I have a feeling that I am not going to like this AC......
Good luck on the system. I would hate to destroy a perfectly good
experiment by tearing down the tank. I hope you find the solution.
Nick Zarlinga
Aquarium Biologist
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
216.661.6500 ext 4485
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nanfa_at_aquaria.net On Behalf
Of John Bongiovanni
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 9:33 AM
To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
Subject: RE: NANFA-- [Fwd: The Algae Wars] Corrected Links
Nick and everyone,
thanks for your input. Nick, what fish are trying to imitate in the latest
AC ;-)
I've had the system set up for 1.5 years, its a 55gal. The algae looks like
"some" of the same slimy stuff we find growing on plants in the lakes around
here in late summer.
There was considerable disturbance by moving the rock and the driftwood. It
likely sent a lot of decaying organic material (and sequestered CO2?) into
the water column. Its been around awhile now. I have a large SAE in the
tank, he's been there for over a year but he's adapted to eating the
bloodworms and daphnia and less happy to go back to his salad days. I keep
discovering I have several Ottos and Ammano Shrimp. I bought six in Nov '91
and they are still there! They have continued to outwit the madtoms.
The reason I asked if anyone knew the type of algae was it might give some
clue as to the trigger of its growth. Awhile back I had a Black Beard Algae
bloom. I read somewhere that it grows when there is an excess of Fe. I cut
back on the Fe supplement and Bang! it was gone in two days.
Since my nutrient levels were undetectable (I'm doing water changes with DI)
It was suggested offline that it is most likely a nutrient deficiency. I'm
going with that assumption and I'll keep you all informed of the progress.
I'll give it a couple more weeks to sort itself out before I give up and
completely rebuild the system with new substrate and all.
John
> John, how big is the tank? How long have you had the system set up?
If it has been set up for a long time (a stable couple of years?) I find it
> interesting that a small event such as you described is enough to cause
the
> system to teater a bit (I am not doubting you, I just find it
interesting).
> I think that we all would agree that the longer the system has been set
up,
> the harder it is to kick it off balance. In reef tanks for instance, your
> parameters can seem to check out perfectly but the animals just don't seem
> to look right and you get funky types of algae growing. The only thing
that
> I have been able to chalk it up to is a cycle that is occurring and it
just
> needs to cycle out. I think the longer they have been set up, the less
> "cycles" a tank goes through. I wonder if in your case, the best thing to
> do would be to do a bunch of regular water changes, cut the light a bit,
and
> get something that might eat the algae. Some animals were already
mentioned
> but another one would be to pickup a (dare I mention an exotic on this
> list.....) flying fox. They seem to do a good job on this small stringy
> type of stuff. It may take several months for it (or them depending on
the
> tank size) to really take effect, but it might do the trick for you. My
> guess is that when these events occur, the unwanted algae has a strong
foot
> hold and is somewhat resilient to correction methods. Algae are wonderful
> organisms and I don't think that they have a narrow window of requirments
to
> live by. I think that bio-control, at least for a while, is an under
rated
> solution. That may help in breaking this unwanted cycle. I would hope
that
> you are taking good notes of your observations. There is still alot that
we
> all need to learn on these "stable" systems. As they say, just my $.02.
>
> Nick Zarlinga
> Aquarium Biologist
> Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
> 216.661.6500 ext 4485
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