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Post by Carl on Oct 27, 2009 22:07:27 GMT -5
Turning over the gravel (even with stick, scraper, or hand) will not kill the algae, but by doing this constantly this will deprive it of light. As for an invertebrate, consider trying a nirite snail, these are not always easy to find, however a marine turbo snail from the Sea of Cortez can be slowly acclimated to do this on occasion (these snails are very popular as part of marine tank "clean-up crews") Carl Snails. I guess it's worth a shot. What is the downside of having snails? I've always thought of them as a pest. That's the nice part about nirite snails, they cannot breed in freshwater Here is an excerpt from Freshwater Plant Care: "Nerite Snails are an easy snail to keep. I would recommend you keep them in water with a pH above 7.0 and a GH over 150 ppm is best for these snails being that these are snails that breed in marine or brackish water (Wonder Shells are good for this). Even if these snails lay eggs in your freshwater tank, they will not hatch unless you provide brackish or marine water which keeps these snails from over populating. Nerite Snails almost exclusively eat algae and do not seem to harm plants at all and can clean up very heavy algae growths in a month or two."Carl
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Post by fishfever on Nov 5, 2009 22:41:30 GMT -5
I have an update... I used one of those green scrubby pads to remove the spots on the last big cleaning where I break down most everything. Since my tank has been recycled now I have reduced my water change schedule to more normal and cut back on the lighting hours (using a timer instead of manual on/off). I just did a cleaning today and noticed very few dark spots, probably not even enough to count on one hand. Plus the ones that I did see were much smaller and barely noticeable. I suspect these spots may have had their growth stimulated by the real frequent water changes I was making during the tank recycle period which was probably keeping the nitrates and phosphates very low.
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Post by Carl on Nov 6, 2009 10:01:39 GMT -5
I have an update... I used one of those green scrubby pads to remove the spots on the last big cleaning where I break down most everything. Since my tank has been recycled now I have reduced my water change schedule to more normal and cut back on the lighting hours (using a timer instead of manual on/off). I just did a cleaning today and noticed very few dark spots, probably not even enough to count on one hand. Plus the ones that I did see were much smaller and barely noticeable. I suspect these spots may have had their growth stimulated by the real frequent water changes I was making during the tank recycle period which was probably keeping the nitrates and phosphates very low. Good news It is hard to say which of these procedures made the difference without isolating each, but I think it is a good guess to say all of these taken together made a difference. *A healthy cycled tank often detours certain algae (although I have not found this in testing for Green Spot in particular, I have for Blue/Green and Brown) *Strict lighting schedules; I use timers on all mine and my clients tanks *Although I cannot say enough about the importance of regular water changes, this can be over done or done incorrectly Carl
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