Any one an algea expert.

[code]

I'm curious about the different types of conditions it takes to grow different algeas. I would love to see nice green soft algea on my rocks and glass for my shrimp to feed on. Right now I'm getting black hair algea on my anubius, moss and filter sponges. It's not an out break by any means, but I notice it. Its been popping up here and there for months. I get diatoms too ( my nerites handle that). So I thought to my self some plants grow in some conditions and some grow in others. Algea must not be any different. I know it all has to do with balance of light and ferts and a few other variables.

What is it about this tank that's suitable for black hair, diatoms but nothing else?

I keep my blue green red and regular spectrums up at about 25% on my fluval aquasky for 8 hours a day. I dose API leaf zone every month or if I see yellowing or spots on my anubius. I can't actually remember the last time I dosed it.

 

[phreeflow]

Imbalance of nutrients and not enough gas exchange. Add C02 or Excel, increase flow, increase frequency of small water changes, play with photoperiod, don’t overfeed, add stem or floating plants

 

[code]

Drunk fish tanking! All these problems started months ago when I picked up my shrimp. It took a while to get them acclimated. While doing so I was excited obviously. During the acclimation process I had a few stiff drinks in celebration of my new pets. When I added the shrimp I through in a piece of hornwort the LFS put in their bag. I normally wouldn't of done that but wasn't thinking straight. Drunk fish tank mistakes could probably be a thread in its own right. I'm sure lots of people are guilty of it. Having said that, my shrimp love that hornwort

 

[Backfromthedead]

I have this long flowy black-purple-green algae goin strong in my tank. It mustve hitchhiked in on the bogwood, but It actually seems to sprout and spread more every time i change a lot of water so its led me to believe that my mineral-rich source water is what causes it to thrive. It also seems to react to high flow, grows right in front of the stream of a 1000+ gph return nozzle.

 

[code]

That picture is what I have and it also grows in areas of flow.

 

[Cal Amari]

Carve that bog wood into a stallion head and show off that mane!

 

[esoxlucius]

I would love to see nice green soft algea on my rocks and glass for my shrimp to feed on.

If the picture below is the look you yearn for for your shrimp then i'm afraid I can't offer you one single bit of good advice as to how it got that way, lol, because I haven't got a clue, lol.

That's what algae is good at, frustrating the hell out of you! If you don't want it, it'll take over your tank and laugh at you. And if you try to grow it, it'll end up all wimpy. Go figure.

I just did minimal maintanance on this small hex tank and lit it for 10 hrs or so a day. And it just came, and I loved it, proper natural looking.

It was thriving that much I put a couple of tiny bristlenose in, and they decimated it, ruined the look of the tank, lol. I had to take them out and currently there are signs of that lushness growing back.

Picture below prior to introducing the bristlenose...

 

[code]

Definitely love that tank. Beautiful and green.

 

[duanes]

The most nutritious algae, seems to grow in very pristine, aerobic , and sunlit conditions.
There are species that grow best under high nutrient polluted conditions, (high nitrates, high phosphates) and those that don't, pollution algae is not usually relished by fish or shrimp.
As a microbiologist in a water production facility, one of my jobs was to count and ID species, but there were over 1000 species of algae in the great lakes alone, so it was a crazy job, and had to be done using a microscope, and I had an entire textbook dedicated to the algae American Great Lakes to reference

I used to put rocks in outside in summer in Wisconsin, in water tubs and even tanks to start algae cultures, and fill them with used water change water, to get them started.

These days I put sumps in direct sun to grow hair algae

I pull in off in clumps to feed fish

 

[code]

Sounds like a cool job. I think one of my problems right now is balancing light so it's not too hard on my anubius but keeping it bright enough to grow algea. Maybe I'll try starting a culture in a separate tank and introduce it. I can use high light and water change water in my ten gallon like you described