Hikari and Algae

[nzafi]

Curious if anyone has noticed a correlation between algae outbreaks and using Hikari. I have 535g tank with a single 24in aimara. I used to feed massivore exclusively and always struggle with lots of algae (there is a lot of natural light). I switched from massivore to jumbo shrimp and noticed that algae was staying away for a long time. This is like 6-8 months of feeding shrimp. I recently introduced massivore again about 3 weeks ago. In those those 3 weeks the algae growth was insane.

I only feed twice a week. One day it’s 9 jumbo shrimp. The next feeding is ~35-40 massivore pellets. I run a 50gpd drip and my nitrates have also been extremely low.

 

[Deadeye]

I feed hikari in my American cichlid tank, and there is lots of algae. It is also right next to a window though, so that probably has a lot more to do with it. How often do you clean the tank? I found that after drastically increasing my water change schedule the algae dropped a lot.

 

[nzafi]

I run two HMf filters and an ultima. With a single fish, I do the backflush about 1-2 months. With the daily drip in a bare bottom tank there is almost no maintenance.

 

[dr exum]

keen observation - i’ll have a gander around my tanks -

how’s the aimara? mine going through a spell ?

 

[nzafi]

keen observation - i’ll have a gander around my tanks -

how’s the aimara? mine going through a spell ?

What do you mean by a spell? Mine is doing well. I finally cleaned the algae on the tank which took me about 2.5hrs. He was not a happy camper about the whole process. I need to introduce probiotics into the tank and see if that helps at all.

 

[FreshyFresh]

It doesn't sound like an excessive amount of massivore being added to these big tanks to cause this issue, but it sure sounds like a nutrient induced algae situation if nothing else has changed (lights on time, etc).

What is it with the magic in Hikari products. The ingredients lists never seem to be impressive, but fish love the stuff and always do well on it. FWIW, I feed the bio gold+ medium pellets to my oscar and severum. The probiotics make the turds basically turn to dust.

 

[dr exum]

What do you mean by a spell? Mine is doing well. I finally cleaned the algae on the tank which took me about 2.5hrs. He was not a happy camper about the whole process. I need to introduce probiotics into the tank and see if that helps at all.

i had to put him in a 75g while i moved his primary residence-

he’s not really eaten in a week or two -

 

[nzafi]

i had to put him in a 75g while i moved his primary residence-

he’s not really eaten in a week or two -

I don’t think mine has done a hunger strike in the near 4 years I have had him, but they are known for it.

 

[dr exum]

I don’t think mine has done a hunger strike in the near 4 years I have had him, but they are known for it.

what do you think about UV for the alge?

i’ve even offered tilapia and shrimp -

he used to come up to the top when he wanted pellets -

oh well,

he may be getting moved again as my 280g’s hopefully will be here soon -

 

[nzafi]

dr exum its brown algae which I don’t think UV is great with. Im going to probably try probiotics again. I also think I want to switch to stuffing the shrimp with NLS. He refused NLS which is why I use massivore.