the spot treatment scenario. It never turned blood red. It just gradually started to get limper and limper. Took about a week to die. I felt it was doing me a favor or something.

I started to believe that maybe the flow has something to do with it. But I really don't understand how 15% of Excel by volume did nothing to the algae while a 3 ml. squirt over it in the tank killed it every single time.

--Nikolay


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