Re: [Killietalk] Last quick question - or Die algae! Die!

["Mark & Peta" <mbethke at socal_rr.com>]

Thank you Scott, I have turn off the CO2 generator since3 it will be lights
out. i don't have the ightson a timer. oh my wife is yelling at me to pack,
got fly, thnks again. mark
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Davis" <unclescott at prodigy_net>
To: "killifish discussion list" <killietalk at aka_org>
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 10:14 AM
Subject: Re: [Killietalk] Last quick question - or Die algae! Die!


> Have a great mini-vacation Mark!
>
> Are your lights on a timer? If they are, it might be in your best
interests
> to leave them as is. Some of the nitrates (if ammonia production by the
> not-fed fish drops) will be used by the plants and algae.
>
> That and the oxygen produced by the plants may make leaving the lights on
a
> timer worth while. If there is no time, don't bother with a fish sitter
> (unless experienced with killies they just tend to kill fish by over
feeding
> anyway) who could turn the lights on and off. Ambient room light will keep
> everything from crashing.
>
> Unfortunately I haven't been following this algae discussion or much else
> on-line lately, but I can appreciate your frustration with algae blooms.
> Sometimes the physical removal of the stuff seems like a Herculean task.
>
> However I would offer some encouragement, by way of some small successes,
> I've seen lately. A couple of relatively new tanks, among the most
> susceptible to algae blooms, have been cleared up by a combining of more
> frequent water changes, pulling the hair algae, a light fish load and the
> heavy carpeting of the water's surface with Salvinia, water sprite or a
> water sprite/water lettuce combo.
>
> All that "stuff" on the water surface seems to have critically shaded the
> algae while successfully competing with it for algae. Diana Walstad has
> pointed out in a couple of places that plants growing out of the water
have
> the opportunity for a way more efficient O2 and CO2 exchange (like maybe a
> 100 times more efficient?)
>
> Sometimes adding water which has been cut with demineralized water will
> further deprive the algae of nutrients. Somebody else please correct me if
I
> 'm mistaken, but isn't there a tendency for algae to do better in harder
> water at a higher pH? If so, softer, less mineral laden water may also
> inhibit the lower plants.
>
> Should this be the case, then we are left with a means of limiting the
> jumping of killies and snuffing out of algae.
>
> I also had a livebearer tank where a similar thing happened with duckweed.
I
> loathe and detest duckweed only a little less than hair algae. Still
> sometimes, "the enemy of your enemy" can work for you. The duckweed can be
> fed in small quantities to the Fundulus notatus and American flag fish as
> carry over snacks.
>
> Having said that about eliminating algae, a little green algae (or even
the
> filamentous stuff) on the side of a tank, is not completely bad news and
to
> a certain extent can be the sign of a healthy tank. I just visit that tank
> side growth with my favorite "algae-eater" - a soap-less, plastic pot
> scrubber inexpensively obtained at out local supermarket (and rinsed
before
> use). The debris on the tank bottom is a good excuse for another water
> change.
>
> All the best!
>
> Scott
>
>
>
>
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>



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