What would be the best choice for algae control with a 5" reticulated stingray? Now it's not that there is a lot of algae but just a little, just wondering what would be the best thing to keep it under control? Any kind of advice here would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Algae control with a reticulated ray?
- Thread starter BDaddy1984
- Start date
I had an algae problem on my tank with retics and after increasing the filtration and waterchanges it mostly subsided. I thought maybe high nitrates were causing the algae to grow so fast. What are your water parameters? I was leaning toward getting a UV sterilizer though. Maybe some snails would do the trick.
Well the algae is barely there, but I was just thinking more along the lines of early control/prevention so I think that I will just try the snails and go from there. I have a canister filter, under-gravel filtration, and the filter on the back of the tank also I do regular water changes twice a week. I thought maybe my parameters were maybe off too but everything is at 0 all across the board, so if all else fails I will just get the UV sterilizer. Thanks for the replies I appreciate the help!!
A UV light wont help against algee on the glass.
What type do you have? are they green or brown? What do you feed? how often do you feed? How big is the tank? What are your nitrate levels?
Anything over 10 + alot of light is bad. But we can help you.
What type do you have? are they green or brown? What do you feed? how often do you feed? How big is the tank? What are your nitrate levels?
Anything over 10 + alot of light is bad. But we can help you.
Algae occurs when there is excess of nitrate and phosphate. Those are the main nutrients that algae needs to thrive.
Sun light plays a factor, but not very much.
The good thing is that both of them can be taken care of with water changes.
My 240 sits by 3 windows and we open the windows during the day for some natural lights. I do not see a single trace of algae. I do Drip system for filtration and my nitrate is rarely above 40-50 ppm at any given time and I have A LOT of bio load.
stan
Sun light plays a factor, but not very much.
The good thing is that both of them can be taken care of with water changes.
My 240 sits by 3 windows and we open the windows during the day for some natural lights. I do not see a single trace of algae. I do Drip system for filtration and my nitrate is rarely above 40-50 ppm at any given time and I have A LOT of bio load.
stan
BDaddy1984;2146772; said:
Looks like there's another vote for high Nitrates causing the algae problem. Nitrates really shouldn't ever reach 0 unless you just did a 100% waterchange, but they shouldn't go above 50 or 60 ppm either. Make sure your test kit actually tests for Nitrate (as opposed to Nitrite). I think one of the members was right about UV not affecting algae on the glass. I've read that it's more effective against free floating algae but especially useful to kill parasites so it is a good addition to any ray tank since rays are especially sensitive to parasites.
ok tested again and nitrates were at just between 5 and 10 but everything else is 0. I'm just going to start with the magnet, because my tank only gets about 7 hours of light per day with just a little natural sunlight added in but not much at all. There really isn't much algae at all so I'm not really worried about it just curious of how to keep it at bay(since I got rid of my pleco before I got my ray). Thanks again