I no longer believe Algae is totally harmless.

[Lennie]

Yes, you read it correctly.

I used to think algae is harmless and a part of the natural system so I was not overthinking about it. But personally, I no longer think it is harmless at this point.

My java moss and driftwood started growing hair algae at some point. It is really annoying, but if it is no harm, it is fine I thought. I was wrong.

I have seen my rabbit snail got stuck to the hair algae from its head and was not able to move.

I have seen my rummy nose almost choking on algae when it tried to eat small food particles over the algae, algae got into its gills, and it was like a dog on leash. He made it out it in a minute or so when I was washing my hands to try to help.

I have seen my berried shrimp got her leg stuck on the hair algae so she was desperately trying to get rid of it. I was again lucky enough to see and save her.

And today, I have seen my juvenile angel got stuck in it as a whole when I came home. That was literally the last straw.

Happy to taking this tank down soon, and instantly threw all moss to trashcan as I no longer have shrimp and potential babies in this tank. 

 

Besides it potentially looking unpleasant to some, these are all scenarios I was lucky enough to witness. There is probably many more that we can't even be able to see as none of us have time to watch the tanks all the time.

 

what do you guys think? Anyone had similar experiences? OR are you guys on team algae 😄 

Team algae :D! :

Edited April 2, 2023 by Lennie

[Val]

Not on Team Algae.

I don't like the look of algae in a tank.  So combatting it is Job One in my household.  I've learned in recent years to have my lights on for shorter numbers of hours each day: 6 hours versus 15.  Made all the difference in the world.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Val

[Lennie]

On 4/2/2023 at 3:04 PM, Val said:

Not on Team Algae.

I don't like the look of algae in a tank.  So combatting it is Job One in my household.  I've learned in recent years to have my lights on for shorter numbers of hours each day: 6 hours versus 15.  Made all the difference in the world.

Yea def agreed. I always start my tanks on 6 hour and and established densely planted tanks on 7 hour lighting period. This is what works best for me too. 
15 sounds huge! 😄
 

Also thankfully all my algae eaters except nerites accept commercial food so I am lucky on that part to support their diet as well.

[Val]

On 4/2/2023 at 8:29 AM, Lennie said:

Yea def agreed. I always start my tanks on 6 hour and and established densely planted tanks on 7 hour lighting period. This is what works best for me too. 
15 sounds huge! 😄
 

It was.

But, you know, it was my first programmable light.  I had three settings emulating dawn and ramping up to full daylight.  Then the reverse in the evening, dimming down through dusk.  It was really cool.  But I started at 7am going on through 11pm when I usually go to bed.

[Lennie]

On 4/2/2023 at 4:05 PM, Pepere said:

Algae also suffocates plants.  So in that regard it most certainly is not harmless.

That is true. To me at worst plants are renewable but I get really annoyed if my fish and inverts are harmed

[Guppysnail]

I’m am team algae IN MODERATION. I don’t let it where it obstructs swimming or let large balls and masses grow. I keep it trimmed short. Don’t forget RR will kill algae rather than throwing away plants. 

[Lennie]

On 4/2/2023 at 6:05 PM, Guppysnail said:

I’m am team algae IN MODERATION. I don’t let it where it obstructs swimming or let large balls and masses grow. I keep it trimmed short. Don’t forget RR will kill algae rather than throwing away plants. 

You know me, no seltzer water here 😞 

 

[MattyM]

Floating plants can help too - what are your nitrates like and what light do you use? Once I got a dimmable light that I can control the blues on my algae problems about disappeared. 

If it's staghorn algae, I've found a product like Excel/Easy Carbon will handle it w/o even doing a full dose, esp if you spot treat it. 

[BeeGryphon]

(Not an experienced hobbyist but) Algae is part of a natural system, but that doesn't mean it's harmless. Even in nature algae can be harmful, and an aquarium is obviously much smaller with fewer resources. It also comes with benefits so you have to do a cost-benefit analysis on keeping it. If it's endangering your fish that's a pretty heavy cost.

[Lennie]

On 4/2/2023 at 6:19 PM, MattyM said:

Floating plants can help too - what are your nitrates like and what light do you use? Once I got a dimmable light that I can control the blues on my algae problems about disappeared. 

If it's staghorn algae, I've found a product like Excel/Easy Carbon will handle it w/o even doing a full dose, esp if you spot treat it. 

thanks Matty,

this tank was my back to hobby tank after I quit for years, and it got hair algae situation when I had to leave town due to military service. Normally, thankfully my other tanks I built afterwards don’t have the issue. This one didn’t have the issue before that either.

It just never balanced out whatever I tried without chemicals. Even mts population got balanced in that tank but not hair algae. Nitrates are between 10-20 in that tank. Has duckweed, water lettuce and amazon frogbit as floaters. I always use floaters in my tanks! 🙂 

But yea this tank is getting down soon hopefully as the fish have their new tank ready. I’m just medicating them as a preventative method before moving them all to new tank

 

On 4/2/2023 at 6:24 PM, BeeGryphon said:

(Not an experienced hobbyist but) Algae is part of a natural system, but that doesn't mean it's harmless. Even in nature algae can be harmful, and an aquarium is obviously much smaller with fewer resources. It also comes with benefits so you have to do a cost-benefit analysis on keeping it. If it's endangering your fish that's a pretty heavy cost.

I’m not sure about what benefit it has that other plants cannot provide at this point really

Edited April 2, 2023 by Lennie

[BeeGryphon]

On 4/2/2023 at 8:34 AM, Lennie said:

I’m not sure about what benefit it has that other plants cannot provide at this point really

If you have a lot a plants and not a lot of algae eaters (and I assume you don't have anything that really eats hair algae specifically) then probably not much. In general it would really depend on the tank, type of algae, and owner's aesthetic preferences.

[Lennie]

On 4/2/2023 at 6:41 PM, BeeGryphon said:

If you have a lot a plants and not a lot of algae eaters (and I assume you don't have anything that really eats hair algae specifically) then probably not much. In general it would really depend on the tank, type of algae, and owner's aesthetic preferences.

The thing is all hairy type of algae eaters also eat normal food mainly. Like mollys, SAE, flagfish, rosy barbs… They all rather eat commercial food or frozen/live food instead of algae really. For surface algae and diatoms, can be good for nerites or otos, but other than otos and nerites’ diet, seems like meh. Maybe good for baby fish and shrimp to nib on sometimes

Edited April 2, 2023 by Lennie

[Tommy Vercetti]

I am certified veteran of the Algae war, with 4 tours of duty. I am, at this point, a kill-all-algae-on-sight kind of soldier.

[Guppysnail]

On 4/2/2023 at 11:13 AM, Lennie said:

You know me, no seltzer water here 😞 

 

SPRITE 😀

[DaniV]

I've seen tufts of black hair algae in some tanks at a LFS (growing off of sponge filters), and not gonna lie, it looks kinda cool.  Unfortunately the kind of algae I was getting before I got timers set up was stuff like staghorn.  That was more than enough to deter me from trying to harbor some of the cool algae.