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[APD] surface algae



tsuh yang wrote:

>>does anyone know what the surface green slime algae is and how to get rid
of it?<<

I assume you mean floating on the water surface?

I had this problem in one of my tanks for many months.  I have always been
able to manage my way out of algae problems without extraordinary means, so
I found this one very frustrating.  It had developed during a period of
neglect, but when I DID start taking care of the tank correctly, it didn't
subside.  I would remove the scum from the surface several timesa week, and
still it would return.  I tinkered with the nutrient mix, and that didn't
help either. (all the plants were growing very well during this time, BTW)

Then in the spring, I was leaving for Europe for 3 weeks.  I was afraid that
without my constant intervention during that period, the scum would get thik
enough to keep light from the plants, or even suffocate the fish.  As a last
ditch effort, I manually removed as much as possible, and then set up a
powerhead blowing right across the surface.  I also increased the CO2 enough
to make up for the fact that I was blowing some off.  When I returned, there
was no sign of the algae, and everything looked great, if a bit overgrown.
The algae has never returned.

This is my first encounter with this type of algae in an aquarium (it is
fairly common in garden ponds) so I can't tell you if there are other
effective means of dealing with it.  But I can tell you for sure that
dramatically increasing surface movement definitely works in my case.

Karen


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