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algae and java moss
hey all, i thought i'd just share a method of controlling algae that i have used successfully, albiet to a limited extent. of course nutrient imbalance is the real heart of the problem and you have to get that under control. in my instance, by the time i discovered that the tap water in my new residence had between .5 and 1 ppm phosphate (this is something you love to discover when you do heavy water changes religiously and feel very pious for it) i had every kind of algae problem. the first thing i did was stop the water changes andstart adding nitrate plus i upped the co2 injection. in no time the phosphate was down to nothing, all my plants grew much faster (including alternathera rieneckii, which in my tank has always been really nice and red but seems to need a lot of nitrate and co2 to grow at all) and my riccia was all bubbles. the problem is that even thought the algae is no longer progressing, its still there, and if its bba or bga its not going to get eaten t!
oo fast. i had a nice carpet of
clover and lillaeopsis going but it was all choked with fur algae. so, the point of this long winded exposition is that i covered the whole front bottom of the tank with a big clump of java moss that i had growing in the back of the tank cause i wasnt sure what else to do with it. looks pretty nice too if you have enough of it. anyhow, i removed the moss a week later and lo and behold all the algae was completely gone. the plants looked a little yellow around the gills but they've picked up. some of em even grew extra tall to try and get at the light from under the moss. obviously this method only works for certain kinds of problems, but it allows you to selectively kill off algae in certain parts of the tank without having to kill the lights for everyone for such a long time.
cheers
elie