# Algea free tanks?



## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

*Algea free tanks? (6 out of 3,000??)*

Ok, how many of you have tanks completely free of any visible algae (or at least extremely low amounts) on a regular long term basis?

I know that all the pictures of tanks submitted to contests are spotless. What is more interesting to know is how they look "when they've just woken up" and not after they've been preened meticulously for a picture...

The answers to this question should give hope to the people that are currently battling the stuff ;-) !


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

My 75g has been pretty much "visibly" algae free since December. I say only since December since that is when I re-set up the tank after a move. Prior to that it was pretty much algae free for a few months. 

I occasionally get some algae on plants that come form other hobbyists but it never lasts long and seems to be contained to only the new arrivals. The algae doesn't seem to spread to the new growth on the plants. 

3-4 days after switching from EI to PPS I had an outbreak of Green Spot algae on the glass of my 75g. I cleaned the glass and it has yet to return. I assume this was due to the change in fert routine.

I do get the occasional bloom of green water, usually after uprooting plants and neglecting the water change afterwords. Self induced you could say  Cleans up easily with a diatom overnight and doesn't come back unless I uproot a bunch of stuff and neglect the water change. 

My 30g "soft water" tank has done pretty well since December also. The only problem I have had is a staghorn attack in my hair grass. My 2 year old son unplugged my CO2 controller and the tank was without CO2 for about half of the day, mid way through photo period! Within a couple of days I noticed some Staghorn algae in the hairgrass. The hairgrass is now full of staghorn and will be removed from the tank prior to the next water change. I've been wanting to get rid of the hairgrass anyway and this gives me a good excuse.


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

My 75 has been algae free for almost a year. I cant remember the last time I cleaned the glass either....2 watts per gallon NO florescents, laterite substrate, NO co2.


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

My 5g in the office is vertually algae free. I have had the tank running since mid december and have only cleaned the glass 1-2 times since!!!! No algae on the plants either.


My 10g gets some spot/dust, but it only needs cleaning every month or so.

My 30g is about the same as the 10, plus clado which is good and bad (algae scape) if depending on where it is.

My new 40g ADA tank is PLAGUED with green dust. I have to clean it down every few days  ...I'm not sure what the ussue is here. I have tried high, low, recommended doses etc etc. Next, I will hook up my UV for about a week with daily scrubbings to see if I can eradicate it.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Two 10's, a 29 and a 50 gallon. All get some green spot on glass which is wiped weekly at water changes and other than a little green spot on older Anubias leaves, no other problems to speak of.  (Now that I have said this, I hope I haven't jinxed myself!)


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

And you guys are all using more than 2wpg, CO2, ferts and tanks heavily planted?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

> And you guys are all using more than 2wpg, CO2, ferts and tanks heavily planted?


2.5wpg on 10's and 29; 2 wpg on the 50; and yes to CO2 and heavily planted.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

75g - ~3wpg, CF and NO flourescent light, pressurized CO2, ferts by EI for most of the time it has been set up. I've been using PPS for the past two weeks so it is really too early to tell how PPS is doing. Heavily planted.

30g - ~3wpg ODNO, pressurized CO2 30+ ppm, 1ppm KNO3 every day, 0.5ppm PO4 every other day, 5ml CSM+B days opposite PO4 additions. medium to heavy plant load.


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## mlfishman (Apr 4, 2005)

*very little algae*

I have a 37 gallon. Fairly heavily planted, with a thick glosso lawn and a decent amount of fast growers in there (wisteria, ludwigia repens) and I always keep a small amount of watersprite floating to soak up any extra nutrients (not sure if this really does anything but I have always done it with good results) 30-35ppm press. co2, 3.6 wpg (is probably higher with my 4-5" substrate). Ecocomplete substrate over regular gravel with laterite & roots tabs (substrate is over 2 years old). I dose heavily, loosely following EI and Tom Barrs advice through his posts. I get very little green dust algae on the glass which has been returning less and less with each cleaning & water change. I have finally got the nitrate and P levels right about three weeks to a month ago and things have been looking up ever since. I make sure to remove any green dust from the tank as soon as i scrape it. My co2 was down for 2 weeks due to a faulty regulator and I got a small amount of BBA which I have pruned most of out and it stopped as soon as I got my co2 back up. I think I am on my way to an algae free tank. My only other algae issue is small amounts on my anubias but I am hoping this eventually falls away as well. I think it will.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

How depressing:

So far only 6 out of 3,000 members have (mostly) algae free tanks! :-s  

But we can already see a trend: heavily planted, lots of CO2 and never letting ferts bottom out...

Anyone else? Don't be modest!


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## timbo jones (Dec 30, 2004)

My only planted tank has been running for 5 months. I have 3.6 wpg 6500k, onyx substrate, diy co2, and was following the seachem dosing chart except for no3 and trace (thinking i didn't need them). I was always having to deal with green spot algae on the glass and brown algae + hair algae on plant leaves. 1 month ago i started using the no3 and trace and the algae has 100% gone. The glass is spotless no cleaning needed. 

I put it down to what i am learning from these forums, thanks all.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

I have tanks that have been algae free for several years.
Some don't get water changes for months.
I have not cleaned the glass in a few of them since Sept.

Some algae I personally do not mind, I like a little hair algae on some wood that's left bare, but my shrimps eat it off so I cannot keep it. 

I use Non CO2 and EI methods.
I spend about 1-2 hours a week on 12 smaller tanks. 4 are EI, the rest are Marine, non CO2 and a pair of test tanks.

Most of the effort is spent on pruning, and aquascaping, not maintainence.

Pruning and good cleaning habits and simply keeping up on that stuff, makes a huge difference, so do shrimps with higher light CO2 systems.

If you are lazy, go non CO2.
Done well, you can have some truly awesome aquascapes with Gloss, Moss, tiwgs etc. Red plants etc.

Takes some patience for the weeds to grow in, but they do not get out of hand and are much easier to maitnain and I dare say my non CO2 tanks look much better than most CO2 tanks on any given day.

Shrimps do well in Non CO2 tanks and really do a number on any algae.
I've added algae to see what would happen. I've also added KNO3 and PO4 fairly high in effort to destablize the tanks to no avail.

I guess I have to try harder.
I'm less willing to muck things up since the tanks grow in slower and require more time to reset.

That's the beauty and the evil with CO2 high light tanks, it's a Fausian method.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Blinky (Mar 2, 2005)

I've got one tank that's plagued by several types of algae, still trying to balance things out. The other three are algae-free or nearly so:
There is some green spot algae on the anubias leaves in the 65g (high light, CO2), along with a little 'dust' on the front glass. I'm experimenting, trying to keep the PO4 higher (~1.5ppm - 2ppm) as I've been told that may be the key to getting rid of the green spot algae, which none of the plecs touch.
The 10g (medium light, no CO2) is stuffed with fast-growing plants and has no algae to speak of - I don't think it stands a chance with all the microsword and stems! 
The 1g is spotless, I wish the big tanks looked as nice! It's got low flow (tiny HOB with too much media), PO4 2ppm, NO3 10ppm, no CO2 and 13W PC on 12h/d. The filter is made of clear plastic, and I've noticed a buildup of algae inside the intake and on the media, but there is none visible in the tank. 
All tanks get a weekly 50% water change and are fertilized with a homemade mix (basically PMDD), fleet or KH2PO4 for PO4, and CaNO3 once a week after water changes to boost the calcium (otherwise plants get 'the twisties'). Non-CO2 tanks get Excel daily (double dosed in the 14g, which seems to be keeping the hair algae at bay).


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## mrmagnan (Jan 29, 2005)

*An honest answer*

I am plagued by thread algae in my 29g/2wpg and I admit I am very lazy with my DIY CO2 which does not lend to stability in the tank. Here in Canada the days are getting a lot longer and my tank gets a lot more indirect light than when I set it up. It has caused some serious havoc in the tank.

Until I get a press. CO2 setup I have stopped DIY and all old leaves have gotten a lot worse now that CO2 levels are down. New leaves all have different growth form and are relatively algae free. Now I just have to have the heart to prune off all that old growth.

I think the best solution for anyone is to foster stability in the tank, regardless of your methods. Plants are very adaptable to different fertilization levels, however, the individual leaves are not. Phenotypic plasticity.

Regardless, it still looks good and my rams won't stop breeding...

michael


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