Growing algae

[chrispeno]

i was gonna this spirulina powder that I hve been reading about other people using. Should I still use fertilizer or is there something else out there that I should be using before I buy the powder?

 

[Noto]

I don't understand what the spirulina powder is supposed to do. It's dead, so it won't help establish algae, and there are cheaper ways to get nutrients.

 

[chrispeno]

The spirulina powder is a supplement that you can get from a health store and sprinkle a couple teaspoons in your tank and you can grow alge with it. I only know about this from a different forum, but was wondering if there was a different way to go about growing algae.

 

[Noto]

I've seen this said before as well, but it isn't true. Spirulina powder is made from a blue-green alga. I think someone made the mental leap from "This is made from algae" to "I can grow algae from this", but they were barking up the wrong tree. The only benefit you get from the spirulina in the tank is a small amount of nutrients.

You need a live starter colony of algae from an aquarium, creek, or pond. Find a rock with a nice green growth on it and drop it in the tank; the sort of algae that grows floating or attached to wood won't work. And you need fertilizer. Regular old Miracle Gro will do fine, or you can just put a handful of rich topsoil in a cloth sack or old filter cartridge and drop that in.

 

[chrispeno]

Thanks alot for all the help mate.